Do you follow... get inspired on

Do you follow? Picture-perfect pastries with fruit-packed fi llings – check out pastry queen Julie Jones

Learning new skills is always a good thing, right? Especially things that can really help you up your cheffi ng game like the notoriously tricky but hugely impressive pastry.

Take a look at Julie Jones, the queen of pastry on Instagram (@julie_jonesuk). Julie turned her hand to baking and pastry as a way to connect with her mum who was sadly diagnosed with dementia. What began as a source of comfort with her mum has led to amazing things – awards, pastry books and collaborations with celebrity chefs.

Julie’s creations are truly beautiful and full of great fl avour combinations. Think persimmon, grape and almond frangipane and boozy cherry liquor pie. Check out her account to get inspired and a beautiful pastry tart could be making its way to your menu before long. Or what about selling whole pies for customers who can’t come in to eat with you? They’d make a perfect centrepiece for a celebration meal.

Follow @julie_jonesuk

Who inspires you on Instagram and deserves more credit? Send us your suggestions on social @barkitchenmag or email

editor@barandkitchenmagazine.com

find out more Don’t forget to follow us on Instagram @barkitchenmag and enter our Feed Your Eyes competition. Read more on page 46.

Deliveries

to do, or not to do?

2020 changed everything. If it’s about time you started a delivery service, here’s what you need to consider here’s what you need to consider

The delivery market has been growing in recent years with aggregators Just Eat, Deliveroo and Uber Eats exploding the takeaway landscape. And then Covid-19 arrived and accelerated this trend even further. In January-October 2020, customer spend on deliveries jumped by a huge 40% compared with 2019.*

During the pandemic, businesses have diversifi ed into deliveries or click and collect to keep the cash coming in and reach new customers, and many more are likely to take the plunge with the restrictions expected to last for many more months. Here we have pulled together all the essential information you need to consider if you’re thinking of starting up deliveries or you want to improve your takeaway game.

40%

INCREASE IN CUSTOMER SPEND ON DELIVERIES JANUARY-OCTOBER 2020

*Source: NPD Group, Nov 2020

Packaging This is important. The last thing a customer wants is a box full of soggy, squashed food that’s leaking out the side. Your packaging needs to look attractive, and ideally be recyclable to appeal to the eco-conscious. Card or foil boxes are perfect as they tend to be sturdy. Add a paper insert to avoid food sweating. This is especially important with fried food. Put sauces and dressings in small separate pots so customers can add as much (or as little) as they like. And make sure your hot sauce pots have holes in the top to avoid explosions!

Logistics If the delivery apps are in your area, you have a choice: use their delivery platform for orders and deliveries, just use them for orders and manage your own deliveries or go it alone. It’s a diffi cult decision.

The biggest downside of going with an app is the cost. Each deal is individually negotiated, however, the commission on orders could be up to 30%. This cost should be balanced against the lucrative advertising the platforms off er, though. Getting your menu under the noses of thousands of customers could justify the cost.

One of the most important factors with deliveries is speed. Customers are likely to go elsewhere next time if your delivery is slow and the food arrives in poor condition. Be accurate with your communications and give customers an honest estimate of how long the wait will be. They’ll respect you more for that.

Pricing Should you charge your normal menu prices or reduce them? Or increase them to balance out the delivery and packaging costs? It’s a tricky one. Look at what your competitors charge and align it with that.

Unilever Food Solutions’ Food Delivery Guide recommends off ering menu add-ons. Extra cheese or bacon on a burger can encourage customers to spend a bit more, which raises your margins.

Don’t forget to Read about the hygiene and allergy look-outs when off ering takeaways and deliveries: brws.it/deliveryadvice

Marketing This is where the delivery apps really come into their own as they will do a lot of the marketing for you and you’ll be able to pick up new customers who might have never heard of your business before.

Social media is also your friend here – make sure all your followers know you off er deliveries. Run opening promotions to get the word out. Make sure you have a sign outside your venue and a poster in your window advertising your delivery service.

Get yourself noticed and increase future custom by including a discount on eating in at your venue in the delivery order. The White Swan Inn in Pickering put their full menu in with their deliveries to show customers the breadth of food they off er if they visit in person.

The menu Think about what will travel well. Intricately plated dishes are unlikely to get to your customers looking their best. Don’t be restricted by your normal menu. Maybe adjust your delivery off ering to just your bestsellers or one item that has lots of variations like burritos or burgers. Think carefully before adding chips to the menu – Off er ‘good, better if the delivery address isn’t super and best’ on sauces. local, they can arrive soggy and cold.

For example, with Tater tots (deep-fried balls of grated a roast try add-ons – potatoes) are a good alternative, and gravy for 50p, a red you could sell a dip to go with them. wine gravy for £1 or a Merlot jus for £1.50 Something to remember With the delivery market being more Create an enticing competitive than ever, experiment sides menu to with diff erent strategies to make increase spend. your food stand out. Just Eat’s Head Halloumi fries and of Strategic Accounts Amy Heather garlic bread packed says businesses are becoming with Parmesan inventive: “One of our restaurants and bacon bits go gives a children’s colouring page when down well customers order from the kids’ menu.” Little things like this are great for Go premium on your word of mouth and repeat custom. fi sh and chip sauces. At the weekends or for a big sports Customers will pay game, consider a ‘cinema night’ or extra for truffl e mayo, ‘big match day’ meal bundle. Pre-made homemade tartare desserts such as cheesecakes, bottled or sweet chilli drinks and snacks can boost your revenue for little eff ort.

New territory

“We’d never done deliveries before Covid-19 hit and hadn’t really considered it,” says Victor Buchanan, owner of The White Swan Inn in Pickering. “We put the team on furlough during lockdown but we wanted to keep spirits up, so we volunteered to make meals for local hospital staff .

“To fund these meals, we decided to off er deliveries to our local community, which was a great success. Around 50% of customers were shielding and the other half wanted a nice restaurant-quality meal. After we re-opened, we delivered to shielders only but with the increased restrictions and lockdown before Christmas, we restarted our general delivery off er as well.

“My biggest piece of advice would be to stick to what you know. We did roasts on a Sunday and fi sh and chip Fridays, limiting the number of covers to 50. This way, we knew we could still deliver a brilliant meal. Packaging was a bit trial and error to begin with. Don’t put hot gravy in a tub with no holes in it – we learnt the hard (and explosive) way! Thermal bags are essential to keep the food warm in transit. We bought three, which is fi ne for 50 covers. “Deliveries have been a brilliant way to market our business. Only around 10% of orders were from existing customers, so it’s opened us up to lots of new people. I’ll be honest, I’d much prefer to have a full restaurant but we can’t just sit here doing nothing. In these tough times, we have to go to our customers.”

WATCH ONLINE

Watch The White Swan Inn’s video to hear about their deliveries during lockdown: brws.it/swanvideo