Peak practice

Mark Taylor looks at how to prepare for catering rush hours

With the August bank holiday approaching, pubs are already gearing up for one of their

busiest weekends of the year.

Like Saturday nights and summer Sundays, bank holidays are a key date in licensees' diaries.

During such peak periods, many pubs see an influx of walk-in customers in search of food - so it's a great opportunity to boost profits significantly.

So what's the best way to prepare for such a sudden increase in customers and still

provide a quality dining experience without imposing lengthy waiting times?

The key to successfully coping with peak periods is knowing your market and

predicting customers' wishes successfully.

If you are screening a major sporting event in the pub, customers will probably be more interested in what's in their glass than what's on their plate, so don't try offering a three-course meal when cheap, quick bar food such as hot dogs, burgers or bowls of chips will keep them happy. Done well, good quality bar snacks can still make a healthy GP.

Preparation is also key to serving a successful menu at peak times. Make sure your kitchen has an extra pair of hands to help chefs prepare dishes in advance.

Keep menus short and simple: waiting staff should be in constant dialogue with the kitchen and ensure that food is served efficiently.

For customers there's nothing worse than waiting an hour for food, especially if they have hungry, impatient children in tow.

Ten ways to cater effectively for peak periods

1 Reduce the size of your menu during

peak periods

2 Take complicated dishes off the menu

in favour of simpler meals

3 Make sure you are fully staffed front-of-house and in the kitchen

4 Introduce a proper ordering system

5 Keep customers fully informed about waiting times

6 Run a self-service buffet or carvery to reduce pressure on the kitchen

7 Offer customers items such as salads or sandwiches, which are quick to prepare and serve

8 Don't take more orders than the kitchen can cope with

9 On sporting occasions, serve finger- food such as hot dogs or sandwiches

10 For peak periods, create a special set menu, which can be prepped in advance

Fast and efficient

Sarah Haynes, manager, Barge Inn, Seend, Wiltshire

We're situated right beside the canal so we tend to be busy throughout the summer, with many people coming in for food as much as our real ales.

On busy bank holiday weekends or sunny summer days, we can do up to 200 covers for lunch and 150 in the evening, so we have to be prepared and ensure full staffing.

This is a Wadworth pub and the brewery recently installed a barbecue to help take pressure off the kitchen during our busiest times. Soon we'll introduce a separate

barbecue menu.

Another useful way to tackle busy times is to make sure we don't book out all our tables. We ensure we don't take two bookings at the same time for tables kept for reservations.

We do our best to minimise lengthy waiting times, but telling them how long the food will take, or what the situation is, usually keeps customers happy.

We limit our Sunday menu to two roasts and a limited version of our weekday menu. We also do baguettes, sandwiches and pies, which can be made in advance. They're often big sellers during our busiest times.

Crowd-pullers

Leon Mace, manager, Lifeboat Inn, Thornham, Norfolk

Bank holidays are always very busy here. Last Easter Sunday, we did 360 covers between midday and 2.30pm, and about 300 in the evening for bar food - that was one of our busiest ever days.

Because people don't always book, it's worth being prepared for an influx at any time on bank holidays and weekends. We're a mile from the beach so crowds often arrive at 5.30pm after their day out.

We do our best to sit them down, fetch their drinks and keep them informed about any waiting times for food. As long as communication between bar staff and the kitchen is good, things should run fairly smoothly.

We keep a record of how many covers we do each day - we'll look up last year's sheet to see how many people came in on certain days and make sure we have enough staff in the bar and in the kitchen.

We're so accustomed to big numbers during peak periods that we become better prepared each year. Our efficiency grows as time goes on because we know what to expect. Key issues for the kitchen are prepping and making sure that the menu contains dishes that don't take long to serve. One top-selling dish is our pre-made fish pie. It takes about 15 to 20 minutes to reheat and serve - ideal for busy days.

Local seasonal mussels sell well, but we take them off at peak times such as bank holidays - if 20 people order them, that takes up most of the space on the stoves.

Meet, greet and seat

Vanessa Arnett, owner, Swan at the Vineyard, Lamberhurst, Kent

We're swamped on summer weekends and bank holidays and can cater for 65 people inside and 150 in the garden. We try to steady it up for the kitchen - rather than having a queuing system for ordering at the bar, we offer a "meet, greet and seat" table service, including garden service. This lets the customer sit down, while we take drinks orders and give them the menus.

We try to control the situation so that we can monitor orders coming in and check the kitchen isn't overstretched.

Our server-sheet system logs customers' arrival times, table numbers and covers required, which course they order, and the time orders were placed and food delivered to tables. It sounds complicated but it's such a simple piece of paper - and it acts as our bible on our busiest days.

We effectively monitor the progress of each table throughout the whole service. We tried the wooden-spoon system with people queuing at the till, but it caused chaos.

When they're offered table service, people can relax while they watch their kids in the garden. It's much more pleasant for them - and for us. In the kitchen, we have a prep chef who comes in on weekends and bank holidays. That really helps reduce the pressure on our other chefs.