Propel Morning Briefing Mast HeadAccess Banner  
Propel Morning Briefing Mast Head Propel's LinkedIn LinkPaul's Twitter Link Paul's X Link

McCain Banner
Morning Briefing for pub, restaurant and food wervice operators

Fri 16th Aug 2013 - Friday Opinion
Subjects: Disarming beer snobs, a local star shines at Leeds Trinity, the rise of menu flights in the US and the menace of zero hours contracts
Authors: Martyn Cornell, Ann Elliott, Kevin Higar and Alastair Scott

How the ‘big’ brewers disarm the beer snobs by Martyn Cornell

The man in his late 30s walked past the Greene King stand at the Great British Beer Festival trade session in Olympia on Tuesday and then stopped, puzzled. Why was there a long, slow-moving queue to buy beer at the stand, when Greene King, in the opinion of many British beer fans, produces some of the blandest, most unexciting ales in the country?

“Why are you all queueing up to buy Greene King?”, he asked, the obvious sneer in his voice suggesting we must be idiots when, as far as he was concerned, there were more than 800 better beers available elsewhere in the hall. It was explained to him that we were there for the Greene King 5X, an ale so rare most people will never have heard of it, let alone drunk it.

Normally, 5X, a 12% abv brew matured in vats for two years, is blended with other Greene King beers to make, for example, the bottled strong ale Strong Suffolk. For the GBBF, however, Greene King allows a small amount of 5X to be put into casks, and then makes just one firkin available at 2pm every day. That firkin is normally gone within 20 minutes, drunk one third of a pint at a time by drinkers who appreciate the chance to enjoy a beer with roots dating back to at least the early 19th century, when a large proportion of the beer produced in Britain was strong, aged for many months and at least slightly (and deliberately) sour.

Two hours later, at the Wells & Youngs stall next door to Greene King, aficionados were queueing to try another beer so rare it would only be available at the festival at a specific time each day until that day’s cask ran out: the 10% abv Courage Imperial Russian Stout. This was a beer brewed in London for around 200 years, until the early 1980s, and briefly reproduced at the John Smith’s brewery in Tadcaster, until the final brew in 1993. However, it inspired a large number of imitators in the craft beer scene in the United States, and Imperial Stouts in general are now so popular in the US that the style dominates American “best beer in the world” listings. In 2011, Wells & Youngs, which had acquired the rights to the Courage brands from Heineken, decided to revive the beer. It is normally only found in 275ml bottles (at around £5.50 a pop). Sightings on draught are rarer than Geordies in overcoats.

Wells & Young, like Greene King, is not normally a brewer to set beer buffs’ pulses throbbing, though both produce very good beers that are happily drunk by very large numbers of pubgoers. Both companies seem to suffer from “size snobbery”: get too big, and the snobs start to sneer at your products. Yet Fuller’s, whose London Pride is surely one of the most ubiquitous cask beers on British bartops, does not seem to suffer from this problem: as a beer maker, the company appears to enjoy the same sort of respect awarded to some of the liveliest new small brewers, such as Thornbridge. Part of the reason seems to be that, since the 1990s, the Chiswick company has regularly produced “elite” brews, hard to find, capable of making beer buffs rave. These started with its annual Vintage Ale series of beers for laying down in bottle, and continued with the Brewer’s Reserve cask-aged beers and then the Past Masters range, when the brewery linked up with one of Britain’s best-known beer historians, Ron Pattinson, to explore its own records and reproduce beers from its past.

At the Great British Beer Festival, Fuller’s had two rare brews on cask for the buffs, its “new” 10.4% abv Imperial Stout, a reproduction of an old recipe for which the description “deceptively smooth” might have been invented (it drank like a beer less than half its strength); and the 2013 iteration of its Vintage Ale. Both, again, will normally only be available in bottles. Both had the snobs drooling. Now, the drooling of snobs might not seem too important: but the point about beers like Vintage Ale and Imperial Russian Stout and 5X is that their reputations can have a halo effect on the rest of your product range, the way a car manufacturer builds high-end models to influence buyers of vehicles in the lower reaches of its range.

Thus, I’d be pretty confident, Greene King looks to 5X, and the excellent publicity it generates, to counteract the poor comments often made about its IPA, a perfectly fine beer when looked after properly, but one that has become an icon among people whose real gripe appears to be that GK is just too big. Similarly Wells & Youngs undoubtedly finds now having Courage Imperial Russian Stout as a flagship beer an excellent weapon to promote its own reputation, at home and abroad.
Martyn Cornell is an award-winning beer writer and managing editor of Propel Info

Reds might just be the star of Leeds Trinity by Ann Elliott

I’m quite proud to come from Yorkshire and like to go back there whenever I get the opportunity. So I was delighted when a client asked me to look at something for him in Leeds last week. I’d not been there for over a year and the city has changed remarkably.

It’s buzzing, bustling and absolutely full of life. People are spending money and eating out more than I’d ever seen before. Trinity, the new shopping centre, is no doubt a huge part of this transformation: it’s absolutely gorgeous and there’s more to come, with the Trinity Kitchen launching this Autumn, bringing the joy of street food inside.

The two D&D units were unlike any restaurant in any shopping centre I’ve ever seen with their own dedicated glass lift from street level. This is where the glitterati of Leeds go to drink vast quantities of champagne. Angelica is the top bar with stunning views over Leeds and a gorgeous interior matched by exceedingly glamorous team members – the sort of place you could envisage going to for a girlie lunch and not leaving until close to midnight.

Also with their first move outside London, the Everyman cinema was simply draw-dropping – a cinema experience like no other. We were given the full tour including restaurants, bars and a superb private viewing cinema.

The shops in Trinity were great, the centre has fantastic views over the city from a number of vantage points and the developers have created a superb atmosphere for shopping, eating or just spending time doing not much at all. My team spotted former England Rugby Union star Jason Robinson enjoying an afternoon drink inside the Living Venture’s site The Alchemist – so the rich and famous like it too. Trinity also includes a fantastic TGI Friday’s, a super looking Carluccio’s, a very appealing Handmade Burger unit and a beautiful looking restaurant, The Botanist, from the New World Pub Company.

The city landscape has changed considerably: familiar faces such as Anthony Flinn have left, and the Corn Exchange now looks very sorry for itself. That has not impacted the feel around Leeds, though, and there is a huge buzz of excitement in the area generally.

The most notable contributor to this in my opinion is Reds, Leeds answer to Bodeans although Reds is a cleaner, more open-plan operator. There’s a sign outside jokingly offering customers ‘free smells’, but they’ve got a point: the BBQ smell emanating from site was mouth-watering.

Inside, the open kitchen is the centrepiece with bare bricks and wooden tables. The food is very American, with classics such as burgers, ribs, shakes and ‘buckets of bones’ on the menu.

My colleague James had the donut burger, consisting of two beef patties, bacon, cheese and fried onions served inside a glazed donut. It was over-sized but James insisted it was delicious! With milkshakes served in old milk bottles and mugs of home-made ice tea, the attention to detail is very impressive.

On every table there are racks of homemade sauces such as Judas Ketchup, which strongly helped to give the site a really authentic twist. Reds was brimming with people over lunch – and was definitely the busiest unit in the city over the period, both inside and on the dedicated picnic benches outside.

They have expansion plans in mind already, and are looking at opening in Manchester and Sheffield soon – making Reds a true, proud Northern city brand. It was fantastic value, delicious food and a very American feel – bang on trend at the moment, just not in London! I’ve always really liked Leeds but this time it was easy to fall in love with it.
Ann Elliott is chief executive of PR and marketing agency Elliotts – www.elliottsagency.com

The rise of menu flights in the US

Here in the United States kids are heading back to school. My mother, an avid mall walker, can’t wait for these youngsters to get back in the classroom and out from underneath her feet. I remind her that back in the sixties when I was a child my perfect manners probably created the unrealistic expectations she now has for all kids. She typically laughs, rubs her eyes in sort of a defeated manner, and instinctively grabs a couple of aspirin.

Moving beyond mom’s strange behavior, I thought I would salute all those teachers who are getting ready to once again ring the school bell by starting this column with a definition found in an old, rarely used classroom item many historians refer to as a dictionary. It will be most helpful as we delve into today’s trend discussion.

Craft Item: “A specialty item produced in limited quantities requiring skill in planning and making.”

While many restaurant foods and beverages could be considered gastronomical commodities, there are other dishes that do have a sort of “craft” halo surrounding them. Consumers understand they weren’t easy to prepare and are intrigued by their addictive flavour profiles.

Funny thing about the intersection of people and unique flavours, though; while numerous surveys consistently show a majority of consumers are game for trying new foods at least occasionally, these same individuals typically don’t want to commit to an entire entrée. Many prefer trekking through unchartered culinary territories by taking small steps and in the company of others. Enter today’s topic of discussion: the power of flights.

The great thing about a flight is it offers many elements consumers want to associate with an adventurous menu item: 1) Small portions (limiting monetary risk and stomach commitment), 2) Socialisation and shared culinary experiences (if this is bad I’m not going down alone, or if this is awesome I want others to recognise my genius), and 3) Back story (many of these dishes have unique ingredients, flavour combinations, or preparations techniques that can be discussed on the menu or by a server or chef).

Historically, when the word flight was used it more than likely referred to multiple wines offered together as a tasting experience. More and more my travels around the US are uncovering creative chefs extrapolating the application to foods across multiple menu categories and dayparts.

At Cheeky’s, a hip bistro in Palm Springs, California, the idea of up-selling appetisers to breakfast customers is not that tough when the menu offers an addictive bacon flight. Priced at four dollars, this dish includes five slices of bacon, each with a different flavour profile. During my visit selections included jalapeno, Nodines Applewood, Beeler apple cinnamon, Ibarra, and Thai sweet chili. A subsequent discussion with the manager revealed this dish is incredibly popular with customers. Typically a party of two to four will order one to begin the meal. Once it arrives the dish is passed around the table, with each person taking a small bite and then everyone discussing. Breakfast is often meant to be a time for connecting and re-connecting with others, and this flight encourages that mindset.

In Chicago, Illinois, the restaurant Orange applies the flight strategy to one of its breakfast entrées. Each weekend the chef chooses a different ingredient that will be prepared four different ways as part of the toppings for twelve silver dollar pancakes divided into four stacks. During my visit cherries were the spotlighted ingredient. My four cherry interpretations atop the pancake stacks were as follows: Stack 1) Mini marshmallows, chocolate ganache, toasted coconut, and roasted cherries; Stack 2) Mascarpone cheese, granola, powdered sugar, and dried cherries; Stack 3) Glazed walnuts and pecans, flax seed, and golden cherry sweetened sour cream; and Stack 4) Passion fruit-guava syrup, fresh strawberry, and cherry whipped cream.

While my first two examples illustrated single unit or small chain operations, this sort of menu development mindset can also be applied to large chains. Outback Steakhouse debuted steak flights on its menu for a limited time in late May. The dish offered two or three pieces of three-ounce filet or sirloin steak, each coated with one of four sauce choices: creamy diablo, brandy peppercorn, béarnaise, or wild mushroom. The flights started at $10.99 for sirloin and $19.99 for filet.

I’m also seeing this strategy being applied to shared side items (one vegetable prepared three different ways), desserts (various house-made sorbets or ice cream flavours offered as three small scoops on one plate), and hand-held foods (many ethnic-influenced) like tacos and empanadas, to name just a few.

My suggestion… Grab your menu, stay true to its spirit, and consider flight opportunities relative to either the main ingredient (the bacon flight) or the flavour co-stars (the pancake toppings or steak sauces). Either way small can play big regarding the positive value perceptions many consumers will receive. 
Kevin Higar is author of “Always Let The Chicken Lead”, an insightful, light-hearted book that identifies and examines the seven key attributes all successful restaurants embrace. It is available for purchase at www.alwaysletthechickenlead.com. He can be reached at kevin@alwaysletthechickenlead.com

The menace of zero hours contracts by Alastair Scott

There is a real danger that the debate on zero hours contracts goes the same way as the debate on minimum wage and tips almost a decade ago. To remind us, the industry argued that it was okay to pay people £2 per hour because, in reality, those that earned low base wages more than made up for it in tips, often earning very good sums of money and normally earning over £10 per hour. This was a fair argument. But the public perception was that a tip is a tip, and rewards good service, not subsidises wages. While the logic of the industry was right, we lost the PR battle.

It feels to me that zero hours contracts sit in the same bag. They are an easy mechanism for the industry; if people aren’t very good we can reduce their hours; if a pub closes we don’t have to pay them, and if a pub trades badly we can reduce hours without penalty. These are all things we do, albeit very rarely. The reality is that good people need a certain amount of hours to pay their way, and every manager understands the needs of their staff. We look after our people because we care about them and we want to retain and motivate them. We also have part-timers who may only do one shift a week, just working Sunday lunch, for example. This is a very important role for people who are in full time employment elsewhere and want a few hours just to top up their income. They are certainly a great source of high quality staff for the hospitality industry.

It feels to me that we are again on the losing end of an important debate and should act quickly before, yet again, our reputation is damaged. We might also look at more complicated contracts that work for us. Annual hours contracts are the most obvious example, where you might work very few hours in the middle of January in Cornwall and a lot more in the summer, but you receive a regular income.

My plea to the industry is to move quickly and effectively. Shift the vast majority of people to contracts, which, say, offer 20 hours minimum and then retain zero hours for those who want to do few shifts. (If we don’t, we are in danger, of course, of losing those very valuable part-timers that we all need.) We will then have a justifiable position that defends the rights of low hours workers as well as those who are, in reality, full time employees.
Alastair Scott runs Malvern Inns and Catton Hospitality, both of which he set up after leaving Mitchells & Butlers

Return to Archive Click Here to Return to the Archive Listing
 
Punch Taverns Link
Return to Archive Click Here to Return to the Archive Listing
Propel Premium
 
Square Kiosk Banner
 
Strong Roots Banner
 
Access Banner
 
Hall and Woodhouse Banner
 
SetMenu Banner
 
Testo Banner
 
Contract Furniture Group Banner
 
Nory Banner
 
Tenzo Banner
 
Propel Banner
 
Sona Banner
 
Zonal Banner
 
Christie & Co Banner
 
Venners Banner
 
Airship – Toggle Banner
 
Bums on Seats Group Banner
 
Wireless Social Banner
 
Startle Banner
 
CACI Banner
 
Meaningful Vision Banner
 
Beyond the Bean Banner
 
Growth Kitchen Banner
 
Zonal Banner
 
Purple Story Banner
 
HGEM Banner
 
Accurise Banner