Pub food: business boosters

Ideas for driving food and drink sales at your pub including a corner shop. a time-specific promotion and psychic readings.

Corner shop​

Where:​ Black Swan, Henley-in-Arden, Warks

The idea:​ Corner shop inside the pub. Manager of the Punch Taverns pub, Ian Jackson, says: "Before taking over here, my wife and I used to live locally and found it a nuisance if we ran out of a convenience item. The area has a large number of elderly residents, who find it difficult to get to the shops, so we decided to open the shop to offer locals easy access to basic necessities."

What we needed:​ "We opened the shop about six months ago with very little cost involved. We already had some fridges and I simply built some shelving to display the products. The shop is located in the back-bar area, which had little use apart from as a serving point for our carveries. We stock all the basics such as bread, milk, bacon, cheese, pet food and toiletries, all of which I buy from the wholesalers, and customers pay at the bar. Initially the shop was open all day, but we now limit it to pub opening hours. Having said that, we often get out-of-hours phone calls from people asking if they can pop in to buy something; the workers from the nearby office block are some of the shop's best customers."

Business benefits:​ "The shop is a service we provide for the local community rather than a money-making exercise. We try to give customers a good deal by keeping mark-ups low and if an elderly shopper spends over £10 I'm happy to deliver locally for them. The pub and shop do, however, work well together. People visit for lunch and often buy items from the shop, particularly on Mondays when we have a two-course pensioner special, or pop in to buy something and stay for a drink."

Top tip:​ "Stock items that can also be used in the pub to avoid any wastage."

Time-specific promotion​

The idea:​ Weekday January promotion to claim 50% discount. Mark Reynolds, co-owner of Renaissance pubs including Clapham's Avalon, Abbeville and Stonhouse, the Bolingbroke in Battersea and Tommyfield in Kennington, says: "Our January offer gives a strong start to the year. This year, 2011 on the 24-hour clock is 11 minutes past 8pm, so we offered 50% off the food bill when ordering before 20.11 (8.11pm), during Monday to Thursday lunch and dinner throughout January."

What we needed:​ "Our online voucher system directed people to our website to print out a voucher and take it to their chosen pub. This generated website traffic and customers could see our other pubs, promoting cross-pollination and increasing our database. Our PR agency, Roche Communications, issued a press release and the 20:11 hook brought higher coverage than a typical offer. We sent a newsletter to our email database before Christmas, featured the offer on all internal marketing, and put up posters in our windows throughout January."

Business benefits:​ "January weekday evening covers rose by 40% to 50%, with around 75% ordering before 8.11pm. Many chose scallops and chateaubriand, the most pricey items. Weekend trade, when the offer didn't run, was up on previous years. Drink sales and service charge increased — when people dined on the 50% offer, they often traded up on the wine list and were more likely to order an aperitif or digestif."

Top tip:​ Rather than offering regular discounts throughout the year, go for a one-off promotion that you do well.

Psychic readings​

Where:​ the Granville, Barford, Warwickshire

The idea:​ Pub owner Val Kersey says: "We tried this event as something different and incorporated it into Valentine's weekend, offering love-life readings, for a bit of fun. It's important for us to lay on a programme of events to offer existing customers something different while attracting new clientele."

What we needed:​ "We sourced the medium, Paula Wratten, through a personal business contact. It was important to use someone with a good reputation in their field and who had some national recognition. Paula has a number of celebrity clients and has been involved in helping the police with missing person cases, as well as being featured in several national newspapers, on BBC radio and on TV. Paula paid us a small commission and customers paid her the £35 fee direct in return for a 30 to 45-minute reading. We advertised the event in the pub, via press releases, on the medium's website and Facebook page, and via our own website and Facebook page. We screened off a table at the lower end of our separate dining room to ensure privacy."

Business benefits:​ "The event mainly appealed to women and, of the 12 places available, 10 were booked. The evening did not involve any additional costs and because we kicked off at around 4.30pm we benefited from customers staying on to eat and drink with their family and friends, which increased our takings by around 10%. The event also brought us a fair amount of exposure, bringing in people who hadn't visited before."

Top tip:​ "Ensure there is a private space available for the readings and remember that timing and advertising are critical — dovetail your own marketing with the medium's and their contacts."