Nestlé Professional urges pub caterers to refloat their gravy boats in Maggi campaign

The campaign, which is being supported with free gravy-boat kits, calls on pub caterers to offer more generous gravy portions to get customers back through the door.

It follows on from research commissioned by Nestlé that found 93% of customers prefer to pour gravy themselves, while 83% said they would be more likely to return to a pub if they were allowed to pour their own gravy.

Almost all of the 2,000 UK adults interviewed said good gravy was crucial to a roast dinner (96%), and 94% said they would like to be given a gravy boat for their table when eating a roast dinner at a pub or restaurant.

Free kits​

The free kits – worth more than £100 – comprise gravy boats, ladles, whisks, recipe cards and table-talkers.

Available on a first-come, first-served basis, the kits also include a 2kg tub of Maggi Original Gravy mix, which can make 26 litres of gravy.

Nestlé Professional head of food Susan Gregory believed her company’s research shows that the British public is passionate about gravy and wants pubs and restaurants put gravy boats back on the table.

She said: “It’s great to hear how strongly they feel about this truly British tradition, and it underlines how important generous portions of good quality gravy are to meals, especially roast dinners.”

Great value​

Gregory explained that the cost of the gravy – at 15p per 400ml gravy boat portion (based on a £8.99 tub of Maggi Original Gravy mix) – was of “great value to the pub, as well as the customer”.

However, she added: “This is not just about price and portion size – it’s about venues signalling generosity in a number of ways, such as allowing customers to serve themselves at their table.”

“Industry research shows that if a venue can demonstrate generosity to a customer, then that customer is more likely to score their experience highly in terms of value-for-money, which is a key driver of repeat visits.”

The research also found that people on average have gravy 5.5 times per month. More than 20% of people like their roast dinners ‘drowning’ in gravy, while 50% like theirs ‘just’ covered.