A bit on the side

Chefs at the Elephant, in Bristol, part of Bar Inns Trading, make all their dishes from scratch, so it makes sense for them to also make their own sauces, says director Ben Bartrip. “It helps to show we have trained the chefs who produce the dishes and of course the quality is significantly higher than bought-in sauces, encouraging repeat business.”

The Elephant charges from 50p to £1.50 for sauces with about a 75% take-up, making it a good upsell.

Bartrip adds: “My experience is that more people will order the steak, — the most expensive dish on our menu — because we can offer the sauces too.

“The staff will ask every customer if they want a sauce on every dish that lends itself to having one.

“Our best-selling sauce is for our rib-eye steak: we offer Béarnaise, peppercorn, red wine, and Bourbon & mushroom. The sauces themselves don’t provide a huge cash margin but drive sales of the rib-eye which does have a good cash margin.”

Roger Lewis, manager of the Bridge Inn in Droitwich, Worcestershire, believes his pub gets a pretty good mark-up on its home-made sauces, particularly peppercorn, which he says is very simple to make but hugely popular.

The Bridge charges £1.75 for an additional sauce to go alongside dishes such as steak, Cajun chicken and fish dishes, such as cod and chips, salmon and scampi. In the same way as Bartrip at the Elephant, Lewis serves his sauces in a gravy boat alongside the plate.

And having worked in pubs that buy in sauces, Lewis believes homemade always goes down better with customers. “We get people who come back every week and always order the pepper or Diane sauce.”
Real deal​

Andy and Andrea Connor, owners of the Red House, at Caverswall, Stoke-on-Trent, Staffs, make all their sauces from scratch. Andrea will have three choices on at any one time for £1.95 to order alongside their free-range chicken, and sometimes salmon.

Sauces include Stilton & mushroom, Diane, spinach & cheese, cider leek & mustard and Port & Stilton.

“We make them because they taste better and cost less,” says Andy, who says they are also using it to upsell on their Credit Crunch menu.

“People don’t want to spend much money at the moment so we are running our two or three-course Credit Crunch menus at £8.50 for two courses and £10.95 for three.

“We offer sauces as an addition. People still want something of tremendous value but like to spend a bit more to make it taste nicer.”

And their staff are all trained to upsell wherever possible on sauces when anyone orders a steak or chicken dish.

Andy also believes their sauces are an important addition to the menu because they are home-made.

“It makes us a little bit more unique than the big boys out there, where everything is bought in and tastes the same,” he adds.

Eira Williams, of the Royal Oak in Cardington, Shropshire, says all their sauces are home-made, such as optional Shropshire blue, peppercorn and Diane sauces for steak dishes. “You can’t beat home-made,” says Williams.

“Serving everything home-made and fresh brings customers back. And the other added bonus is that we can cater for coeliacs and vegans because we know exactly what goes into our sauces. If someone has a special dietary requirement we are happy to adapt it for them.”
Consistent quality​

Spirit’s Flaming Grill, on the other hand, buys in all its steak sauces due to the high volume of guests eating at its pubs.

Flaming Grill concept manager Oliver Devine says: “This gives us the confidence that all our guests will receive consistency of flavour with every meal at Flaming Grill.”

All its steak dishes come with Heinz Steak sauce as standard but more than one quarter of their guests upgrade their sauce, with the best- seller being cracked black peppercorn sauce. Two in 10 will also add either a steak topping or garnish to their dish.

“In line with our different sales campaigns we also offer additional sauces to complement the dishes,” adds the spokesman.

“Our Steak Festival, from 10-23 October, introduces dishes such as T-bone and Piri Piri steak, which are supported with new sauce flavours such as classic Diane, stroganoff and Argentinian steak sauce.

“We trial different flavour profiles during events such as our Steak Festival to gain insight into our guest preferences.”

Spirit believes that while upselling sauces and accompaniments benefits both sales and profits, it is more important that it adds value to the overall guest experience.
Tearing and sharing​

Meze boards are an increasingly popular addition to pub menus for people to graze on while drinking, or to take the edge off while waiting for their meals.

While breads and dipping oils don’t yield much profit, offering them can encourage repeat visits.

Chris Bayes, owner of the Edgemoor Inn, at Edge in Gloucestershire, has been selling marinated olive, feta cheese and dipping oil with warm ciabatta as an appetiser on his menu for the past couple of years.

While there is no real mark up on the dish, it gets people returning to the pub. For £3.50 they can order the sharing board, complete with olive oil and balsamic vinegar.

“We sell lots of boards,” says Bayes. “They are designed for people to enjoy while they wait but the feta cheese is quite expensive, so we don’t achieve a great mark-up.”

Jack Cotton, head chef at the Ram Inn in Firle, East Sussex, serves locally produced breads, combined with marinated olives, extra-virgin olive oil and aged balsamic for a fairly steep £5.25.

But Cotton explains that the quality is high, with the organic bread coming from a local bakery. The balsamic vinegar is eight years old, the Ram’s oils are brought in from Spain, and the pub’s olives are marinated in chilli, garlic and thyme.

“People tend to have a quick bite while looking through the menu,” says Cotton. “It’s more tear-and-share and nibbles. And it’s ordered fairly consistently.”

Anthony Robinson, at the Inn at Farnborough, Warwickshire, says he also gets no profit from organic breads and aged balsamic and virgin olive oil. Diners receive this as complimentary, or order it alone for £1.

“It’s all part of the package of coming here. You give a bit to get a bit. You have to have bread with a meal. We have been doing it for 10 years.”