Claims in a national newspaper that pubs are making huge profits on food sales could deter customer from eating at their local, fears a leading pub group.
Ed Turner, operations director of Geronimo Inns, believes an article published in the Daily Telegraph at the weekend under the headline 'Gastro pubs that spend £1.16 on your meal' will mislead consumers. The article quoted figures from industry consultant Horizons FS showing the average cost of food ingredients for a British pub meal in 2006 was £1.16.
However, the article confusingly referred to 'gastro pubs', a definition not used by Horizons. The figures are based on Horizon's ongoing research into the managed pub sector, where buying deals can cover hundreds of outlets at a time, reducing unit costs.
The article went on to refer to pub food "cooked off-premises and delivered frozen", which Turner said does not match most consumers' definition of a gastro pub.
He added that Geronimo does not define its outlets as 'gastro pubs', although its food is cooked fresh on the premises by trained chefs.
"There is some fantastic work going on in pub food at the moment, and something like this doesn't do any of us any favours," said Turner. As well as companies like Geronimo as the fresh end of the market, groups like JD Wetherspoon "are doing a great job in offering good food at value for money prices."
Most pubs operate on a margin of 60 to 70 per cent on food, " so you might pay £1.60 for a starter you'd sell at a fiver, but for a main course the cost of ingredients would be anything from £2.50 to four quid."
He added that the article also "doesn't take into account the cost of employing a chef, or the running costs of the pub itself, let alone the real cost of ingredients."
Peter Backman of Horizons FS said: "The Daily Telegraph used the term 'gastropub' to include any pub that serves food. The figures excluded pubs for which food is more than 50 per cent of turnover.
"In these pubs the average food spend per meal is £2.42 and this covers pub that are not gastropubs."