Brakes, the leading UK foodservice supplier, has launched a new initiative where it will offer pubs support and advice on the food they serve, combining more than 50 years experience with invaluable insight from pub owners and operators.
Food: the challenges for publicans
Brakes has been working closely with publicans to uncover the areas that they are finding most challenging as well as identifying what would help them to grow sales. More than 9 out of 10 publicans who fed back to Brakes said they felt they could benefit from help and guidance from a major pub food supplier, meaning the campaign should offer much needed assistance. Less than a fifth thought they were fully maximising their food offer.
Although the majority of publicans think they know what to put on the menu, more than two thirds said they struggle to keep the menu interesting and innovative. More than a third found encouraging customers to buy food more frequently and attracting new customers to eat at their pub difficult, with 3 in 5 claiming making their food profitable was a challenge.
Pub food guide
Brakes has developed a pub food guide available online, which not only talks about food and menu solutions but also goes a step further, advising on how to run a great food business and how to drive footfall.
The guide offers a fresh approach by moving the sector away from the standard product-based guides to a new style publication that offers simple, but effective advice – identifying common themes that publicans will find useful, from ideas for driving footfall to food business and kitchen management tips.
The Brakes Pub Club
In addition to the guide, available to all Brakes customers, the Brakes Pub Club breaks new ground by offering publicans access to ongoing support that will deliver the tools, services and insight to help them to reveal the untapped potential of their businesses.
Pub Club members can log on to the Brakes website where they can access a variety of information from ideas and inspiration to run themed-nights, menu solutions, point of sale materials, business tools including profit calculators and buying guides, as well as tailored promotions.
The Pub Club is designed to help all publicans identify key elements that will help to make their individual food business a success. Mike Park, Brakes’ business unit director for pubs, says: “It has been a tough time for many pubs over the past few years, and we recognise that many publicans don’t have the time or resources to do their own research to identify the food trends in the market or see what other successful pubs are doing. Brakes is best placed to play a role in helping publicans with some of the investigation work, and we are in a unique position to work with pubs to bring together shared experiences and take what’s working in one area and tell others about it.”
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