News

Fail to plan: 10 tips to five-star hygiene

10 ways to fail a food hygiene inspection

By Nicholas Robinson

Attaining a five-star food hygiene rating not only instils trust in your diners, but it can also help operators with best practice in the kitchen.

Cost rises: a plethora of food categories have seen an increase in prices

Ingredients prices continue to soar

By Nikkie Thatcher

Food prices saw month-on-month rises in May, according to the latest edition of the CGA Prestige Foodservice Price Index.

Sweet like: chocolate was a very popular ingredient on MasterChef

Are you cooking like a MasterChef?

By Nikkie Thatcher

The most popular ingredients used on MasterChef have been revealed meaning pub operators can find out if they are cooking like the contestants.

Street life: set out your stall correctly and your business could be making money through food inspired by the streets

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How to make street food work for your pub

By Nikkie Thatcher

As the stigma of unsafe street food is replaced with the notion of amazing flavours and unexplored eating possibilities, operators can look into how to make the most of what is on offer.

Saucy request: operators have their say on charging customers for additional gravy (image credit: Griffin24/gettyimages.co.uk)

Should you charge diners for extra gravy?

By Nikkie Thatcher

Following a Twitter debate about a Merseyside restaurant charging £1 for gravy, The Morning Advertiser spoke with operators to find out if they had a policy on making diners pay for extras.

Safety warning: top tips on avoiding listeria in food at your premises (image: Getty images)

How not to kill your customers with listeria

By Nikkie Thatcher

Experts have given advice on how pub kitchens can avoid becoming a haven for listeria following an outbreak where hospital patients died after eating sandwiches.

Time to relax? Cannabis is said to have many health benefits

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The rising trend of cannabis-infused food and drink

By Nikkie Thatcher

With attitudes towards cannabis softening in some parts of the world in recent years, there are many new ideas about how to use the plant – including adding it to drinks.

Taste of success: the Sportsman in Seasalter, Kent, won Gastropub of the Year at the 2019 Estrella Damm National Restaurant Awards

12 of the top 100 UK restaurants are pubs

By Nikkie Thatcher

More than a 10th of the top 100 restaurants, which was announced at the Estrella Damm National Restaurant Awards last night (10 June), are pubs.

Taste sensation: Mr Fogg’s has an Indian fusion menu to go with its gin brunch offer this summer

Bottomless gin brunch, anyone?

By Robert Mann

Inception Group, the London-based restaurant and bar operator, has launched a new bottomless brunch – filled with gin and cocktails.

Less formal approach: Sally Abé is the head chef at the Michelin-starred Harwood Arms

Classic cooking is our trend, say gastropub chefs

By Nicholas Robinson

Gastropub chefs are shouting loud and proud about the fact their businesses are booming through their focus on classic cooking, as well as fresh and local ingredients.

To deliver or not to deliver?: Is delivery an opportunity or a threat to pubs?

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Food delivery: disaster or opportunity for pubs?

By Nicholas Robinson

Pubs are failing to tap into the rising food delivery trend, with only a few pub companies adopting it, despite it cannibalising the eating-out market and growing by 13% to a value of £8.1bn, new analysis has claimed.

Operators’ viewpoints: (left to right) panellists Alice Bowyer, Nicola Arrow and Pete Hughes on vegan options

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3 operators on evolving a vegetarian offer

By Nicholas Robinson

The trend towards reduced or no meat intake among consumers is set to continue and even grow, but getting the offer right can be tricky, explained three leading operators with a keen eye on the trend.

Pay and display: There’s not a lot worse than no-shows at your premises – your site is empty, staff are doing very little and there’s no money to pay them

Spotlight

Should pubs use deposits to tackle no-shows?

By Nikkie Sutton

Customers that fail to arrive after booking a table are a bugbear for operators across the hospitality trade but could charging a deposit be the answer to this problem?

Tragic event: a customer died after choking while dining at the Barley Mow in Friskney, Lincolnshire (image credit: Alex McGregor)

Diner chokes to death on pub lunch

By Nikkie Sutton

A customer at a Lincolnshire pub died after he choked on his lunch earlier this year (13 January) a coroner has confirmed.

Harsher penalties: According to NFU Mutual there are more than 10,000 outlets with a food hygiene rating of one or zero

Average food safety and hygiene fine rises by £4,900

By Stuart Stone

New research by Government agency the Sentencing Council has found the number of fines and prosecutions for food safety and hygiene offences has more than doubled since the introduction of new sentencing guidelines.

Quids in: a pub is serving a Sunday roast for less than the price of a packet of pork scratchings

Is this the cheapest Sunday lunch in Britain?

By Robert Mann

With pub roast dinners in Britain generally costing between £10 and £20 – one pub appears to be bucking the trend after claims it sells the ‘cheapest Sunday lunch in England’.

Cure from UK? A swine flu crisis in Africa has hit the Chinese bacon market

Bacon prices on the rise

By Nikkie Sutton

Bacon prices could be about to soar thanks to increased demand on British stock from China, according to research.

Social impact: guest editor Heath Ball believes social media has made the whole experience of eating out a soulless, faceless transaction

Analysis

Is social media creating unrealistic expectations around food?

By Robert Mann

With an unprecedented rise in social media use, TV food shows and a younger generation becoming the heavy hitter of purchasing, are customers expecting too much of the difficult and time-consuming skill of cooking? In this Spotlight, commissioned by The...

Peaks and troughs: independent and branded pubs continue battle for footfall

Managed pub traffic boost contrary to independent decline

By Nicholas Robinson

Independent pub operators have taken a further hit in the food footfall battle, as branded operations increased custom despite an overall market decline, potentially drawing further attention to pubcos strengthening their managed estates.

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