Money makers: Ideas to drive food and drink sales at your pub

Lighter desserts​

Where: ​Cherubs Kitchen @The Regency Tavern, Brighton, East Sussex

Tenure: ​Shepherd Neame lease; tenants Paul Smith & Robin Beels

Websites: ​www.regencytavern.co.uk​

Twitter: @​​cherubskitchen​

The idea: ​Evidence suggested that Sunday dessert sales were not matching the number of main courses sold. To revitalise the Regency’s Sunday lunch menu and increase per-head spend, Cherubs Kitchen franchisee Jerome Lloyd introduced lighter, less expensive desserts than the traditional puddings the pub often served in the past.

How it works: ​A regular in-house light mousse was introduced. The flavour is changed weekly and other dessert options are varied, with lighter desserts encouraged by offering the mousse at a price reduced from £4.50 to £3.95.

Marketing: ​Social media and giving desserts a prominence on the menu that is equal to other courses increased awareness. Briefing service staff with sample tastings encouraged upselling.

Be prepared: ​Expect a gradual turnaround while ordering enough stock to meet increased demand.

Pay-off: ​By the third week, more than 50% of covers (26 out of 53) ordered desserts.

Key benefits: ​General interest in the menu and opportunities to upsell at tables increased.

Advice: ​Lloyd says: “​Use traditional home-made dessert recipes: their simple ingredients and method tend to make them more affordable and sound more attractive than many contemporary frozen products. Nothing sounds better than ‘home-made’.”

Best result: ​Light mousses sold out on the third Sunday

Lunch for a Fiver​

Where:​ The Kennington, Camberwell New Road, London SE5​

Twitter:​ @TheKennington​

The idea:​ A mid-week lunchtime menu offering a range of dishes for £5

How it works:​ Customers can choose from six monthly-changing dishes with the purchase of any drink. The menu runs from Tuesday to Thursday with best-sellers including Cumberland sausage and mash and salmon and cod fishcakes with salad.
Marketing:​ The menu is promoted via social media, the online city guide View London and on the pub’s website as well as via flyers distributed at the local tube station and to local businesses. A-boards are also used outside the pub.

Be prepared:​ Dishes are smaller than normal mains and are chosen to utilise lower cost ingredients.

Pay-off:​ Provides the price-conscious business customer with an alternative to a sandwich at their desk as well as offering a valuable marketing tool to promote the pub’s offering.

Key benefits:​ Drives footfall, increasing covers and takings. Improves the pub’s atmosphere on quieter weekday lunchtimes.
Advice:​ Owner/manager Lee Freeman says: “Make sure you’re honest about the size of the meal before customers order it – we find that majority of customers aren’t put off. Choose to promote the menu at quieter times - don’t lose out on bigger value sales. Lunchtime diners have a limited amount of time so choose dishes that can be produced quickly."

Best result:​ Sales up more than £500 per week

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