You may think of them as a bit of an afterthought but the choice of condiment you offer your customers can leave a lasting impression and in the same way that people’s expectations have risen over the last decades as foreign travel has opened their eyes to ‘world’ flavours, the same can be said about accompaniments.
Don’t be afraid to experiment a bit away from the traditional ketchup, brown sauce, mayo and mustard. What about wasabi mayonnaise, teriyaki or grain mustards with beef, balsamic vinegar for salads, yogurt with harissa or lemon for lamb – you’re only limited by your imagination.
Why not create a signature dressing that your venue becomes known for? It’s really easy – and cost-effective - to create something special. For example, shake up soy, rice vinegar, sugar, mustard powder, sesame and grapeseed oil and finely chopped onion together in a jam jar and you have an incredible ‘Japanese’ dressing that goes amazingly with noodles or fish dishes. It could be the difference between a customer thinking they’ve had a ‘great’ meal rather than a merely ‘good’ meal.
Costing
If you serve your condiments, ramekin size is vital – too big and you will be throwing away a lot of unrequired sauce – one operator I know washes up the miniature preserve glass jars and lid and fills these with condiments – they are a perfect size and imaginative method of presentation.
Sunday is a big condiment day with mint sauce, horseradish, English mustard and apple sauce as standard. Ensure these are accounted for in your dish costings.
Presentation
You need to match how you present your condiments to your food offer – customers paying £15.95 for a main course aren't going to be too impressed at having to use their teeth to get into sachets of mustard or sauce. If you’re selling a burger for £3.95 then that’s fine and they will be used to sachets in Burger King or with their supermarket breakfast for £3.50.
Test every salt and pepper pot daily to make sure they are ‘flowing’ but also invest in them with a not ‘the-cheapest-because-everyone-pinches-them’ mentality. If your food style would be better matched with ‘finer’ versions of your current salt and pepper pots then it’s up to you to train the staff to ‘manage’ their use i.e. removing after the main course when clearing the table to avoid customers ‘accidently’ slipping them into their handbag.
If you do use sauce and ketchup bottles, make sure they are wiped after each use, your customers don’t want to handle sticky bottles with gunge around the lid.
See www.catercost.com for more information