Pubs searching for opportunities to take back share from the burgeoning coffee sector and the rise of new eating-out destinations, would be wise to consider the potential that all-day dining can present.
As 24/7 lifestyles become a bigger part of society, foodservice businesses will see continued demand from consumers for a blurring of lines between mealtimes, said Simon Stenning, M&C Allegra Foodservice executive director, at an exclusive All Day Dining Event hosted by the Publican’s Morning Advertiser and Nestlé Professional last week.
“We have this changing population and demographic with 24/7 working hours and more people doing shift working or working from home,” said Stenning. “We have got younger people coming out of university and trying different things — they go travelling or start their own businesses. They’re not going straight into full-time permanent careers any more.
“They don’t want to or can’t stick to meal times as a result. They want to be able to eat and drink when it fits in with what they’re doing. If they want to have lunch at 3pm because it fits in with what they’re doing then that’s what they’re going to do.”
Businesses need to take hold of such change and use it to their advantage by developing menus that cater for all-day dining, he added.
Reinventing themselves
There were already many examples of pubs reinventing themselves and creating an offering that catered for breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacking.
“Pubs are reinventing their mojo,” explained Stenning. “They’re coming up with new ways of operating and new menus to cater for all-day dining.
“It has been realised in the trade that a pub doesn’t have to be one thing any more and more are learning how to do things differently.”
Successful operators were tapping into the proliferation of millennials who ate out — a group that is growing at an unexpected rate. It was once believed that the ageing population would provide pubs and the hospitality sector with a strong and steady stream of income, yet this demographic proved to be eating out less often, he added.
While the growth in the eating-out sector had come mainly from millennials, it was important to remain aware that, as they were well-educated about food, they wanted high-quality offerings. Yet, it was important that menu prices weren’t pushed up as a result of this need, he added.
“We can’t just keep pushing menu prices up and stretching menus [in terms of quality] because there comes a point when consumers will have a value expectation and will stop coming.”
So, how can pub chefs ensure they don’t stand still, offer affordable, high-quality food, and still make a profit?
Maintaining quality, while saving time and costs, can be done, according to Andrej Prokes, chef consultant at Nestlé Professional.
All Natural CHEF Stocks are an example of a product head chefs and development chefs could use in single kitchens or across multiple sites to save costs and increase consistency, he added.
“Making stock takes up a lot of time, energy — in terms of electricity or gas — and resources, such as man hours and ingredients,” Prokes said.
“But quality control is the biggest factor in all of this, especially if you’re a multiple operator. If you buy something in, you know it’s going to have had quality control over it already and you’re going to get something consistent.”
The ability to maintain the same quality of product across a chain, as well as during day-to-day activities in a single site, added real value to a kitchen, said Nestlé Professional national accounts lead Rob Macklin.
Some chefs, however, were sceptical about buying in ready-made products, admitted Prokes. “But the industry has moved on and there are increasing demands on the kitchen, which is shrinking, from front-of-house, which is getting bigger. We need to do something to help rebalance costs and time.”
Pastry chefs were a prime example of where kitchens had saved on cost and increased consistency in the past, claimed Prokes.
“Most kitchens would have had a professional pastry chef some years ago, but they can’t afford to have one chef who focuses on one area any more. So now there are far fewer and most kitchens buy in pastry.
‘Can’t afford to do’
“Cooking a stock for 12 hours and having the gas and electricity on for the same amount of time, while using a cooker ring the whole time, is something lots of kitchens can’t afford to do.
“Our stock is a product that’s all natural and is made the same way you do it in your kitchen. The chicken stock uses 2.4kg of bones per litre; the veal 2.2kg; and the shellfish 330g of shells.”
The skills shortage, as well as the expense of cooking consistent stocks across multiple sites was something worth taking into consideration, agreed Anglian Country Inns (ACI) director of food Harry Kodagoda.
“It’s a big expense and the time it takes to make a decent stock is also part of that expense,” he told delegates. Stock volumes had gone through the roof at ACI and Kodagoda was looking at how to manage the increase in demand.
“For us, it’s also about being able to find decent chefs and having the consistency of the product,” he explained.
Yet, cutting down on energy use and saving time in the kitchen didn’t just mean cost-savings, Drake & Morgan HR and recruitment manager Paul Glenn pointed out to the delegates. “Sustainability is a big part to plan into businesses these days and anything that can help with that should be considered,” he said.
■ The Nestlé Professional and Publican’s Morning Advertiser All Day Dining Event was held at the Bel & the Dragon, Cookham, West Berkshire, on 30 November.