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Money Makers: Ideas for driving food and drink sales at your pub

By Sheila McWattie

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Pie Fest: Involved guest ales, live music, face painting, pony rides, bouncy castles and a pie bake-off competition
Pie Fest: Involved guest ales, live music, face painting, pony rides, bouncy castles and a pie bake-off competition

Related tags Freehold pub Public relations Public house

Pub Food's focus on event and promotional ideas for your pub.

Pie Fest

Where:​ Inn at Freshford, Bath, Somerset

Website: www.theinnatfreshford.co.uk

Twitter: ​@InnatFreshford

The idea: ​Annual one-day beer and pie family festival.

How it works:​ Festival-goers enjoyed a menu stuffed with sweet and savoury homemade pies, complementary guest ales, live music, face painting, pony rides, bouncy castles and a pie bake-off competition, culminating in a Man vs Pie speed-eating showdown.  

Marketing: ​The pub’s PR agency, Frome-based Avalanche, oversaw the event’s branding and marketing. This year, a fictional character was also created to become the face of Pie Fest – Peter Pietrovsky, a Siberian pie maker, who became the guest of honour, compère and hosting contestant for the Man vs Pie contest. This helped generate lots of local press coverage and social media banter.

Be prepared:​ Two large marquees were erected in the pub’s beer garden. The permanent roofed smoking area became the stage for live music, with bands booked to perform all day. A neighbouring farmer also loaned his field, opposite the pub, for the bouncy castle, pony rides and Man vs Pie event.  The pub shrank its restaurant menu and, outside, offered seven varieties of mini pie.

Pay-off:​ A successful community event and PR campaign; raised funds for local charities; increased engagement with social media followers; strengthened relationships with locals and regulars; increase in follow-up bookings.

Key benefits: ​Raised profile of the pub – the event attracted extensive media coverage; attracted customers from further afield; takings more than doubled for the weekend.

Advice: ​ Mike Parkin, landlord of the Box Steam Brewery - owned freehold pub, says: “Set objectives so you can measure your event’s success. Keep it simple and make sure it’s unique but also in keeping with what your pub has to offer.”  

Best outcome:​  Approximately 300 people attended the event.

Offal lunch

Lower Royal George, Scammonden, Huddersfield, West Yorkshire

The idea: ​Lunch using different varieties of seasonal offal is organised three times a year at this freehold pub by Bob Baume, a freelance cask beer and farmhouse cider salesman for local suppliers, in partnership with owners Stephen and Margaret Lowe.

How it works: ​The starter is a broth made from offcuts of the main dishes. The buffet-style main meal has a pig’s head as the centerpiece and customers help themselves.

Marketing: ​Posters are displayed in the pub and tickets sold over the bar at £6 each. Local press has been supportive.

Be prepared: ​As offal is not to everyone’s taste, it is important to label and briefly describe the dishes.

Pay-off: ​Attracts customers both locally and from further afield who also get a chance to check out your everyday menus, tempting them to return.

Key benefits: ​Offers a valuable point of difference and talking-point.

Advice: ​Ideal accompaniments are cask beers and red wines. Wherever possible use local suppliers who can offer advertising support in return for publicising their products on the day.

Best outcome: ​In five years, footfall for the offal lunch has increased from six diners to more than 70.

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