Did you know that a staggering 38,000 tonnes of chips are eaten every week? No? Then perhaps that's just the sort of blindingly useful information you should be passing on to customers.
There can surely be no more appropriate way to celebrate the chip's status as a pub icon than by holding a chip-themed pub quiz during National Chip Week 2007. Running from Monday, February 12 to Sunday, February 18, National Chip Week is an opportunity for pubs to run chiptastic events and menus, generating excitement as well as boosting profits.
The British Potato Council (BPC) is making life easy for publicans at www.potatoesforcaterers.co.uk where there's a unique downloadable Chip Week quiz and a whole host of inspirational chip serving suggestions for its own Chip Week celebrations.
BPC marketing executive Caroline Evans says: "National Chip Week has been gathering momentum in recent years and is now a firmly established calendar event that pubs can really benefit from.
"Our hugely popular Chip Quiz is back online for publicans to use to hold their own dedicated quiz night, all about the tasty chip. And why not add some of our unusual chip dish suggestions to menus, such as stir fry chips, chilli con chips and a chip and mushy pea omelette, to name a few?"
Chip Week giveaway: Pot the brown
National Chip Week is an opportunity to celebrate the Great British Chip. Why not show customers you take your condiment offering seriously and introduce HP Brown Sauce?
HP is the preferred brown sauce brand with 23.8 million bottles being sold each year, and it is now available in four formats: HP 12g Sachet, HP Stick, HP Dip Pot and HP SqueezMe.
The unique and distinctive taste, made from a blend of fruits, spices and malt vinegar, is a perfect accompaniment to a portion of chips.
To celebrate National Chip Week, Heinz Foodservice is giving away a fantastic hamper of 'Famous Brown' gifts, which includes a £50 voucher for Browns Hotel in London, a selection of Molton Brown products, and a case of 200 sachets of the famous HP Sauce.
To enter, answer this question:
The HP in HP Sauce stands for:
- A: Honestly Provided
- B: Heroically Pleasurable
- C: Houses of Parliament.
Send your answer, name, pub name and address to HP Sauce Giveaway, Pub Food, The Publican, Ludgate House, 245 Blackfriars Road, London SE1 9UY, or email the same information to pubfood@thepublican.com. Closing date is Monday, February 12.
Chip Week survey
How do you eat yours? To celebrate National Chip Week, potato products supplier Farm Frites commissioned a survey asking pubs and other caterers how they like to eat their chips.
The findings showed that chunky chips are the preferred type, with 55 per cent of voters selecting this style, compared with the 35 per cent who selected normal and the 10 per cent who selected wedges.
When asked what the most popular accompaniment for chips was in their business, 70 per cent of respondents said tomato ketchup was the favourite. This confirmed TNS Family Food Panel data published in July last year.
However, in a twist that shows that the trade is thinking all the time about new serving styles, the most popular accompaniment among the caterers polled was salt and vinegar, which attracted 40 per cent of the votes, followed by mayonnaise with 35 per cent. Just five per cent of caterers said they would choose tomato ketchup with their chips.
National Chip Week will recognise chips as a national treasure and to help treasure the moment Farm Frites is offering a box of Nature's Goodness chips to the first 10 readers to email suzi@proactivecommunications.co.uk.