Steak out

Edward Halls, licensee and head chef at the Rose & Crown in Great Horkesley, Essex, tells Lesley Foottit about building up a successful pub business with a great reputation for steak.

How I got here​

I didn't know what I wanted to do when I left college and ended up in banking recruitment for years, before deciding to follow my heart and become a chef. It was hard to change careers at the age of 28, but I trained and worked with some incredible people including Marcus Wareing and had a stint as private chef for General Sir Richard Dannatt, head of the British Army, where I cooked for foreign dignitaries.

But the burning ambition to run my own business consumed me and I took on Greene King tenancy the Rose & Crown in March 2010. And we are now up for Best Newcomer in the Publican's Morning Advertiser's Great British Pub Awards.

Greene King invested heavily in the refurbishment, but I was free to make every decision. It is quite modern with beams and a couple of extensions left over from previous owners. We opened on 17 April in time for Mother's Day, when we served 160 covers over two sittings.

There are different enclaves to the pub, with a 32-cover main restaurant downstairs, an 18-cover restaurant a couple of steps higher and another 20-something in a bar area that doubles as a restaurant. The beer garden holds another 50 people.

Achieving business growth​

Steak sells more than anything else, it is our speciality. Around 40% to 50% of our food sales comes just from steak. We serve local 28 to 35-day dry-aged Dedham Vale beef with hand-cut chips, a watercress salad and roasted garlic tomatoes for £14. The most popular steak is the rump, due to our rump steak offer on Tuesday and Wednesday. It gets people in earlier, generates business, and people say it is unbelievable to get a steak of that size and quality for that price.

Standing out from the competition​

The biggest challenge is driving the business. In the main, it is a matter of attitude. A lot of venues can offer quality ingredients so it is your attitude that stands out. Staff really need to focus on the customer as the most important person in the room because if you don't exceed expectations they won't come back and spend more money.

Best piece of business advice​

Without a shadow of a doubt it is keeping a close eye on your costs. It is very easy to become so focused on drumming up more business, but cutting 5% off your costs can also be your increase in profits — it is like feeding another 100 people every week.

Biggest mistake​

I wish I had started out as a chef after leaving college — maybe I would have a dozen pubs now. I have huge ambition and want to do more. If this place is doing well in a couple of years, we will do another one. I want to do a dedicated steak house.

Couldn't live without​

Coffee. I own a pub and drink surprisingly little alcohol. There are days when I could sink into a good bottle of wine, but I just know I would never get the day off to recover.

Bar talk​

Our beers are all from Greene King and we have guest beers too costing £3.10 to £3.80. Our wines are sourced by the London company Wineaux and they have a fantastic range of boutique wines from small producers. We do glasses from £4.50 to £8 and bottles are priced from £16.50 to £80. People tend to go for the house or £80 bottles more than the middle range. Champagne is £130 and we have a basic and premium option in every spirit.

Recommended suppliers​

8226 The Deli Station at Enfield Locks, in north London, which is at www.thedelistation.com​, stocks specialist artisan products including oils, vinegars, mustards, pastas, olives and charcuterie.

8226 Direct Meats, at www.directmeats.co.uk​, supplies all of our Dedham Vale beef daily and is in the same postcode as us. We also get pork and lamb.

8226 Wineaux, on 0800 978 8853 and at www.wineaux.co.uk​, supplies us with amazing boutique wines.

Three best ideas​

• The rump steak offer on Tuesdays and Wednesdays is by far the best idea.

• Doing the Colchester Food and Drink Festival. For months and months afterwards we had people visiting saying they had seen us there. We were giving out steak with a leaflet about the pub. We are doing it again this year with professional leaflets and we'll measure the response that we get.

• Keeping in touch with the customers. I make a point of walking around the restaurant every day and talking to as many people as I can.

Pub facts​

• Licensee: Edward Halls

• Head chef: Edward Halls

• Website: www.roseandcrownhorkesley.co.uk​

• Wet:dry split: 40:60. As staff become more proficient, we expect 50:50

• Dry GP: 70%

• Wet GP: 59%

• Total covers: 70 inside, 50 outside

• Average covers per week: 600

• Average spend per head: £27, £50-£60 on Saturdays

ON THE MENU​

We have set lunch menus that change as often as every day comprising two really simple courses for £13, or three for £16.

Menu philosophy​

All the food here is mine. What we term à la carte is really local produce — we get the lamb from down the road, local asparagus for our asparagus tartlet, and line-caught cod for our fish and chips. I am heavily influenced by my mum — she was a great cook — and the people I have worked with. The food at Morston Hall in Morston, near Holt, in Norfolk, where I used to work, wasn't overly complicated but it was executed to the very highest degree.

Best new dish​

Seared queen scallops starter with butternut squash risotto and pea shoots (£8.50).

Best-selling dish​

Steak and chips with garlic tomatoes and a watercress salad (£14 for rump on offer, which increases to £26 for other cuts).

Most profitable dishes​

Warm, home-made sticky toffee pudding with toffee sauce and vanilla ice cream (£6.50).

IN THE KNOW​

Successful PR and marketing ideas

We entered The One competition in East Anglia and won £50,000 of advertising support. It breaks down into PR, marketing and branding and advertising. It is all starting to kick in now and has been a huge boost to the business. It is still really tough, but it helps. The PR agency is on top of things now. We have a database of 300 customers and 400 followers on Twitter. We come up as the best steak in Essex on Google.

One idea that didn't work​

I haven't had any grand failures, but I did unsuccessfully launch a pudding club once. Our wine club took off in a big way, so I expected people would enjoy a pudding club. We offered one main course and three or four puddings, but it didn't work. One problem may have been that it was quite early on and I didn't have enough customers. I might try it again after summer.

Recruitment​

This has been the most difficult issue for me, but I have got the basis of a great team now. At the beginning we had a high turnover of kitchen staff. I have very high standards and I want things to be perfect so that means a lot of hard work from everybody. People tend to talk a good game but when it comes to the end of a long day and you want them to scrub the kitchen, they are not interested. I want passionate and committed people here. We have five stars on the hygiene rating system and I want it to stay that way.