Business boosters: imperial Chinese banquets and British tasting menus

Where:​ Green Man, Partridge Green, West Sussex

Website: ​www.the-greenman.co.uk

Twitter: ​@GreenManSussex

The idea: ​An authentic imperial Chinese banquet to celebrate the Chinese New Year.

How it works:​ For £38.95 per person, guests enjoyed a four course meal with dishes including fillet steak with a ginger, chilli and clementine-peel sauce, crispy pork belly Char Sui and Kung Po sautéed king prawns with red pepper, water chestnuts and a hint of sweet and sour. The pub also created its own-recipe special fried rice to serve alongside vermicelli Singapore-style noodles.

Marketing:​ The event was promoted in-house as well as via the pub’s Facebook page and website.

Be prepared:​  The pub offered a selection of gin, rum and Prosecco-based themed cocktails for the event, alongside Chinese beers and Sake. Cocktails were priced between £7.50 and £7.95 and were purchased by most guests. The pub was also decorated with traditional Chinese decorations.

Pay-off:​Attracts new customers; provides existing customers with another reason to visit; offered an opportunity to promote and secure bookings for future events.

Key benefits:​ Significant boost to midweek trade; showcases another side of the pub’s food business.

Advice​: Joint owner of the freehold pub, Becky Illes, says: “Make sure you do your homework and only offer an event that you feel able to do well. We were very lucky to have a Chinese chef who showed us the recipes and different ways of putting on a Chinese New Year event.”

Best outcome:​ Event has been a sell out for the past three years.

Where:​ Milestone, Sheffield

Website: ​www.the-milestone.co.uk

Twitter: ​@TheMilestone

The idea:​A British tasting menu offered on Valentine’s Day.

How it works:​ For £40 per person, guests were offered a five course menu plus a glass of Prosecco on arrival. Optional wine matching was also available for £24.95 each.

Marketing:​ The menu was produced just before Christmas, allowing the pub to launch advertising straight after the busy festive period. Promotion was via the pub’s social media platforms, website and e-newsletters as well as in-house and via the local press. Where possible, menu information is linked to a call to action, directing traffic from Facebook, Twitter and the pub’s mailing list to its bookings form. ​

Be prepared:​ The pub has its own grow site enabling it to source ingredients that might otherwise be unavailable. Tasting menu dishes included broth of tongue and marrowbone as well as poached chicken with braised celery, crispy King Edward and truffle and mushroom ketchup. Booking deposits allowed the pub to order effectively, keeping waste and costs to a minimum.

Pay-off:​Offering a set menu allowed the pub to control production levels, GPs and consistency as well as service efficiency during a period of increased volume; increase in drink sales – 50% of guests opted for the wine matching with others ordering bottles of wine and cocktails; allowed the pub to market its monthly eight course seasonal tasting event; encourages future date night trade.

Key benefits: ​Offered guests an occasion dining experience on Valentine’s Day, creating a point of difference; allowed the pub to showcase its menu and reinforce its ethos; a premium menu allows an increase in price point which helps to counteract a loss of covers due to couples-dining.

Advice​: Operations manager, Stacey Sherwood, says: “Lead times on advertising are crucial. Key event dates are competitive, so plant the seed in consumers’ minds ahead of the competition. Offer something you can operate with ease and consistency whilst setting your offering apart from the competition with a great experience as opposed to a 'special menu'.”

Best outcome:​ 160 tasting menu covers sold