FEATURE: From Faulty Towers to food-filled film nights, guests want experiences

OK, that may be a take on Basil Fawlty who was talking about the Germans in the famous sitcom Fawlty Towers but theatre while eating at pubs is becoming a big thing – and plenty of pubs are latching on to the concept and running with it.

Faulty Towers – The Dining Experience is a theatre show starring actors playing Basil, his long-suffering wife Sybil and Manuel the Spanish waiter that is combined with great food and can be done at any pretty much any pub – and has been operating up and down the UK for a staggering 30 years.

Jared Harford, executive producer of the Faulty Towers event by Immersive Theatre, explains New Zealander Alison Pollard-Mansergh came up with the idea of combining her theatre show based on the BBC show and her experience of running a restaurant.

“It started out as three people having some fun and then it’s grown into this massive thing that’s still going 30 years later,” Harford says. “Everything organised to a tee so there are things that go wrong, obviously, but the work that happens behind the scenes to make sure that what happens on stage – there’s no actual stage – is safe.”

He is keen to state after guests arrive, they go to the bar area, order drinks and then the actors come out. And they are always on the floor in some capacity, whether it’s acting out scenes or having one-on-one chats with each table.

All that’s needed for a pub is to have a large-ish size area and a meal service. “It works in pubs all the time,” he says. “Unless we’re going to be somewhere for a week or two weeks, we’re very used to just doing one night here and there and the beauty of the show is that everything fits in the suitcase. We’ve done restaurants, hotels, golf clubs, pubs, underground bars and we’ve done proper theatre stages like the Royal Albert Hall and Sydney Opera House.”

It is ideal for midweek at pubs because in Australia – where Harford is from – early weekdays are a tough time for pubs to thrive but that’s the timeslot for how the show began its life.

The show has been in hundreds of pubs in the UK, he says. “It’s so straightforward. Either the pub gets in contact with us or we’ll be on the lookout for different places to go. It’s really simple. All we need is either a function suite, a restaurant, or, you know, sometimes even just the main pub area itself, as long as it’s just got a nice open space where you can fit around about 80 to 120 people. That’s the ideal number.

“There needs to be a bar and the pub needs to prepare a three-course meal. They can prepare whatever they want but the entree course is always a soup, that’s our only rule.”

How does pricing work? There are three options. The theatre group can take a set fee for the night, so the pub sells the tickets, takes that money plus all the bar revenue; the second option is a split, so the theatre company will take X amount plus X amount of ticket sales; or the third option is a negotiation for the meal price with the venue and the theatre sells all the tickets, keeps that revenue, and pays the pub for the meals, so the bar gets all wet sales for itself.

“Once the show’s finished, they’ll stay and keep drinking,” Harford says. “The likelihood of them heading straight home is very slim. And it’s likely we’ll be coming back with our Sherlock Holmes or James Bond show as well.”

If a pub has accommodation, the event can reap more sales with higher spend, of course.

Sheer Luck Holmes and Live & Let Dine

So… hang on.. what was that about Sherlock and Bond? Well, Immersive Theatre also has other productions called Sheer Luck Holmes and Live & Let Dine.

Immersive Theatre UK venue bookings & tour assistant Kat Mary explains the follow-up shows were created using the already successful Faulty Towers model.

A venue will receive downloadable marketing materials and extensive production support prior to the show, she states, and they also receive a thorough briefing from the team who work with the venue to ensure the space is used in a way that works for both the staff and customers.

“We then give the chef and catering team set cues for the food service, and the evening runs like a well-oiled machine,” Mary says. “Once venues have had success with Faulty and see how simple it is to run and how adaptable it is to varied spaces, they are then keen to try other shows as audiences who loved Faulty will undoubtably say ‘what’s next?’”

Bond and Sheer Luck were designed with similar timings and logistics to ensure venues felt comfortable and confident that they know the set up and know it works. A lot of the time, the cast are familiar faces because we use the same actors across shows.

Mary adds: “We end up becoming a regular returning gig for the customers who recognise us from our different guises and a buzz starts the build. It is lovely returning to local pubs where we are treated like returning friends and we recognise locals who support the shows, the pub and the interactive dining concept.”

The ticket prices depend on the area but for a two-hour show and a three-course meal, prices are around the £50 to £65 mark but it can vary.

Taste Film at The Parlour

The Parlour, which sits at No.91 on the Top 50 Gastropubs list, is headed by chef-patron Jesse Dunford Wood, who has a partnership with Taste Film at the Kensal Rise, London, site and has done so since 2017.

Extremely detailed and carried out with high precision, the collaboration works by Taste Film setting up screenings of a number of movies and the food that appears in the film is recreated and served to customers at the exact moment it appears on celluloid.

The Parlour shows seven screenings per week – all with food included – on weekdays. At first, the site struggled to even give tickets away but now every service is sold out.

Dunford Wood explains Taste Film sorts out all the licensing, ticketing, prints menus and sticky labels for pots and squeezy bottles, etc. while the Parlour makes and delivers all the food. Together, they decide on which films are shown and the food needed – and both parties share the revenue.

He jokes: “Everyone’s looking for experience-led evenings so that works well for the younger generation that don’t want to actually talk to their date.”

On some of the food The Parlour has made to match the films, Dunford Wood says: “We’ve done food on fire for Snatch, we’ve done edible s**t for Trainspotting, we’ve done chocolate frogs for Harry Potter and a Pure Imagination lickable wallpaper for Charlie & The Chocolate Factory.”

So could a pub that isn’t on so skilled in its food and timing of delivery to a diner be able to match The Parlour’s feats? “Absolutely no chance!” Dunford Wood exclaims. “They could certainly put a film but we time service to the exact scene. If it’s 23 minutes in and the lickable wallpaper scene is on, we deliver it at 22-and-a-half minutes so that they can lick the wallpaper at the same time as it takes place in the movie. It’s intense.”

Tickets for a Tase Film event at the Parlour cost between £87.50 and £100. “It is worth the effort and the sacrifice of giving [Taste Film] a revenue share because they help fill it because we create it and they market it, so it works well,” he adds.

There is some audience participation involved on a Taste Film screening, which includes lighting of sparklers, customers mixing their own drinks, flaming their marshmallows to name a few things.

Dunford Wood says customers may come in a little earlier to create extra drink sales and may linger after the film but “it’s a very intense, expensive and interactive experience – and that is what they come for”.

Murder Mystery Suppers at Chestnut Group

Chestnut Group, which won Best Accommodation Operator in this year’s Publican Awards, has all the bases covered and the sphere of the immersive dining experience is taken care of via its Murder Mystery Suppers.

Head of marketing Georgina Coakley explains the offer began with outdoor theatre from third party regional entertainment provider – The Pantaloons. She says the initial theatre offers that ran in summer were well received and began to think about how to create a similar experience for its guests in autumn – and also a reason for people to visit in midweek.

“Murder Mystery Suppers made sense – interactive, entertaining and tied in food and drink,” Coakley states. “We sell tickets for the suppers online. They include the performance and a three-course supper, drinks are incremental. The Pantaloons are in their fourth summer entertaining guests in our gardens and will be going in their third autumn of Murder Mystery Suppers with us.”

She adds Chestnut is always on the hunt for ways to add to the guest experience within its pubs and hotels after reaching out to The Pantaloons, their partnership is going from strength to strength with more than 400 tickets sold to its outdoor theatre events this summer while the Murder Mystery Suppers take place in early spring and then again in autumn.

The evenings are available for guests at most of its 20-plus sites but has noticed its coastal locations won’t sell as well as its rural places in the lower season.

However, footfall and sales both increase when the events are on and the business opts for dates and times such as early evening start times with 6pm arrivals and on weekdays rather than weekends, which boosts midweek trade and increases dwell time.

The food on offer is important all the time at Chestnut. Coakley says: “It’s always key for us – from Monday breakfast to Sunday lunch so for experiences like this its second nature for our kitchens – the important element is to agree the menu in good time so that our guests can see what their options will be on the night. Then of course, the entertainment is equally important – together they make a memorable experience for our guests.”

Bar and food sales are retained by the pub with the theatre company taking a pre-agreed price per guest, which is later invoiced. Drinks are not included in the ticket price for two reasons: 1) to keep prices accessible and 2) to give guests choice, so they may want to share a bottle or they may be driving a and prefer something with low or no alcohol. Tickets are sold online and they include a three-course supper, which is a selection from each pub’s main menu.

Coakley adds: “Added experience and value for our guests has never been so important – experiential visits and events are nothing new but we have definitely seen a bigger appetite for something different and there is no reason rural pubs and hotels should be a step behind the immersive experiences found in London.”

Childhood menu at Six by Nico

Restaurant group Six By Nico is not missing out either as people search for an experience rather than just a meal.

The business that operates sites in 11 UK cities is currently running its Childhood menu. Costing £60 in London and Oxford and £49 at its other venues, nostalgic moments will be invoked for all who dine there until 12 July.

The six-course running order comprises Egg & Soldier, Cheesy Beans on Toast, Sausage & Mash, Crisp Fish Finger Sandwich, Chicken Nuggets & Fries with Ketchup and finally Jam Roly-Poly.

Of course, they a much-elevated version of the kids’ favourites with the beans of toast offer being ‘nduja, white bean, romesco and confit garlic, for example, and the Jam Roly-Poly consisting of butterscotch ‘Angel Delight’, strawberry, almond sponge and basil sorbet.

But there’s a twist that any operator can add on. In fact, there’s two… all courses have different wine pairings that can be added for a total of £30 per person and there are snacks and add-ons in terms of extra food options. For example, you may want Mozzarella Sticks (£8 extra) as a snack before the first course or you may want to add Fish Finger ‘Doughnut’ (£6 extra) to go with the fish finger sandwich that is made from brandade, tartare sauce, salt & vinegar potato.

Giving the option of an experience is key to diversification in a hospitality scenario that is very tough currently so all operators need to look at how they can ensure their business thrives.

So although the duck’s off, your gourmet nights can give calamitous comedies of an experience a damn good thrashing.