EXPERT INSIGHT
Development chef focus
What food concepts/restaurants do you most inspire you and why?
Being a chef, I get really inspired by fine dining food where modern cooking techniques are used. The method of sous vide was not something I learned at college so picking up these new cooking techniques from some of the best chefs in the south west has really provided me with experience and confidence to incorporate this into our own menus.
When you have Paul Ainsworth, Nathan Outlaw and Chris Eden in the area, you are never short for ideas. When we opened our new Samuel Jones Ale & Smokehouse last year, we introduced vac-pacs, sous vide, smoking guns and commercial smokers into the offer and this has provided us with a point of difference whilst keep consistency of the food.
What trends do you think is having the most influence on pub menus?
Burgers and hot dogs seem to be driving the market at the moment and I still believe this is going to last over the next few years.
Local pop up businesses are doing really well with this offer and they are putting a twist by promoting local produce into their offers.
Street food style offers are starting to make an appearance in Cornwall but I believe the modern bistro offering value for money will be the next big thing.
What national food events do you recommend pubs get involved with?
We put together fixed packages for our managed sites at Christmas, Valentine’s Day & Mother’s Day. This year, we are promoting Father’s Day.
A survey has highlighted that 63% of men actually spend Father’s Day visiting a pub. To maximise on this, we have put together a “Big Daddy Surf & Turf.” The steak is 100% Cornish and we will be giving a special bottle of Tribute to our visiting Dad’s with a special label “World’s Greatest Dad. You’ve Earned It”.
What are the biggest crimes against pub food?
There are two major crimes in pubs – service and quality. If you are greeted in a negative and unfriendly manner, your experience will be ruined no matter how good the food is.
This is the first impression of your visit and the one you will always talk about. The consumer really knows that quality and consistency is really important as they want to get the hard earned money’s worth from their experience. Our customers know that we source all our ingredients from local suppliers and our selling prices are not aligned to the segmentation of the offer.
Pubs that offer high selling prices and offer poor quality of food are the businesses that have the potential to fail. Customers know the difference and will have no qualm in posting their feedback on social media.
Trip Advisor is taken seriously at St Austell Brewery and our managing director reads every one and we encourage all our managers to respond to all negative comments and invite them back. As with all businesses we don’t always get it right but the key is to listen to feedback and use this to your potential.
What is the key to keeping chefs/kitchen staff motivated?
The biggest problem in the industry is the shortage of skilled chefs. There are high volume chefs out there that can handle pre-prepared meals very quickly and successfully. The other is a highly skilled chef that can cook high spend food at low covers. Our food is all cooked fresh using local and something high risk ingredients and in the busy season, the volumes can be extremely difficult making recruitment very hard.
Last year, I restructured our head chef contract where we increased salaries, offered a bonus scheme, company sick pay and private healthcare. It is important to look after these individuals as they can be hard to find!
I also run a quarterly Chef’s Forum where I get all the chefs together and discuss any issues they experience. We also invite our suppliers to these sessions where they can get a full insight to the provenance of the food they are using. These forums have been a huge success and will continue to help work together as a team.
What is the best thing you have introduced to your company’s food offer in the past year?
Fresh lobster and crab onto our award-winning Coastal Pub & Kitchen offer. These tasty crustaceans are landed the same day and the freshest just does not get any better!
What kit do you recommend?
Every kitchen should have Rational. This is a key piece of kit for all sites. The other is a Robata Grill from the Clay Oven Company. This is something we purchased for the Samuel Jones in Exeter and is an open barbecue that runs off high pressure gas, char-coal, oak or lump wood. This gives the food a real difference and is capable of handling high volumes during peak periods.
The model we went for has a built in rotisserie that we use to spit roast our chickens and cheaper cuts of meat. This has been a huge success for us and would like to roll this style of offer into another site.
What would be your three ‘desert island’ pub dishes?
Fish and chips. This is our number one seller. We incorporate our award winning ales into our batter. Our fish and chips won the best dish at the National Pub Food Challenge in 2013.
Gourmet burgers, our second best-selling dish. Our burgers are made using local beef and are served in a toasted brioche bun. We have also had a relish made by a local artisan producer and uses our Cornish Korev beer. Korev is Cornish for lager.
What do customers in 2015 want?
Customers want the best possible value for money and quality from the menu. It is important not to increase your prices in the busy season as this will isolate your local customers and affect the winter trade where local trade is key. In winter, we do structure offers to support our local communities.
In 2014, these included cast iron croc pots with warm bread with local lamb hotpot, Tribute ale beef casserole and bean cassoulet to name a few. These were available at two for £10.
Recommended food apps and websites:
1) Chef Steps: a great app to learn about new cooking techniques and molecular gastronomy.
2) BBC Food: another easy site to get traditional recipes for the pub trade. The recipes are simple and easy to follow and provides our chefs with ideas for their specials boards.
