Good ideas for good pub menus
Lesley Foottit looks at ways to ensure the presentation of your pub's menu delivers the right impression.
Adding personality
Individual Inns' five pubs are full of quirky extras — and the menus are no exception. The Wheatley Arms in Ben Rhydding, Ilkley, West Yorkshire, has a daily-changing Wheatley Tabloid featuring the chef's own favourites. The Spread Eagle, in Sawley, North Yorkshire, points customers to the specials board at the end of its menu under a section entitled The Weather Report. It says: "Before you decide, don't forget to check out our specials, an eclectic mix of all that is special today. Changing constantly like the weather around here!"
Its main section is called Inn Style Classics, which it claims are "proven favourites at the Spread Eagle" and the coffee section is decorated with three drawings of hot chocolate, a string tea-bag and a steaming mug of tea or coffee.
Another Individual Inns site, the Fountaine Inn, at Linton, North Yorkshire, finds even more ways to bring a bit of personality to its menu. Its light menu, entitled "Small sharers and tasty bits", includes potato bricks (chisel-cut potato, deep-fried and served with dips) and garlic ciabatta fingers "oozing with garlic" and served with dips. "A real temptation," the description adds.
Branding benefits
Many chefs put their stamp on original dishes by naming them after the pub. The Milestone in Sheffield, South Yorkshire — part of pub group Blood Sweat and Beers — raises its own pigs and chickens and lists a Milestone beefburger (£12.95), a Milestone pork chop (£15.50) and Milestone sausages (£15.95).
Three-site pub company Anglian Country Inns' menus follow a similar ethos, listing White Horse mushy peas with fish & chips (£11.95) at the pub in Brancaster Staithe, Norfolk, and the Fox beef & pork burger (£9.50) at the Fox at Willian, near Letchworth, Hertfordshire.
The company sources its produce locally and shows this by listing "Cyril's hand-picked mussels", and "Letzer's smoked salmon". "Cyril Southerland and his son Ben are two of the local fishermen," says an Anglian spokesman.
"When guests are sitting in the conservatory they can see Cyril sitting at the bottom of the garden bagging up mussels. Paul Letzer smokes his own salmon and lives in Burnham Market."
Food and drink-matching
Most customers will not know how to match food and drink so it is essential that pubs train staff to help people choose their wine, beer and ciders to complement their dish. The Milestone includes a line under every dish recommending a wine, and the Fox at Willian includes a box at the end of the menu with a matching idea for red and white wine and cider. "Our waiting staff are trained to answer questions and people are interested in matching and take opinions on board," said a Fox at Willian spokesman.
Have fun with kids' menus
The children's menu offers another opportunity to have a bit of fun with customers. The White Horse, at Brancaster Staithe, calls theirs a Young Persons' Menu.
"We are a family-oriented establishment," said a spokesman. "We thought that children might like to feel important. Some are very grown-up and like to order their food."
The Pigs at Edgefield, in Norfolk, has a "pigs" menu for adults and "piglets" menu for children. It lists children's dishes including toasted muffin with cheese (£4.50) and belly of pork (£4.50).
Blackboards
Having your menu up on the wall in a prominent position can encourage people to order food when they may have dropped by only for a drink.
It also looks great, but only if you
follow the golden rules. Professional chalkboard designer John Longcroft-Neal, who runs JWren-Images, says: "People spend thousands of pounds making their pubs look fantastic on the inside, but the first thing people see when they drive past is the signs. First impressions are made in seconds."
Wellington pub the Cock Inn in Ringmer, East Sussex, has a large blackboard opposite the front door and above the bar, approximately 3m long and 1.5m wide. It lists all the starters, mains and desserts — around 50 dishes.
Manager Matt Ridley says most of the menu stays the same, with specials changing regularly. He keeps it simple with white chalk. "It is the first thing customers see and some of them do comment on it." The pub does give out table menus as well.
Organised menus
Longcroft-Neal's tips can be also be useful for putting together an organised menu. London-based five-site pub company Drake & Morgan has A3 menus with clear sections for mains, sharing boards, salads and so on and boxes to highlight specials, wine recommendations and wine flights.
The company also uses wooden pegs to clip menus together. The background of the menus incorporates a floral print, similar to that used to decorate the venue, to give a sense of continuity.
Quirky touches
Former BII (British Institute of Innkeeping) Licensee of the Year winners Richard and Loren Pope have brought a wealth of personal, quirky touches to the Bulls Head at Repton in Derbyshire. The menu describes "real chips made from real potatoes by a real person" to remind customers that it is all done in-house. It is sectioned off into a "smaller" area including starters and lighter dishes and a "larger" section.
The menu does not include commas or "ands" in descriptions, instead opting for a plus sign in between each ingredient. "We have a demystifying menu," explains Richard. "We have a policy of not using culinary terms — we don't use a jus, we use a sauce. It is all described simply."
The menu lists soup "with home-made bread to dunk" and has a "small print" section for traceability comments. Pope has a bartering system with locals whereby they bring him produce and he pays out in Bulls Head vouchers. Over the apple season the menu listed apple, pear & blueberry crumble made with Repton apples from Dave Atkin's garden — a local man.
The pub prints out its à la carte menu every day, with the day of the week and the date at the top. "It supports our fresh image," says Pope. "People see the day and date and assume it must be fresh (which, of course, it is)."
The separate pizza menu has hand-written extras around certain dishes including "Richard's favourite", "Dean eats them all" and "folded calzone? Just ask" among others.
The à la carte menu is simple and tasteful, using just dark grey on a white background with two splashes of blue on the word "Bulls" and on the bull's nose ring. Taking inspiration from Picasso, the menus feature sketches of a bicycle seat and handlebars that look like a bull's head. The walls of the pub are adorned with real versions of this. "It deepens the branding and customers enjoy discovering what it is," says Pope.
Pricing styles
Some pubs have a consistent style of pricing that every dish follows. The Cricket Inn in Totley, Sheffield, South Yorkshire, prices every dish at either a whole number of pounds or plus 50p (apart from sides), whereas the Milestone sells every dish at pounds plus 50p or 95p (also apart from side dishes, which are £2. Smiths, of Smithfield in London and the Crown at Burchetts Green, near Maidenhead, Berkshire, both use quarter and half fractions on their menu-pricing system, which stands out.
Give supplier information
As we all know, customers are becoming increasingly interested in where their food comes from and food miles matter to many. Licensees can use their menus to highlight their use of local produce and the quality and traceability of meats.
"Where better to display this information than on the menu?" says EBLEX foodservice project manager Hugh Judd. According to a recent survey undertaken on behalf of EBLEX, the majority of respondents said it was better to highlight the country of origin.
Entice them in
BPEX foodservice trade manager Tony Goodger recommends that pubs should use creative names for dishes on their menus to pull in extra sales. He also suggests that pu
