The post-Covid outlook for pub dining

Since our last look at the pub dining market some 12 months ago, hotels across the nation have weathered the storms of Covid lockdowns, and with some states faring better than others in this regard, the outlook for the market as a whole has been mixed.

To find out how things currently stand we spoke to Gary Johnson, National Executive Chef for ALH Group which operates more than 340 hotels nationally. Gary is characteristically optimistic in his initial summation: “There have been some silver linings in the clouds of the last 12 to 18 months of Covid for us, if I can put it that way. We’ve had the opportunity to reset our focus, not only on our food and beverage but also our customers.”

Gary says the pub market was probably one of the hardest-hit sectors of hospitality, “in that we lost our beverage, our gaming and our food businesses all at once, yet we still tried to keep our venue managers on board, we still had rent to pay – we had to keep those businesses from falling over.

“Some pubs in Victoria had to close for up to eight months – and that meant equipment wasn’t being used and therefore wasn’t being maintained. When you open up again after that, you have to replace a lot of equipment. Coming out of Covid, the states that were able to remain open are thriving now – across QLD, NT, SA and WA we’re beating our budgets from 2019, we’ve surpassed all the pre-pandemic levels, so that is extremely heartening.”

But NSW and Victoria combined account for at least 50 per cent of ALH’s venues, and Gary says recovery has been much slower there: “They’re still not operating at full capacity, and even if they were, we might have had four bars in a venue before but now we can only open three because we don’t have enough people to staff the fourth.

“Having said that, now NSW and Victoria have opened up, we’ve seen customers come flying out of the gate – they want to indulge and have fun and they’re looking for premiumisation. That’s given a really optimistic outlook for the whole market – we were booked pretty solid for the festive season, and the lack of overseas travel means everyone’s local is set to be very busy over summer.”

Contactless ordering bringing customers back

Helping to encourage customers back into pubs has been the technological innovation of contactless ordering phone apps which have taken the market by storm over the past six months. Gary describes the customer takeup of this option as “phenomenal” and says, “We had to move pretty fast to get our venues into that space, and with 350 around the country it was no small exercise. We've had an army of people training and installing and our IT people have been in overdrive getting it all up and running, but it’s given us double digit sales uplifts because customers can now order from their phones – it’s all right there and the algorithms even make menu suggestions and prompt for upselling. The app asks would you like to order your favourite parma again, or are you going to have a craft beer tonight to wash it down?

“That’s been a terrific tool for us, because it’s freed up our staff – we haven’t reduced their numbers, but with less time spent on order taking, you can spend more time focusing on customer service. One of the key learnings we've taken out of Covid is you have to be very customer centric now – people are looking to be indulged, they’re looking for a little love and attention and you need to be able to provide that.”

“There’s been a big push overall for healthier choices, sustainable choices – not just personal health but the health of the planet. Having that on our conscience as well as around our midriff is certainly changing customer attitudes on what they want and how they're going to order as well. I think sustainability is not just a buzzword but is something our customers are actively focused upon. We need to make sure we are environmentally aware, not only broadly conscious of zero emissions and environmental considerations, but making sure our food and services reflect that in our business.

“When you also factor in the rising cost of meat and beef you can see there’s a real shift in what people are ordering – some of our menus now have only one steak, which I never thought I’d see on a pub menu! Instead we offer a lot more variety in our protein choices, including a lot more plant-based proteins. I hasten to add it’s not separated into a particular section but interwoven throughout the menu – and that’s not going away, if anything it’s going to get bigger over time.”

Quality takes precedence over quantity as customer tastes shift

Another emerging trend Gary notes is a preference for “quality over quantity” when it comes to food: “We saw this first on the beverage side, where customers might choose a higher quality triple filtered vodka but only order one or two rather than half a dozen. We’re now seeing it in the food space as well. I recently read an article which used the word ‘reducitarianism’ to describe it – meaning smaller portions of meals with higher quality proteins. 

“You might have some wonderful shaved Iberico black ham on top of a little fig and cherry vinegar and rocket salad or something like that. It’s smaller portions but higher quality, with an emphasis on regionality. Customers today are keen to know about the provenance of particular ingredients – I’ve just come back from a tour of our pubs in WA, where they have great local wine and cheese and call that out on the menu.

“Some of this produce is sourced from places like Margaret River and it’s certainly not cheap but customers are happy to pay for the quality. So that is the trend and I think it will definitely come to the East Coast as well.”

“When it comes to the beverage side, I think the younger generation’s tastes have grown more sophisticated in recent times,” Gary opines. “Our younger customers might order one or two premium RTDs, in preference to a jug of beer with their mates. They’re not looking for a cheaper drink, although value for money of course comes into play. But they’re not wanting to get rolling drink, they’d rather keep their faculties and enjoy some premium spirits.

“We’re also seeing great wines in Australia now, and with the taxes on imports, not so much coming out of Europe. So Australian producers have stepped up to fill that space and the quality is up there. Over the past few years we’ve also seen the rise of seltzers among the 20 to 30 year olds – they’re everywhere now. They’re a bit higher in alcohol content but they boast natural flavours and no sugar, so that makes them attractive. Younger consumers are also drinking a lot more cocktails, so that’s now a dedicated space in many of our bars.”

Menu rationalisation scales up production and plating

The reduction of the pub menu is also delivering greater efficiencies on the plating and delivery side, which is also enabling venues to increase their seating capacities. Gary says technological innovation in the kitchen has enabled ALH to move to faster production cycles: “Most of our kitchens are now equipped with sous vides, thermo circulators and dedicated plate-up areas, so we’re now able to do 20 plates at a time instead of ten.

“We’re also incorporating some of our pass areas as well – we tend to have our peak time for dinner between 7pm and 8.30, whereas it used to drag out a little bit longer, say half an hour either side. But now with the electronic ordering we’ve been able to rein that in, and we’ve also taken a close look at the plating process for our menu dishes. If we had six to eight steps in plating a particular dish, we've tried to reduced that down to three or four. We've looked at dishes which may not have been big sellers and removed them – they might have been there for ego and vanity, rather than our customers.

“Nowadays we'll run things like seafood towers and antipasto platters on the weekend to facilitate turnaround times, because we can have the cold elements already semi-prepared – we might run, say, chef’s specials of antipasto or grazing platters and we'll have the cold elements prepared and plated up and only have to add the hot part.  

“It might be a grazing board with some charcuterie and cheeses and pickles, and then we’ll add some grilled chorizo and corn fritters – just those two hot components so you have a nice mix. Customers can order up and it'll be at their table in 10-15 minutes as opposed to 20 or 30.

“And the share plates are also a great way to start the evening off when you're out with friends and family, because you can start with them while you're waiting for your steaks or your mains – share a couple of drinks and have a great night.”

“I always take the view that pubs are there to appeal to all generations, and we’re focused on ensuring that the design and layout exemplifies that. If you look at the foot traffic in a pub, it evolves over the course of the day – the café areas are busy in the morning with coffees, meetings and parents’ groups, then we move into lunchtime with lighter meals, handheld snacks, sandwiches and salads.

“Throughout the afternoon you’ll see share plates, mates meeting up for drinks in the front bar and sporting meetups right through to the dinner period.

“We also try to incorporate what we call zones throughout the hotel – you might be on the terrace or the balcony in the morning, then come back on a Saturday afternoon to have a few jars in the public bar while you watch the footy, then have a meal in the bistro with the family in the evening. So you can go to three different zones in the same venue and our aim is to make it feel like a different venue every time.”