Creative kitchen

Mark Taylor talks to Marty Grant and Wayne Taylor of award-winning new Bath gastropub, Gascoyne Place

Why our food business is such a success

Many variables contribute to the success of our food business. In no particular order, these include using high-quality, market-

fresh ingredients sourced from local West Country producers and we promote organic produce as much as possible.

We select animals from local producers who utilise organic husbandry practices and our fish is delivered during the night, straight from Cornish and Devon boats. Another reason for our success is our carefully-chosen wine list.

Best promotions

We offer a pre-theatre menu between 5.30pm and 7.30pm, with two courses for £13.95 and three courses for £15.95. We also do a variety of organic Sunday roasts for £8.95, served from midday to 4pm.

How we recruit and motivate staff

Recruitment has been largely by word of mouth. We motivate and retain staff by paying them well. They also receive the total service charge on larger parties, as well as cash tips. We feed our staff and offer cabs home at night. We also offer beer- and wine-tasting to our staff, along with training in customer service.

Best-selling dishes

Starters: Pan-seared scallops on medallions of crispy pork belly with a caramel chilli sauce (£7.95); black pepper squid with an Asian dipping sauce (£6.95); and garlic field mushrooms with smoked bacon, topped with Stilton (£5.50).

Main courses: Rainbow Wood Farm fillet steak, topped with a Bath Blue cheese rarebit, smoked garlic mash, spinach and a thyme jus (£21.95); slow-roast belly of pork with sage mash and a cider glaze (£12.95); and rack of lamb served on parsnip purée with a

rosemary jus (£13.95).

Desserts: Warm chocolate pudding with a bitter chocolate oil (£5.95); baked white chocolate cheesecake with poached strawberries (£5.50); and baked Alaska with fig ice cream and a raspberry glaze (£5.50).

Menu

We have a strong, creative kitchen brigade with five chefs and our menus change daily. We offer four daily menus, including a lunch, dinner and bar menu.

As we are situated opposite the Bath Theatre Royal, which is regarded as one of the best theatres outside London, we also run a two- or three-course pre-theatre option, which has proved very successful. Our modern British menu is seasonal and very affordable, with a choice of five starters, five main courses and five desserts on the à la carte.

We work within a GP of 55% to 65%, depending on the dish in question, but hitting 50% to 55% is acceptable because we pay more for our quality ingredients. We try to keep our pricing competitive so that customers can enjoy two or three courses with wine for about £25 to £30 per head. The more profitable menu items are side dishes, home-made soups and desserts and our own, locally-caught fish.

Wine list

We are proud of our wine list, which has almost 70 wines. Many are sourced directly from the producers, including Chateau de la Tuilerie, which was selected by Decanter magazine as one of the 100 best wines in the world. The chateau owners are our friends and we have 1,500 bottles that we sell as our house wine at just £13.95 per bottle.

We also have some great wines from Italy and even India - a Chenin Blanc that knocks spots off its Australian and South African counterparts.

We stock Chapel Down English wine, which we buy directly from source, and also the Bacchus - an English wine usually only found on first-class Virgin flights!

For customers who want to spend more money, we have connoisseur wines, including Chateau Latour, Penfolds Grange 1998 and Opus One. As for the rest of our drinks offering, we serve draught Erdinger, Weissbier, Dunkel and Grolsch, plus draught Black Sheep, Abbot Ale and local Butcombe Bitter.

Best investment made in the past 12 months

One of the best bits of kit we invested in would have to be our Posmaster till system. Because Gascoyne Place has many rooms over several floors and food is available throughout the building, the till system is absolutely vital for effective communication between the different service areas. We have a main bar, snug bar and mezzanine.

In addition to those, we have two first-

floor fine-dining rooms catering for 40 people and a large downstairs lounge. All six areas operate with table service as required. Plate rings have proved invaluable for the service of larger tables in our dumb waiter.

Marketing and PR

Although we haven't used a PR company, we've picked up reviews in local magazines and newspapers.

We opened at the end of July 2006 and, gratifyingly, the pub has already won two awards: it was voted Bath Bar of the Year in Venue magazine and took runner-up prize for Best Gastropub in the south-west edition of Metro

newspaper.

Our fillet/sirloin steak dish has just been put forward for a national food award. We attract healthy business from customers who find us through independent website food reviews. Word of mouth has also worked well for us.

Future plans

We hope to develop the business, particularly the food side, through the major food publications and national press coverage. When our interactive website is up and running in the near future, it will be updated daily with all our menus.

We will expand links with local food

producers and continue to promote locally-sourced produce.

Tips for delivering excellent customer service

A happy, cohesive staff team creates a service environment that goes a long way to giving customers that little bit extra. Keep surprising your customers and they will keep coming back for more.

Pub facts

Owners: Gascoyne Place is owned by Marty Grant and Wayne Taylor. The building has a long-life lease from Bath & North East Somerset Council

Number of staff: 23

GP food: 54%

GP drink: 66%

Covers per week: 600-700

Food sales as % of turnover: 38