Sustainability and convenience drivers for change in contemporary pub market

Once again Foodservice Rep brings you our annual report of the state of play in the pub market, with insights from Gary Johnson, who as National Executive Chef for a major national hotel chain prior to his retirement late last year spent much of the past 12 months with his finger sharply on the pulse of the pub sector.

“The wider foodservice industry is in a very unusual time at the moment, and naturally that’s impacting the pub market,” Gary says by way of opening our discussion. “Not only is inflation hanging over our heads like a sharp sword, but economic headwinds are in a way competing with the drive to culinary discovery – by that I mean consumers are still wanting to go out, but at the same time they’re tightening their belt straps. They’re looking for value – they don’t want to be gouged on prices. So it’s important for pubs not to have too many added extras on the menu – because customers don’t like having their pockets picked via ‘checkflation’.

“I often see these big venues which are using a digital ordering system that’s saving them money, but rather than absorbing the charges they’re passing them on to the customer – when what they should be doing is delivering value for money.”

Be responsive to trends in sustainability and environmental responsibility

Gary emphasises the macro-trends to which pubs need to be responsive right now are sustainability and environmental responsibility – “and that starts from the sourcing and choice of product and goes right through to the packaging. More than ever, we have to think ‘nose to tail’ – minimising wastage.

“We’re now seeing chefs taking offcuts and leftovers and repurposing those within other areas of the business. For example, we were taking our fruit offcuts and trimmings and using them to infuse soda waters; we were making soy water with offcuts of soybeans. And this was in response to customers asking more questions in the sustainability space – they want to know you’re ahead of the game and doing something pro-active.”

The other overarching trend impacting pubs is the consumer desire for ever greater convenience, post Covid: “Nobody wants to wait an hour and a half for a lunch special, instead they are looking to eat at times that suit their lifestyle. So pubs are responding by offering more snack meals throughout the day rather than major meals at set times.

“Something else which really came to the fore during Covid and is now here to stay is menu streamlining. You need to engineer your menu for profitability – which means taking a hard look at what you’re serving and asking, hand on heart, should that really stay on the menu?

“The fact is that in many cases 80 per cent of your sales come from 20 per cent of your menu, so there is always room for rationalisation.

“Those dishes down the bottom which don’t generate the sales you want are usually there because of someone’s ego or desire to showcase, and the truth is you don’t need them anymore. And when you’re running a pub kitchen, you have the responsibility not just to your team but to your customers to ensure you’re delivering great value, so the business can stay afloat and keep servicing the community.”

South American cuisine making inroads

Looking to food trends, Gary says South American cuisine is once again making inroads to pub kitchens and is likely to be big over the summer. “I think we’re seeing Venezuelan influences right now – European foods take us through the winter, because slow cooking and braised meats come to the fore, but over Christmas and New Year we’re seeing lots of Latin flavours on our menus” – so think avocado, coriander and chilli peppers.

Vietnamese and other Asian styles are also popular, thanks to their perceived lightness – “a Thai salad won’t weigh you down, so we’re seeing lighter dishes, along with other influences like fried rice and Asian pork chops. The other thing I think that’s here to stay is plant-based foods.

“One of the last bastions against vegan food was sushi, but now we’re seeing the advent of plant-based fish which is a really successful product. It has an authentic fish flavour and that’s given rise to much more variety in the sushi and sashimi space – I’ve tasted it at a few trade shows recently and I thought ‘wow, that really tastes like tuna!’

“This is just adding to the chef’s armory, giving us more ingredients to use in the plant-based arena. Sales of plant-based might not be as strong as they were a few years ago, but it’s certainly not going away.”

Another emerging trend is more attention being given to botanicals, which Gary says are set to become common ingredients in both beverages and desserts. “Hemp seed, ginseng, turmeric, dandelion, elderflower – they’re not new but they’re coming back into fashion,” he argues. “Gin and tonic with elderflower tonic is just superb! The seltzers also are riding high on the shelves because they’re lower in sweetness than a sugary soft drink, and whether it’s a dandelion and ginger seltzer or a dandelion infused ginger ale, these drinks work very well with neutral flavours and are ideal for the whiter spirits – vodka and gin and white rum. I think people are looking for new ideas and drinks with ‘healthy halos’ and this fits the bill.”

The humble cocktail has also made a resurgence on the menu, initially during Covid as people rediscovered the joy of mixing their own at home, and latterly in the dine-out market. “I’ve seen some great quality negronis lately,” Gary affirms, “and the interesting thing about today’s cocktails is customers would rather have one really good one than three or four mediocre ones. There are some great new formulations coming into play, but there’s also a lot of value in classic cocktails done really well – there’s a comfort factor in bringing back what was done before.

“From what I’ve seen, it’s the 25 to 40 year old demographic they’re really appealing to; those who are looking for ‘clean’ drinks with natural flavours, not overloaded with sugar or spices. So fruit-based cocktails, whether passionfruit, pineapple, goji berries or similar, plus some of the botanicals I mentioned earlier, are selling very well. Even miso paste stirred through chocolate for a sweet and sour flavour combo – you’d be surprised how good chocolate tempered with a little salty miso is! People are discovering more of these flavour combos nowadays.”

The move to ‘zone’ different areas in pubs is also here to stay: “It’s part of our vernacular now – we design our interior layouts to give everybody a chance to interact with their community, from those spaces which they can enjoy with the whole family, to areas for business meetings, to sitting with one’s partner – and it evolves through different times of the day, whether it be breakfast, morning coffee, lunch, dinner and over to the weekend in the sport bar watching a bit of UFC over a couple of jars with some mates. Those are the elements pubs will definitely strive to continue delivering. And as menu engineering and streamlining continues to evolve, you may find that instead of one big menu that lasts the whole day we move to three or four smaller ones that reflect the zoning across different dayparts.”

Deliver authenticity to keep customers coming back

Gary’s advice for those seeking to keep customers coming back to the pub is to focus not just on locally sourced produce and beverages, but on delivering authenticity – “It’s great to tie the two together. If a customer is going to order some great buffalo chicken wings, they might wash it down with a Budweiser; similarly if you’re serving Korean style chicken, why not offer a Korean beer to go with it? Matching beverages with food will work for anything – like offering German pork knuckles or schnitzels with Löwenbräu.

“Today authenticity is more important than ever, because Australians tend to be widely travelled and we know how to spot the difference. Not to mention that there's lots of communities out there who know how to make those dishes authentically at home so you can't fool them. If you’re doing Pork Adobo in the kitchen on Sunday, you better make sure you have a Filipino doing it because they can ensure that authenticity.”