Pub food: business boosters
Ten-pence sale
Where: All ETM Group's London gastropub sites (except the Botanist) including the Well, in Clerkenwell, and the Empress of India, Victoria Park. The group is run by Tom and Ed Martin.
The idea: Selling 10 selected food and drink items at 10p for 10 minutes. To celebrate 10 years at the gastropub helm, the operators held a week-long festival focusing around the number 10. During mid-November, 10 food and drink items were offered at 10p between 10pm and 10.10pm, with a bell being rung to establish the start and finish of the sale. The dishes were all classic British, and included devilled Cornish sprats with tartare sauce; black pudding Scotch egg; the Londoner sausage roll with HP sauce; crispy Middle White pork belly with apple sauce; and half a pint of prawns. Drinks included a pint of IPA or a glass of exclusive ETM wine and were limited to four per order.
What we needed: Founder of the ETM Group, Tom Martin, says: "The dishes remained the same throughout as it would have been impossible trying to change them as we were crazy busy. We excluded the Botanist from the sale as it is too busy already and the sale would have caused major issues in terms of service for our regular Botanist customers. We advertised through our website and Twitter feed, via an email to our database and information given out with bills, via a press release, signage in the venues, staff promoting the event to customers and word of mouth."
Business benefits: "Customers were delighted with the promotion and were very pleased that we were giving something back to them. Footfall went up by 30% and we were full every evening from 8pm to midnight. There was a big cost to us over the week, but the PR was great. We received lots of press coverage and the event provided a good boost to staff morale. We also held a number of other events and promotions across our venues during the week."
Top tip: "Be prepared for disgruntled customers who don't get to the bar in time and therefore miss out. Also, understand that you will see a lot of new faces taking you up on the idea, some of whom may never return."
Customer-run kitchen and bar
Where: Rose & Crown, Tewin, Hertfordshire
The idea: Customers run the kitchen and bar for a night. Licensee of the Greene King pub, Harry Higgins, says: "I ran this idea on a Sunday lunchtime in a former pub of mine, but limited it to the bar. It was really popular mainly because I think a lot of people have an ambition to run a pub for a day. We introduced it here about two years ago, but extended it to include the kitchen because a lot of customers had told us that they would love to have a go at cooking something. We run it on a Thursday, which is our quietest evening, and have had a Moroccan menu, a buffet-style Thai curry and a Caribbean night will be held here soon."
What we needed: "The evening works best with either two people running the kitchen or bar, or four running both. The kitchen team prepares a main course and dessert — something that they are comfortable cooking.
The opportunity tends to attract relatively proficient cooks so we haven't really had to intervene with the dish choice or the preparation, although both my wife and I are on hand to advise on quantities, ensure safety and to assist with serving. We also have another member of staff available in the bar to help those who have never pulled a pint before.
The beauty of the evening is that everyone is there to support the team, so people are tolerant if they have to wait for their meal. We rarely get walk-in trade on a Thursday, but if we do we explain what is happening and give them the option of eating."
Business benefits: "The team needs to bring a minimum of 15 guests of their own, but around 30 to 35 people on average get involved. I supply all the ingredients and the meals are sold at around £10. All takings from the food and drink come to me and the team are not paid, but I do give them a £50 voucher to come back and eat in the pub. We tend to find that the experience is popular with families or with groups of friends and on average we have a booking every couple of months."
Top tip: "Limit numbers to make sure that your novice chefs and barstaff can cope."
Gourmet New Year's Eve dinner
Where: The Swan at Felsted, Felsted, Essex
Tenure: Greene King lease
The idea: Sales & marketing manager Heather Tarling says: "We held the New Year's Eve gourmet evening last year to attract our guests who are more food-oriented and want to enjoy a special evening focusing on fine food. Guests booked a table from 8pm and, when they arrived, we made sure the smoked salmon and cream cheese canapés started coming out, and guests sat down to a seven-course chef's 'Taste of 2010' dinner. The menu (£65 per head) included Colchester native oysters, pan-roasted duck breast served with fondant potato, braised red cabbage, redcurrant jus & parsnip crisps, iced cinnamon parfait with textures of apple, and a complementary glass of bubbly at midnight."
What we needed: "A good menu and lots of marketing. We had posters and flyers up in both our pubs and handed out flyers with review cards that we give to all guests with their bill. We also use social-media sites to keep our growing number of followers up to date with events, and emailed more than 6,000 guests.
Business benefits: "At the 2009 gourmet evening we saw 25 guests dining with us alongside our drinkers in the bar area; in 2010 numbers increased to 38 and we hope the added feature of live entertainment will see more guests wanting to see the new year in at the Swan when it comes round again."
Top tips: "Keep the operational side simple and fully brief crews on how the evening will run. Start early — we start sending Christmas and new year promotional flyers at the end of August."
Art exhibitions
Where: The Palmerston, East Dulwich, London SE22
The idea: Licensee Will Harrison says: "For two years now we have offered our wall space to local artists to exhibit their paintings and photography. We have received such a great response from the artistic community that we are now able to show a different exhibition every seven weeks here."
What we needed: "All you need is a blank space on your walls and initially a couple of people with enough art to fill it."
Business benefit: "The primary benefit for us is that, every seven weeks, our whole dining and bar area gets a facelift as a new exhibition goes up, meaning that customers can return time and time again without ever feeling like they're staring at the same four walls. The artists promote their exhibitions, opening our business up to many more potential customers. Often artists choose to have an opening night, which provides our wet sales with a boost and hopefully encourages visitors to return and dine here."
Top tip: "Make sure that the art you are displaying is appropriate for the image you are trying to portray. Ask for samples from the artist in advance. Make sure that the changeover from one artist to another happens during your quieter times.
It can be a little bit of a hindrance to have an artist hanging work while you're trying to set up for service."
