The latest dish to be taken off some menus is hotdogs, The Morning Advertiser understands. A spokesman confirmed that hotdogs had been removed as part of a trial but they would still be available at the vast majority of the company’s 900-strong estate.
This is not the first time the pub chain has removed dishes from its menu. It pulled Christmas dinners in 2016 following its decision to stop serving Sunday roasts.
In its place, diners could choose a turkey breast slice filled with sage and onion stuffing with roasted Chantenay carrots and parsnips, Maris Piper mash, pigs in blankets, peas and gravy.
Other dishes available included a creamy mushroom risotto, chicken and stuffing burger, or a brie and cranberry burger.
Customers could also choose a brie and bacon burger with sides, which JDW introduced in the festive period of 2016.
Other options
The festive menu also offered diners small dishes such as a chicken, stuffing and cranberry panini and a halloumi and cranberry panini.
The final JDW roast dinners were as cheap as £6.75 including a drink, and were served from 12noon until 11pm.
A spokesman for the pubco said at the time it understood some customers would be disappointed, but it “had to make decisions which were right for the company”.
JDW spokesman Eddie Gershon said: “All Wetherspoon pubs stopped serving a Sunday roast and it would be difficult to bring a roast back just for the Christmas offer.”
Earlier this year, the pubco took rump, sirloin and gammon steak of its menus after its meat supplier was investigated by the Food Standards Agency (FSA) for “serious non-compliance with food-hygiene regulations”.
The supplier, Russell Hume, issued a statement, which said the products had been recalled and that it was a precautionary measure because of mislabelling and it had no reason to believe the product was unsafe to eat.
The company was visited by the FSA for an unannounced inspection of the supplier’s Birmingham site on 12 January where it became concerned that the business was allegedly breaching hygiene regulations.
Following this, the Government body and Food Standards Scotland investigated all Russell Hume sites and other locations where its products are stored in England, Scotland and Wales.
The FSA said Russell Hume was unable to demonstrate compliance with food hygiene rules at its locations so the Government body has stopped any product from leaving its sites until the business can provide assurances that it is complying with relevant legislation, and that it is producing safe food.
Product withdrawal
The agency also instructed Russell Hume to undertake a withdrawal of all affected products in the supply chain.
The FSA stated that there was no indication that people have become ill from eating meat supplied by Russell Hume. However, it is concerned about poor practices in place at the supplier’s premises and, as a result, the body took proportionate action to ensure no meat could leave Russell Hume sites.
The FSA also said the supplier was co-operating with the investigation and was currently reviewing its procedures and retraining its staff.
This month (February), production was allowed to resume at Russell Hume’s site in Liverpool.
JDW put steak back on its menus one week after it was removed and the pubco’s chairman Tim Martin apologised to customers. He also defended the company’s decision to stop using Russell Hume meat.
He said: “Firstly we wish to apologise to our customers for the inconvenience caused to them. However, our decision to stop serving steak from Tuesday 23 January, despite limited information from the supplier, was the correct one.
“Steak is one of the most popular dishes on our menu and we serve about 200,000 per week on average, about half of these on our extremely popular Tuesday Night Steak Club.
“We have now sourced alternative suppliers and our pub staff are once again looking forward to serving the steak dishes from Tuesday 30 January onwards.”