Latest

Community champions: licensees win £20k for 'heartwarming' pub

28-Apr-2016 By Daniel Woolfson

Roaring fires, hearty food, thriving trade…what exactly is it that makes a pub ‘heartwarming’? The PMA meets the licensees who have just won £20,000 for their dedication to the local community

Risotto report

10 things you need to know about risotto in pubs

14-Apr-2016 By Nicholas Robinson

There are few dishes that offer operators high GP, the opportunity to create gluten-free, vegetarian and vegan variants while also being tasty, but the risotto appears to tick all of those boxes. Here are 10 things about risotto you should consider when...

JDW and M&B urged by investors to stop antibiotics use in meat

12-Apr-2016 By Daniel Woolfson

Investors have urged large restaurant and pub chains to stop purchasing meat and poultry from suppliers that using antibiotics in their rearing systems.

FOOD SAFETY

Top 5 food safety slip ups - and how to avoid them

07-Apr-2016 By Daniel Woolfson

Cross-contamination is the top area operators slip up on when it comes to food safety, as well as hand hygiene and improper sourcing, a leading expert has revealed.

Food safety

Pubs should push meat origin after monkey meat find

01-Apr-2016 By Nicholas Robinson

Food-serving pubs should push assured meat and produce on their menus, following the recently revealed record global haul of illegal food and drink by the European police agency Europol last month.

Wholesalers

Booker’s total group sales up by more than 10%

31-Mar-2016 By Nicholas Robinson

Booker's group sales for the fourth quarter (Q4) rose by 10.6% for the 12 weeks to 25 March 2016, with its foodservice arms putting in a strong performance, resulting in high praise from City analysts.

Chips: sure fry way to boost gross profit

29-Mar-2016 By Nicholas Robinson

There’s more to chips than you might expect and, if potatoes can boost your profits, it’s definitely worth taking note. Nicholas Robinson reports

Brakes’ first time distributing beer and cider

29-Mar-2016 By Nicholas Robinson

Brakes, the foodservice supplier, will distribute bottled beers and ciders for the first time, it has announced.

New openings

Star Pubs & Bars launches latest Newcastle food pub

24-Mar-2016 By Nicholas Robinson

Star Pubs & Bars has opened its newest north-east, tenanted, food-led pub following a £430,000 joint investment with operator Cosy Dove Limited.

Fuller’s chefs face off in Chefs’ Guild Scholarship finals

23-Mar-2016 By Daniel Woolfson

Fuller's chefs enrolled in the London-based pub company's Chefs' Guild internal training and development programme faced each other at a cook-off at the University of West London yesterday (22 March).

Food safety

Rare burger risk warnings ‘not enough to save you in court’

21-Mar-2016 By Nicholas Robinson

Warning pub customers about the potential dangers of ordering and eating high-risk foods – such as oysters and rare burgers – is unlikely to be enough of a defence to stave off prosecution in the event of legal action.

Allergens: ‘May contain’ labelling unlikely to protect against prosecution

17-Mar-2016 By Nicholas Robinson

'May contain' warnings on pub menus to alert customers to potential food allergens in dishes may not be enough to safeguard operators against prosecution, an expert has warned.

Menu ideas

Wetherspoon’s ‘vegan menu’ praised by PETA

10-Mar-2016 By Nicholas Robinson

JD Wetherspoon's (JDW) decision to highlight vegetarian and vegan dishes on a separate menu in each of its 900+ sites has been praised by the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA).

Healthy eating

Calorie counting "not important" for consumers

09-Mar-2016 By Nicholas Robinson

Calorie labelling on pub food menus could be irrelevant, as new research from Mintel shows the information far from tops consumers' priorities when looking for nutritional guidance.

Supplier profile

Flexitarians push Paramount 21 to boost veggie offer

09-Mar-2016 By Nicholas Robinson

Frozen fish and vegetarian foodservice supplier Paramount 21 is preparing to boost its veggie and gluten-free offering following rising demand, the firm's chairman and director Ali Hannaford has said.

Death of the Sunday roast fears repudiated by PMA readers

08-Mar-2016 By Nicholas Robinson

Fears that the Sunday roast is on its way out, following JD Wetherspoon’s (JDW’s) decision to scrub the dish from its menu, have been quashed by Publican’s Morning Advertiser (PMA) readers.

News analysis

Is this the end of the Sunday roast?

07-Mar-2016 By Nicholas Robinson

The decision by managed pub chain giant JD Wetherspoon to axe the Sunday roast has sent shock waves through the trade. Nicholas Robinson finds out if the reverberations will hit other pubs too

Bidvest Foodservice snaps up Caterfood

04-Mar-2016 By Nicholas Robinson

Bidvest Foodservice has acquired the south-west-based distributor Caterfood in a bid to strengthen its reach, after the Publican’s Morning Advertiser (PMA) revealed the company's plans to continue its expansion.

Podcast

Ice boss: ‘Don’t shun frozen food as inferior, embrace its money-saving qualities’

02-Mar-2016 By Nicholas Robinson

Frozen food should not be shunned by pub chefs who fear using non-fresh produce will taint their offer, but should embrace its nutritious and money-saving qualities.

Suppliers

Bidvest Foodservice reveals growth plans and biggest competitors

01-Mar-2016 By Nicholas Robinson

Bidvest Foodservice will continue to acquire businesses and launch new sites to grow its customer reach, chief executive officer Andrew Selley has told the Publican’s Morning Advertiser (PMA).

Fowl Mouths’ Japanese comfort food stay at Clapham pub King & Co extended

29-Feb-2016 By Nicholas Robinson

Japanese comfort food pop-up Fowl Mouths has extended its residency at Clapham pub the King & Co to the end of March, following demand from the sell-out concept's growing fan base.

Mother’s Day is ‘bigger than Christmas’ for pubs

29-Feb-2016 By Nicholas Robinson

More than half of UK families (64%) head to the pub for food on Mother's Day, according to the most recent figures from Carlsberg UK's Consumer Insight Report.

Twisted Burger boosts the Yard’s food sales by 50%, but could rise to 300%

29-Feb-2016 By Nicholas Robinson

Food sales at Yorkshire pub the Yard, Ilkley, have rocketed by more than 50% since the franchise Twisted Burger launched there in early February, the Publican’s Morning Advertiser (PMA) has learnt.

Menus

JD Wetherspoon scraps Sunday roasts leaving customers devastated

29-Feb-2016 By Oli Gross

JD Wetherspoon has scrapped traditional Sunday roasts to focus on its core menu in a move which has left its customers devastated.

Pie Report

10 facts to help boost your pub’s pie sales

26-Feb-2016 By Nicholas Robinson

With British Pie Week just around the corner, it’s time to swat up on your pie knowledge to help boost the quality of your offer. Here are our top 10 tips to the best pub pies

New Products

What’s new in casual dining?

26-Feb-2016 By Nicholas Robinson

Boosting kitchen profitability was a major theme at this year's Casual Dining show and many suppliers aimed to please with a vast line-up of interesting new products. Here we've selected a few of the ones that stood out for us.

Casual Dining

National living wage 'could be positive for pubs'

25-Feb-2016 By Nicholas Robinson

Pubs can thrive under the national living wage (NLW) when it comes into force on 1 April, two operators have said, despite dire warnings from other trade leaders who say otherwise.

Casual Dining

Pubs' casual dining growth bubble could be burst by Burger King's beer

25-Feb-2016 By Nicholas Robinson

Three pub chains are providing a considerable boost to the massive growth of the UK’s casual-dining scene, but should be wary of increased competition – including Burger King’s beer offer – warns Horizons managing director Peter Backman.

HR consultant sues gastropub for £4.2m after tripping over rope

24-Feb-2016 By Oli Gross

A gastropub could be sued £4.2m by an HR consultant who fractured her wrist when she tripped over a low-lying rope in the beer garden.

Winners of the BBPA’s Parliamentary Pub Chef of the Year awards announced

24-Feb-2016 By Nicholas Robinson

The two winners of the British Beer and Pub Association’s (BBPA’s) Parliamentary Pub Chef of the Year awards were announced last night (23 February) at a ceremony in the House of Commons

Chef shortage

MPs and trade call for action to solve pub chef shortage

23-Feb-2016 By Nicholas Robinson

Trade leaders and Members of Parliament have called for action to solve the pub chef shortage at an awards ceremony at the House of Commons last night (23 February).

Food trends

International cuisine and chicken cooked in cola top consumers’ 2016 wish list, says Premier

23-Feb-2016 By Nicholas Robinson

Dishes from the Mediterranean, Mexico, Thailand and Vietnam top a list of foods consumers want to try, while a desire to eat more pulled meats – including chicken cooked in cola – also made the list, according to research from Premier Foods.

Health

Calorie labelling: Trade warns pub food quality will take a hit

22-Feb-2016 By Nicholas Robinson

While groups concerned with health matters argue all pub and restaurant food menus must have calorie content labelled on them, Nicholas Robinson finds out why that’s not as simple as it sounds

Craft beer

Bath Ales converts third pub to Beerd craft beer bar

22-Feb-2016 By James Evison

South-west brewery and operator Bath Ales has converted one of its Bristol venues into a Beerd craft beer bar.

Longshot close to snapping up three more sites for the Bel & The Dragon

22-Feb-2016 By James Wallin, M&C Allegra

Longshot is close to securing three new sites for its Bel & The Dragon vehicle and is planning one opening for the brand every quarter for the next three years, according to the Publican's Morning Advertiser's sister title M&C Allegra.

Grantley Arms reopens with ex-Gherkin chef

22-Feb-2016 By Nicholas Robinson

The Grantley Arms in Wonersh has relaunched with chef-patron – former head chef at Searcys – Matt Edmonds at the helm.

Food Safety

Britain’s fruit and veg supplies ‘overlapped by drug cartels’

22-Feb-2016 By Nicholas Robinson

The countries supplying Britain's fresh fruit and vegetables are overlapped by drug-smuggling gangs, an expert in the field has revealed, following warnings that operators may have long-since been at risk of many types of food fraud.

Bar snacks

New nuts brand just for pubs

22-Feb-2016 By Nicholas Robinson

Founders of the new premium snack firm Edgar's Choice, which has been developed specially for the pub trade, are aiming to get their products into 1,000 pubs within a year. Nicholas Robinson finds out if it's a good idea or just nuts.

Vegetarian

Meat off the menu: consumers opt for veggie dishes over health fears

18-Feb-2016 By Nicholas Robinson

More consumers are shunning meat in favour of vegetarian alternatives, with concerns about health as the main reason, new research from a NatCen Social Research survey claims.

Consumers demand more food information

18-Feb-2016 By Nicholas Robinson

Your customers want to know more about their food than ever before, leading consumer research released by the Food Standards Agency (FSA) has revealed.

Star Pubs & Bars pumps a further £75,000 in chef training

18-Feb-2016 By Nicholas Robinson

Star Pubs & Bars will pump £75,000 into its food chef consultancy programme, rolling it out to 100 licensees, following its success in 36 pubs in 2015.

New opening

Fuller’s opens newly built pub on the Thames

17-Feb-2016 By Nicholas Robinson

Fuller’s has opened its latest new-build pub on the River Thames, the Sail Loft on Greenwich Reach, with room for 300 customers and a nautical-themed menu designed by ex-Duck & Waffle chef Jacek Zywa.

Content sponsored by the authentic Italian cheese firm Galbani.

Calorie labelling: Pub chains must “spell out” content

15-Feb-2016 By Nicholas Robinson

Pub chains must “spell out” calorific content clearly to consumers, policy makers have been urged ahead of the Government’s upcoming childhood obesity strategy.

Food

British pork could vanish from pub menus

15-Feb-2016 By Nicholas Robinson

Home-grown pork could disappear from UK pub menus if the trade, as well as the wider food sector, doesn’t stop buying imports, pig big wigs have warned.

05-Feb-2016 By James Evison

Toby Carvery has just launched a new app to offer multi-tier rewards to its customers with the aim of increasing customer loyalty.

Pub food

M&B to expand Sizzling Pizza & Carvery brand

05-Feb-2016 By James Evison

Mitchells & Butlers has announced plans to convert a further ten sites into Sizzling Pizza & Carvery businesses by summer 2016.

Food Safety

PODCAST: How to avoid food fraud in your pub

04-Feb-2016 By Nicholas Robinson

Paying closer attention to your staff’s working history, especially before hiring them, could help prevent a catastrophic incident of food fraud in your pub, a leading food safety advisor has advised.

Morning Advertiser

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