With National No Smoking Day on 14 March, Richard Fox, author of The Food & Beer Cook Book, shows you how to
road-test simple menu ideas that will boost bar takings
Licensees are being urged to go smoke-free on national No Smoking Day - Wednesday, 14 March - to learn valuable lessons and generate extra publicity ahead of the big stub-out.
The MA has joined the organisers of national No Smoking Day to promote 14 March as an opportunity for a dry-run smoking ban.
It will give hosts an insight into the challenges of running a smoke-free pub, such as reminding customers not to light up inside and coping with more people outside. It will also help customers to get used to the ban.
In addition, it's an excuse to hold events to attract people on a traditionally quiet trading day. With the right marketing and promotion, this year's No Smoking Day is a golden opportunity to road-test your post-ban plans - all with the benefit of a national media campaign to support you.
In the light of this, it's worth putting as much thought and planning into the day as possible. At the risk of sounding melodramatic, it might just affect the rest of your life!
While soups, bar snacks and all-day dining are three categories that pretty much cover most eating eventualities, there are numerous opportunities for bespoke food offerings to give you that all-important competitive edge and USP.
A little lateral thinking here may set you off in the right direction. Perhaps look at what the local area is missing - a chip shop, pizza parlour, or Indian restaurant, and plan a themed menu on that basis.
Even with no cooking experience, minimal production facilities or meagre service equipment, you can run a pretty comprehensive line in bought-in bhajis, samosas and other Indian snacks, for example. A double deep fryer is all you need for a busy fish-and-chip service - from frozen, bought-in goujons to freshly battered, you can be running a vital community service, as well as a profitable food operation. So start getting creative.
Sandwiches and soups
Why do it
From the punter's point of view, soup and a sarnie for lunch is a winner - quick, cheap, tasty and nourishing, it ticks all the lunchtime boxes. From the licensee's angle, it's the ultimate way to maximise day-time business. The great thing about soups is that you can make them sound and taste like Michelin-starred fare without so much as wielding a knife.
On the sandwich front, it's as easy to be deliciously different as it is to trot out the old-school standards.
What you will need
On the equipment side, just one big saucepan for soup, a single hob and a stick blender or liquidiser will see you up and running. Blackboards are a fabulous way to market your lunchtime food and offer the flexibility of regular changes, while a soup kettle can be put on the bar top for lunchtime service for visual and practical effect.
Keep it simple
Concentrate on fillings and flavours that aren't the standard everywhere else - give yourself a competitive edge based on product. But don't be too left-field in your flavour selections - you don't want to come across as new-wave fusion food. Soup and sandwiches are high-profit items, so you can create meal deals combining the two in order to keep up average spend, while still offering good customer value at a trading time that's very price-driven.
Tip on making it work
Have enough plastic containers of various sizes with tight-fitting lids. This enables you to get into the good practice of down-sizing containers as you use up ingredients and
mixtures. This contributes to maintaining good food safety procedures and maximising shelf-life.
Bar snacks
Why do it
If you have no other food offering in your pub, you will inevitably have some kind of bar-snack offering, such as nuts and crisps, because they guarantee profit for virtually no effort. While the tried and tested traditional packet snacks will always provide reliable sales, a little imagination could take things to a whole new level of trade.
What you will need
A grill and portable, microwave-sized oven could easily sit on your back bar, while a small larder fridge will accommodate enough bar food to give you a good three days' trading. In other words, you don't even need a kitchen.
Keep it simple
A small number of favourite ingredients with maximum impact is key. All you're going to do is give them a slight twist to match service method and generate maximum customer interest. The key to profit is avoiding wastage, so only assemble enough finished product to last that day - you can still have mixes in the fridge at the ready if you get busy.
Tip on making it work
Be visual. Nuts and crisps are usually well displayed, but this is harder to achieve with freshly-prepared items. Keep the oven or grill visible - if only for certain trading periods - to create a point of interest and add a little theatre to proceedings.
All-day dining
Why do it
Continental influences, combined with more flexible working hours, mean that eating and drinking are no longer confined to traditional dining times and hours. Consequently, meals have evolved into smaller grazing dishes that offer greater flexibility.
It's important to embrace these ideas in order to keep pace with the competition and maximise your own trading opportunities.
What you will need
An all-day menu can be offered with nothing more than a table-top dual hob and small oven with grill. You have the choice of buying in frozen pre-prepared food or preparing your own from scratch. Chopping boards, knives and refrigeration will be standard regardless.
Keep it simple
Don't be over-ambitious - simplicity is the key and over-elaboration to be avoided. It's much better to do a small number of dishes very well, with efficient preparation and service times, than to offer an elaborate menu that flummoxes you as soon as more than two orders come in at once.
Tip on making it work
Get your pricing right. Try to calculate the cost of each dish by breaking it down into its component parts - not forgetting seasoning, herbs and other condiments. To calculate the selling price, multiply this figure by three, before adding on a further 17.7% to account for the VAT element. Remember that you can't claim VAT back on food.
Menu
Cheese and tuna crostinis, grilled until melted on mini toasts
Home-made crispy roast potato wedges served with tomato salsa and sour cream dips
Mediterranean mezze selection, offering a platter of stuffed vine leaves, hummus and samosas with vegetable crûdités
and pitta bread
Menu
Soups
Minted pea and spinach or broccoli and Stilton - all served with crunchy croutons and freshly-baked bread rolls
Sandwiches
Poached salmon and lemon crème fraîche or chicken and asparagus
All sandwiches should be freshly-prepared on the premises and try to provide with a crunchy leaf salad. They can be served as single or double-deckers.
Menu
Beef burger with roast potato wedges topped with melted blue cheese and bacon, served with
a selection of relishes
Pasta of the day, such as penne, served with a tomato and
herb sauce
Fish cakes and potato patties, deep-fried and served with
a seasonal leaf salad and
house dressing