Pub food: business boosters
Ideas for helping driving food sales in your pub including an all-day jazz barbecue, an ale festival and a two-sitting carvery.
All-day jazz barbecue
Where: Bildeston Crown, Bildeston, Suffolk, www.thebildestoncrown.com
Tenure: Freehold
The idea: Head chef Chris Lee says: "Our recent all-day Sunday jazz barbecue featured live music from a popular guitar duo. We served from 1pm to 8pm and charged £30 per head — our usual set Sunday menu costs £25 for three courses. We introduced the all-day barbecue to welcome the summer and remind regulars that with our secluded open courtyard and sunny terrace, we are the ideal place for alfresco summer dining as well as warming winter meals. The event was mainly aimed at existing clientele, but also new customers."
What we needed: He adds: "We have all the necessary equipment and staff skills, and share equipment with our sister venue, the Lindsey Rose. We hired a duo, chosen for their melodic soul/jazz music, which would not be too loud and intrusive. Our three-course menu included starters from a buffet table, beef steaks, goat curry and individual fish & chips in newspaper cones, served with sweetcorn and salads."
Business benefits: "We increased our set price for food by 20%, and the
event attracted about 100 covers. Providing the entertainment meant customers stayed on after eating, boosting drink sales by about 30%."
Top tip: Don't be tempted to drop your standards just because a barbecue is a more informal style of service. If planning an alfresco event, have a contingency plan in case it rains.
Why do it: Seasonal events are easier to highlight than a regular offering.
Ale festival
Where: Jolly Sailors, Brancaster Staithe, Norfolk, www.jollysailorsbrancaster.co.uk
The idea: Norfolk ale festival weekend. As well as the real ale — all brewed in Norfolk — the pub laid on a programme of entertainment and food across the three-day event, including live music, local arts and crafts stalls and, in conjunction with the local village school, a traditional games afternoon. James Nye, managing director of parent company Anglian Country Inns, says: "The aim of the event was to promote the pub as a real ale hotspot and, at the same time, support local interests in the community."
What we needed: "We used our contacts to keep costs low. They included marquee hire to house the outside bar and the craft stalls, the live bands and extra staff on the day to run the barbecue and outside bar. The barbecue menu offered beef and veggie burgers and locally-made sausages. Pizzas were also on offer. The beer equipment was supplied by Adnams. We planned well ahead with our advertising, using in-house posters, our websites, Facebook,
Twitter and one small advertisement through our area CAMRA magazine. We also placed leaflets in local retail shops and with businesses who know us."
Business benefit: "This was the first ale festival we have held. The event attracted approximately 1,000 visitors during the weekend and boosted takings by about 50%. It helped to promote the beer from our micro-brewery, Brancaster Brewery, and raised our profile as a community resource. The sponsored, traditional games marathon allowed the village school to raise £550 and 10 local craft businesses supported the event."
Top tip: "Provide something for everyone. We had two bands providing different styles of music and a big TV for World Cup fans."
Why do it: An exercise that boosts trade and promotes the pub's own product.
Two-sitting carvery
Where: Bull, Benenden, Kent, www.thebullatbenenden.co.uk
The idea: Offering a Sunday carvery served in two sittings. For £9.50 (or £4.75 for children under 10), diners can choose from roasted crackling pork, Norfolk turkey and topside of beef, along with vegetarian and fish options, served with all the trimmings. Customers wishing to experience the pub's famed carvery are offered a choice of two sittings at either 12.15pm or 2.30pm. Owner Lucy Barron-Reid says: "We started offering a carvery on the first Sunday after we took over the pub. Within six months it had become so busy that we had to introduce a two-sitting system. That was six years ago and we haven't looked back since."
What we needed: "We advertise the carvery on our website, via our monthly email bulletin, inside the pub and on our menu covers. If someone walks through the pub they will know about it. Word of mouth is by far our biggest advert though, and is free. We have one couple who have driven for half an hour to sit at the same table every week for the past six years because they can't find a better carvery in the area. We operate a booking system because even with two sittings, we are very busy."
Business benefits: "Sunday is the best day of the week for us takings-wise and the increase in turnover is quite dramatic. We sell about 160 carvery covers in the
winter and about 100 in the summer, spread fairly evenly across the two sittings. If we didn't offer both sittings it would fall to about half of that."
Top tip: "Offer a booking system to control footfall and to even out trade between the two sittings."
Why do it: Two sittings maximises food covers.
