Match point: summer food and drink ideas

PubChef looks at ideas for driving drinks sales around summer food.

Beer & food​

Offer a drink as part of a deal such as a burger and summer salad or a sharing board and a glass of wine for a set price. At Urban & Country Leisure's Plough at Cobham, Surrey, every Wednesday night is ladies' night, when a sharing board for two and a bottle of wine is on offer for £12.95.

Drive beer sales around a small -plates offer, where customers can order three small dishes such as olives, dips or cured meats with a beer such as Peroni, San Miguel or Budweiser Budvar for a set price.

Create theatre by carving sliced Italian meats in front of customers. For an English version, why not offer Richard Woodall's Cumbrian air- dried ham. Sharing plates or British tapas are ideal for early-evening diners or those who have just come in for a drink, but may be tempted to increase their spend by having food.

Summer cocktails​

Offer a range of summer cocktails and make sure they are well- promoted at the bar and on drinks lists on tables. For a refreshing long drink, why not offer the long mojito with fresh lime, mint & sugar with white rum and topped up with soda) or a mojito royale of fresh lime, mint and sugar with Appleton VX and topped up with Champagne.

Keep your offer fresh by promoting a cocktail of the day. Communicate to customers that you take your drinks offer as seriously as your food and change it seasonally by marketing your drinks as your summer house cocktails. Link in cocktail ideas to events, such as driving cosmopolitans around the launch of Sex & The City 2 or a Feelin' Fabio during the World Cup.

Punch bowls are still on-trend this summer and are ideal for customers to enjoy with a sharing platter. At Drake & Morgan's Anthologist in London, punch bowls include skinny pink gin and island mango.

It is also worth promoting aperitifs such as a glass of prosecco or kir royale on your food menu to encourage diners to treat themselves while waiting for their starters to arrive.

Long drinks​

Summer events are a key time to drive sales of long drinks with food, such as pitchers of sangria or Pimm's.

At Hatton's Waterman in Warwickshire, summer events include a Wimbledon garden party. The ladies' and men's finals will be shown on a big screen in the pub garden on Saturday 3 and Sunday 4 July. As customers watch the tennis Pimm's and strawberries & cream will be served from the pub's garden bar. A barbecue will be on offer, and there will be outdoor movie nights, including screenings of Grease and Footloose. Performances start at 8pm with a lantern launch.

At ETM Group's Gun in London's Docklands, a Portuguese-style alfresco bar and restaurant known as A Grelha at the Gun offers a barbecue from Wednesday to Sunday during the summer. The drinks offer features long drinks such as sangria, Pimm's and summer cocktails including caipirinhas and mojitos. Beers include San Miguel, Super Bock and Sagres.

Don't forget cider and alcoholic ginger beer, too. Ciders such as Thatchers Ciderberry and Katy Rosé, Aspalls Peronelle's Blush in a 330ml bottle or Weston's cider are ideal for sharing with food.

Heavitree Brewery offers a ploughman's served with half a pint of Aspall cider.

Don't skip on quality when serving long drinks with glassware — and the right accompaniments, such as ice and lime are essential in showing customers you take every detail of your pub's business seriously.

Coca-Cola Enterprises (CCE) and Diageo Great Britain (Diageo GB) have launched a joint campaign to help the on-trade create long, quality mixed spirit drinks. Activity includes on-trade specific education programmes, jointly developed in-outlet PoS materials and consumer marketing to promote perfect, quality serves across core premium spirit and mixers such as Gordon's and Schweppes tonic and Pimm's and Schweppes lemonade.

Diageo sales director David Smith says: "Spirit-drinkers tend to visit pubs in groups and spend more money per visit. Our commitment to licensees is to help them make more money by providing outlets with the ability to serve fantastic finished drinks and delight consumers. Diageo GB's work with CCE will see a great impact on category growth and should also see repeat pub footfall."

Food and soft drinks​

CCE research shows that almost half (49%) of all food bought in pubs is consumed with soft drinks, which is already a much higher ratio compared with any other alcoholic drink including wine and beer. Yet there is often little connection between the two in sites.

CCE shopper marketing controller for on-premise Martin Sampson says: "Over the past five years food value has grown 25% but soft drinks value has grown at a marginal rate. Given the high level of incidence of soft drinks with food, it would suggest a revenue opportunity is being lost."

CCE's Open More Business report offers licensees the following tips to maximise the opportunity:

• The soft drinks range should be included on the menu, preferably with the brand logo and some product description alongside

• Present meal-deals including soft drinks

• Feature both adult and child- friendly options, matched to the customer profile of the pub

• Around one in four people enter a bar just wanting a soft drink; it is one of the highest penetration categories

• Having the right range of soft drinks is fundamental; pubs also need to make them highly visible behind the bar, on menus and ensure they're served correctly — ideally in branded glassware with plenty of ice and fruit garnish wedge.

Those elements will drive value for the consumer and give a licensee a better chance of selling more soft drinks, to more of their customers, more often.

Wine promotions​

Offer a selection of wines by 125ml, 175ml, carafe or bottle. Carafes can be an ideal way to encourage summer customers to trade up. Promote wines by the glass on menus at the bar and feature a wine of the week.

Recommend wines and beers to go with specific dishes. Rosé wines continue to fly and it is worth promoting your range on a board at the bar and on the menu.

Drive wine sales though a summer wine-and-dine, such as a lunchtime main course and glass of wine for £10 or a summer promotion offering a choice of 20 wines for £10 a bottle.

Grill thrills​

Marco Pierre White's head chef shared some tips for a winning pub barbecue menu this summer.

Neil Thornley has worked with White for seven years and is now running the kitchen at the recently re-opened Chequers in Maresfield, near Uckfield in East Sussex. He gave away some inside secrets at a recent Knorr masterclass, using its foodservice products.

• Sausages:​ a staple ingredient of any barbecue worth its salt. Thornley recommends heating Dijon mustard, runny honey and Worcestershire sauce with Knorr's Garde d'or Demi Glace sauce and garlic herb in a saucepan. The mixture should be drizzled over chargrilled sausages to give a deep barbecue flavour with "something extra".

• Vegetable kebab:​ create a spicy kebab sauce by cooking shallots, curry powder, tumeric and Knorr bechamel sauce. Spoon over kebab and serve with seasoned rice.

• Omelette Arnold Bennett:​ a light snack for summer. Thornley recommends hammering the smoked haddock entirely flat to enable quicker cooking and service. Add Parmesan and cook until brown. Garnish with chervil for the finishing touch. Thornley says smoked salmon or chicken work just as well in this dish.

• Eggs Benedict:​ Thornley recommends adding Kessler's ham (smoked pork back) as a flavoursome sliced meat. "Work as quickly as possible, so that the muffins don't go soggy," he says. You can help keep the muffins fresh by buttering them, and drain the poached eggs before placing on the bread with Knorr Garde D'or Hollandaise sauce and a sprinkle of paprika.

Food and soft drink ideas​

Britvic has launched a customer training programme as part of an £11m investment in the on-trade for this year.

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