by Jo Bruce
A new menu has been rolled out across Wayside Inns as part of a major catering shake-up.
The changes are the most significant to be made since Greene King bought 39 sites from Laurel 18 months ago.
There are now 48 Wayside sites, with 10 sites converted from the Greene King estate, and plans to open another 15.
Four Greene King sites have been converted to Waysides, with the Riverside in Branston, Staffordshire, the next opening.
Around 90% of dishes on the menu have been changed. Clare Gane, Greene King's inns marketing manager, said: 'The focus of this menu was in offering well-balanced dishes containing quality ingredients, as well as more indulgent dishes and quality pub food.'
Food will now be served until 10pm at all sites.
The menu changes follow £18,000 of consumer research by Greene King. The core menu will change twice a year, with a 'specials bank' of around 100 dishes altering four times a year to reflect seasonality.
A new 'house specialities' section is also included, where each house manager can choose four dishes from a central bank to include on their pub's menu.
Vegetable accompaniments will also change every six weeks. New dishes on the menu include beef brisket in an onion marmalade gravy (£10.95), haddock and prawn fish pie (£8.95), Aberdeen Angus and red wine pie (£7.95), slow-cooked Welsh lamb (£7.95), scampi and chips (£6.45), house all-day brunch (£7.75) and rhubarb crumble (£3.75).
Menus also feature each pub's history and are printed daily with that date. There is also a stronger focus on UK provenance with a number of specialist producers, such as Tracklements in Wiltshire and Dartmouth Smokehouse, now supplying Wayside.
The company is also planning to standardise its service style across all sites with 'part service' - where customers order their main meal at the bar but are served desserts, additional drinks and coffees at their table at all sites from May onwards.
A new wine menu will be introduced in January, and new staff uniforms have also been introduced.