Snacks Focus: Top tapas and super sharers

Offering customers a platter to share can be a great way of boosting sales, as it can appeal to groups of customers who may not have planned to eat at all, and certainly don't want a main meal. This type of food not only keeps your customers happy, its presence can also help to encourage more responsible drinking.

The British Pig Executive (BPEX) can offer a range of serving suggestions for pork products which are an ideal meat choice for any platter. These include chipolata sausages, riblettes (small pork ribs) and tasty pork meatballs. Pork is cost effective, as well as being easy to cook and versatile.

BPEX foodservice trade manager Tony Goodger says: "Platters to share are ideal for pubs, providing bite-sized finger foods that are easy to eat and relatively mess-free.

"Pork features heavily in dishes that are ideally suited to Spanish 'tapas'-style food, which is becoming increasingly popular throughout Britain. A traditional Spanish tapas includes Albondigas - pork mince meat balls in a tomato sauce, tortilla, olives, sautéed mushrooms, chorizo, vegetables and more. However, publicans can develop their own combinations to suit demand and budgets.

"Other great options for platters to share include a variety of flavoured chipolata sausages, British-produced air-dried ham and Montada de Lomo, which is pork loin slices marinated in garlic and paprika, flash-grilled and served on garlic bread."

Sandwiches and hot snacks are also great additions to "light-bite" menus. Sliced cooked meats rank among the most popular fillers for out-of-home sandwiches, and ham has a wider appeal than other sliced meats. A range of cures, smokes and varieties provide different intensities of taste, and ham sandwiches can easily be enhanced by accompaniments such as mustards and pickles.

Tony adds: "Ham dominates the sliced cooked meats sector representing 50 per cent of the entire market, proving that it is a very popular choice among consumers.

"An ideal way to differentiate your sandwiches is to ensure that premium quality ingredients are used, especially with regards to bread and filling, such as ham. Consumers consider 'real' ham - which has either been sliced off the bone or cooked from whole muscle meat - to be much more desirable than processed ham."

By contrast to ham, pork is currently under-represented on sandwich and lunch menus despite being ideal for healthy eating and a great source of protein and vitamins. A pork recipe booklet produced by BPEX is available free of charge to caterers. It contains innovative recipes to help them respond to the growing demand for healthy snack dishes, including a Pork, Apple and Stilton Burger, Pork Satay with Raita and Mexican-style Pork with Tortilla Chips.

All recipes are ideal for lunchtime snacks as well as lighter options at dinner time, and include full costs for both individual and wholesale production as well as serving suggestions.

Sausages are also growing in popularity as a sandwich filler. British Sausage Week, which runs from October 30 to November 5, is a great time to launch a new sausage sandwich menu, likely to be very popular at bonfire night parties.

Top tapas​

Greene King has introduced a successful tapas menu into its town local pubs across its managed division. The concept is Spanish - with customers choosing several small dishes to share - but the food itself is traditionally British.

Cumberland sausage, scampi and onion rings all feature. Priced at £1.65 a dish or three for £4.65, they offer customers a way to satisfy their hunger without sitting down to a full meal.

Similarly, customers choosing from the light bites can order a sharing combo featuring pub favourites such as chicken goujons, breaded mushrooms and garlic bread. Greene King also has a hugely-popular charcuterie deli board which offers slices of Wiltshire ham, chorizo and salami along with stilton, paté and ciabatta.

"Providing bar snacks is an excellent way to drive profit," says David Scott, food marketing controller for Greene King Pub Company. "The casual dining trend is becoming really prominent - customers oftenwant a light bite that they can snack on rather than a full sit-down meal, and with the change in licensing laws, this opportunity has been increased even further."

Best beef​

David's view is echoed by Hugh Judd, foodservice project manager of the English Beef and Lamb Executive (EBLEX). "There is a real opportunity to profit from customers who prefer to eat light bites and snacks, rather than a large lunchtime or evening meal," says Hugh. "A good way to develop your bar menu is to start by scaling down the portion sizes of your popular favourites and making them into a format that is easy for people to eat with their fingers, or just a fork."

Classic sharing dishes such as tortillas topped with chilli beef mince, jalapeno peppers, sour cream and guacamole are not only hugely popular but are easy to prepare and store. This is a great dish to have on the menu as the chilli beef can also be served as a main meal option with rice or a jacket potato.

Hugh adds: "Mini cheeseburgers, placed on small rounds of bread, are a great way to use up spare beef or lamb mince. The beef version can be served with a tangy tomato salsa and the lamb garnished with a simple minted mayonnaise making these little bites ideal for customers of all ages to share. Bite-size steak pies are another novel way to make use of leftover pastry trimmings and a delicious steak pie filling is simple to prepare with the off-cuts from other main meals."

Under wraps​

The recent survey which suggested that more that 50 per cent of pubs and bars in Scotland saw a decrease in wet-led sales with the introduction of the smoking ban, should be the spur for pubs south of the border to explore opportunities to profits.

Ian Stone, business development director of Apetito Foodservice, comments: "The importance of offering a food menu to increase turnover has never been so great. Just through serving a simple snack menu, traditionally wet-Iled pubs can offer customers a reason to stay for longer - resulting in increased profits."

Apetito offers a portfolio of pastries with fillings ranging from steak, chicken and mushroom to the more contemporary Thai chicken and Bombay potato. While normally associated with well-loved pub main courses such as steak and ale pie, the role of pastry dishes should not be overlooked when reviewing your bar snacks menu.

Simple to heat and serve, and without the need for a trained chef, the Apetito range means publicans are not restricted to traditional kitchen hours and can maximise food sales right up to closing time.

Apetito Foodservice: 01225 756000, www.apetito.com

BPEX: To receive a free copy of the

BPEX Pork Snacks booklet, contact

Karen Eaton on 01908 844 114 or visit www.porkforcaterers.com

EBLEX: www.eblex.org.uk