Sonnet 43’s food offer is squarely focused on providing customers with serious bang for their buck. Dishes encompass pub classics, Mediterranean-style small plates and ‘soul food’, as well as hanging kebabs that bring theatre to the dining experience.
Sonnet’s menus are forward thinking. The team keep abreast of current trends and look for ways to deliver return trade by evolving the food offer over time. Alongside that, though, is a staunch dedication to keeping things simple and accessible. Offers are a fundamental element of Sonnet’s food trade, with the group offering a phenomenally popular ‘plenty for 20’ deal whereby diners can order two main courses and a bottle of wine for £20.
The pubs themselves are clearly branded, sharing a common identity but don’t feel simply ‘rolled-out’ – attention is taken to play to each property’s individual strengths and maximise each space’s potential. Sonnet, which operates an eponymous craft brewery and gin distillery, flags up potential craft beer matches with different dishes on the menu, so that, whether customers go with them or not, they become aware of the different facets of the business.
Sonnet’s attitude to chef recruitment, training and development is also stellar – head chefs are offered significant bonuses for hitting targeted turnover and team members are given a level of autonomy to create dishes and feature them on sites’ specials boards, once they are signed off by the operations director.
Tavistock also works with HIT training to take on apprentices, which it pays higher than the Government’s suggested wage levels.