Punch Pub Company (Spirit Group), the managed arm of Punch Taverns, is trialling several different concepts to plug gaps in its portfolio.
The company is understood to have five pubs trading as a new Fayre and Square concept offering everyday low prices. It is also believed to have a carvery concept called Roast Inn and be working on an evolution of Two for One.
The Morning Advertiser has seen the menu for Fayre & Square and no main course item is more than £8.
In fact, main courses are ranked in the under £4, under £5.50 and under £8 categories. Price points are very precise to create an absolute feeling of value — mince beef and potato pie is £3.82 and a 6oz burger is £3.91.
Desserts are mostly around the £2.25 mark although there is a sharing platter of desert for £4.15. The menu features pictures of food items — the tagline is Fayre & Square — great food and drink at great prices.
Punch Pub Company boss Mike Tye has previously indicated he planned to re-position up to one in four of the 800 managed pubs. He said that changes would range from new discreet formats to the creation of new overt customer-facing brands.
He said that the company required "one or two concepts that work well at a local level or for food."
Tye said that he and his team had been looking very closely at the carvery market and all of his competitors in a bid to revitalise his own pubs. He said in July: "Spirit is made up of a lot of really good pubs, but they weren't being optimised and a lot of the basics weren't locked down. It was obvious that Spirit was under-performing compared with a lot of its peers.
"Over a period of a number of years, a number of pubs had not been invested in. We now have a stable of brands that is incomplete.
"We have 320 local pubs and 260 are really good pubs and they all have a very clear direction. But with some of the others we weren't really clear enough about what makes a good local pub.
"Other than Chef & Brewer, there are no brand names for Spirit but we have them. I have looked at the carvery market.
"Why the hell wouldn't Spirit have a carvery? Will it be the same as a Toby? No, because you can't out-Toby a Toby.
"I don't need an exact replica. But we do need one or two concepts that work well at a local level or for food."
The former Whitbread executive has already revamped some of the 138 Chef & Brewer pubs in the Spirit estate, introduced new menus across the 800-strong business and changed the food offering at its city centre hostelries.
He also put a stop to the trial of Grill House Kitchen, the charcoal-oven concept that the company had hoped it could expand.