Good month bad month
Good month for...
Farmers: Orchid carveries are offering the UK's farmers the chance to dine for free at one of its 39 carveries. Development manager Sharon Hammond says: "We appreciate how hard the lambing season is for our British farmers and we hope this shows our genuine and continued commitment to our British farming community."
Soup lovers: Knorr is giving readers the chance to win £1,000 for showing off their sexy soup ideas. It could be an unusual variety, creative topping, use of locally-sourced ingredients or quirky presentation. Three finalists will be shortlisted for a visit from the Knorr team and the winner will walk away with £1,000, a Knorr hamper and two All-Clad pans. To enter, download an entry form from ?.unileverfoodsolutions.co.uk.
Afternoon bargain hunters: JD Wetherspoon has introduced a £2.99 fish and chip offer. The deal is available from Monday to Friday 2pm to 5pm and includes bread and butter and a cup of tea.
Novelli lovers: The French chef is opening a "Touch of Novelli" at the French Horn in Steppingley, near Woburn, Bedfordshire. It is the second of his 10 planned gastropubs.
His first pub opened in January 2006.
Bad month for...
Food pubs: Pubs are losing out to takeaways, as the credit crunch continues to impact consumer spending. The latest QuickBite consumer eating-out survey, carried out for market analyst FMCG, showed that Chinese takeaways were more popular than pubs meals when it came to eating out. In a period covering dining-out occasions like Valentine's Day and Mother's Day, the total number of meals eaten in pubs was less, compared to the same quarter last year.
Pubs that rely on bottled water sales:
The Government and the UK's biggest water provider are urging the hospitality industry to offer free tap water to customers as a matter of course. The initiative could be bad news for upmarket food-led pubs where the selling of bottled water at a high mark-up is an important revenue stream.
Soft drinks sales: The worst summer on record and the effects of the smoking ban are said to have seriously damaged soft drink sales, according to research published. The latest state-of-trade report from Britvic, says that soft drink sales only grew by 1.3% to £2.4bn last year.
