Top tips on increasing your pub profits with desserts

10-May-2012 - Last updated on 11-May-2012 at 08:27 GMT

Related tags Ribble valley inns Pudding English cuisine

Pudding paradise: Desserts are a significant profit opportunity for pubs

It can often be the first thing diners drop in hard times, but there are ways to put the last course at the forefront of people’s thinking. Fiona McLelland finds out how to increase profit through desserts

Consumer cut-backs and dieting are bad news for pubs’ dessert sales as the indulgent after-course is the first thing to go. So prevalent is the anti-dessert brigade that just 15% of pub food orders include a sweet, according to market research organisation NPD Crest.

But, due to the significant profit opportunity that comes with it, pub chefs need to find a way around dessert’s bad press to tempt consumers to order that extra course. Fortunately, publicans have many tools at their disposal to help them in this battle of wills, including enticing customers with mini-dessert platters, set menus or meal deals and evenings dedicated to sugary snacks.

Mini-desserts
One reason for diners’ antipathy towards dessert might be the struggle to fit in another course after a hearty pub meal. But the Rose & Crown in Great Horkesley, Essex, has an answer to this conundrum.

Chef-patron Edward Halls is passionate about desserts, having headed up pastry for Marcus Wareing at Petrus. His enthusiasm has been passed on to his customers, with three quarters of them ordering dessert with Sunday lunch. He attributes the success in part to making everything from scratch with quality ingredients.

Another factor may be the recent introduction of a selection of mini-desserts. These include apple crumble, sticky toffee pudding, chocolate brownie, crème brûlée and rice pudding. Customers get a third of the dessert for a third of the price: one mini-dessert costs £2.50, two cost £4.50, three £6 and four £7.50.

The idea came from the pub’s manager. Halls admits he had reservations at first. “I was initially concerned we’d lose sales, as I thought customers might choose only the mini-desserts,” he says. “But so far, dessert sales are up. Some customers like sampling a selection of our desserts; others don’t have room for a full pudding and prefer just the one mini-dessert.”

The mini-desserts are a talking point and an extra USP for the pub, says Halls.

Pudding paradise
Customers at two sister freeholds owned by Alex Clarke in Cambridgeshire also get to enjoy a selection of desserts, thanks to a monthly pudding club. The sell-out nights alternate between the Black Bull, Balsham, and the Red Lion Inn, Hinxton. Operations manager Mike Champion admits that a small amount of gross profit is sacrificed for the pudding club, but says it’s worth it.

“We’re willing to take a hit on profit margins, as the club guarantees more cash on the night. And the PR generated by inviting journalists to review the evening more than makes up for it.”

For £25, guests choose one of three light starters and three light mains. The pudding buffet is then set out: a choice of six desserts and four sauces, with a shot of dessert wine. “Guests can keep visiting the buffet as many times as they like,” says Champion. “We offer a combination of contemporary desserts, such as lavender and honey jelly, and old favourites. Our jam roly poly and cinnamon and apple dolly have gone down a treat.”

As well as enabling guests to revel in pudding paradise, the nights are an opportunity to train chefs and experiment for future menus.

All in offers
Hugh Carruthers, chef-proprietor at the Bruce Arms in West Tanfield, North Yorkshire, is selling more desserts thanks to the introduction of a three-course set dinner for two, with a glass of wine, for £45.

The ‘3-2-1’ offer was designed to boost sales on week nights, but is also available until 7pm at weekends, which Carruthers hopes will draw in families during the holiday season.

“I was hoping the offer would generate 24 covers during the week, but we’re actually doing 50,” says Carruthers. “I never used be very interested in dessert, but I’ve come round to the idea that something sweet at the end of a meal makes the night that bit more enjoyable.”

Customers get a choice of three starters, three mains and three desserts. With careful selection and shrewd buying, the pub maintains a gross profit of around 65%.

“We don’t want people leaving the pub groaning at the end of three courses, so we serve smaller desserts,” says Carruthers, such as orange panna cotta with poached plums and quince and almond tart. “But they’re of the same quality as our à la carte menu.” He uses cheaper ingredients and prepares everything from scratch.

Cut-price deals
Scottish & Newcastle Pub Company tenant Chris Giles offers ‘A Pudding Bargain’ at lunch during the week and until 5pm on Saturdays. Customers at the Butlers Arms in Sutton Coldfield, Birmingham, can order a meal from the lunchtime menu and choose any dessert from the à la carte menu for just £2.

Lunchtime trade has gone up considerably since the introduction of the £5.95 lunch menu 18 months ago, and then the launch of the pudding deal about a year ago. So much so, that half of all lunchtime customers now order desserts, which normally cost £3.95.

Giles says: “Without the offers, we really struggled at lunchtimes, but now on a good day we can do up to 60 covers a day. We are obviously running at tighter margins, but still make £1 on every dessert sold with the lunchtime offer, which adds up.”

Local flavour
Cheese is as traditional a feature at the end of a meal as any pudding. And the cheeseboard at the Clog and Billycock in Pleasington, Blackburn, provides a good talking point.

The Ribble Valley Inns pub serves up four local Lancashire cheeses with homemade bread, biscuits, celery and chutney for £6.50. Group operations director Andy Morris says the board acts as a showcase for the region’s rich pickings when it comes to cheese, from day-old curd from Leagram Organic Dairy, Butlers’ Blacksticks Blue and Dewlay’s Garstang Blue to a selection of Mrs Kirkham’s Lancashire Cheeses.

“Lancashire folk are very proud of the region’s cheese-making heritage,” says Morris. “We serve a wide variety of quality cheeses, all sourced within 25 miles of the pub.”

Ribble Valley Inns sells an average of 100 cheeseboards a week in its four pubs in Lancashire and North Yorkshire.

Upselling
Whatever a pub’s approach to dessert, the final course can be an effective springboard to upsell: a fact not lost on Ribble Valley Inns. The pubco uses its cheeseboards and desserts as an opportunity to sell more Port and dessert wine.

Port, priced between £3.50 and £4.50, for example, is sold with a fifth of Ribble Valley Inns cheeseboard orders. “When serving the cheeseboard, we talk the customer though the cheeses, then ask if they would like a Port to accompany the end to the meal,” explains Morris. “Upselling comes down to presentation and the right approach.”

It is also important to cater for coeliacs with a few gluten-free options. Swedish baker Almondy specialises in gluten-free almond-based cakes, such as tarte with Toblerone and caramel & peanut tart.

Being sweet-wise