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into milk shakes. Pubs can easily charge upwards of 3 for a dessert and 5.50 for an alcoholic version, leaving them with a healthy GP, adds Coston.
Ice-cream bars can be an incredibly cost-effective way of creating a real buzz around your dessert menu
cream bar, a similar effect can be achieved by highlighting the options on the menu and encouraging customers to mix and match. Pizza Hut, Whitbread brand Taybarns and Mitchells & Butlers brand Crown Carveries all use self-serve systems. Self-serve is very popular with customers and is in keeping with the self-serve carvery offer and excellent value price point that Crown Carveries provides, says a spokesman. Use of the machine costs 1.85 with free sauces available. Pots of sprinkles, honeycomb and marshmallows are charged at 30p extra.
dairy ice creams and sorbets. They uses three programmes for different results. Gelato applies more cold to increase the consistency of ice cream; gelato fruit applies less cold for fruit ice creams and sorbets with a more intense flavour; and slush fruit crystallises fresh fruit cremoladas to create a smooth, even product. The secret to making the most from ice-cream sales is to develop an ice-cream menu that presents customers with an indulgent selection of flavours, and a quality accompaniment to popular desserts such as pies and crumbles, says Carpigiani sales director Gary Ingram.
incredibly well so much so that we are constantly being asked by our customers where we get our ice cream from, he says. The ice creams are served in sundaes, as accompaniments to other desserts and in cones, predominantly for children. When it comes to choosing what products to stock, it is important to consider the season, the customer base and occasion, and strike a balance to suit all. Decadent flavours such as Carte DOrs Cherry Blossom vanilla and cherry ice cream, cherry sauce and white chocolate flowers will suit the bigspending diner, but there must be more traditional, simple flavours on offer. Foodservice supplier Delice de France has introduced ice creams to its range for the first time and now offers strawberry, choc-
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the weekend hire charge for an ice-cream bike at the Charles Lamb pub in Islington, London
olate and vanilla flavours. For the health conscious, offer a frozen yogurt such as Carte DOr Strawberry Yogurt Delice, which includes yoghurt ice cream and seasonal summer fruit topped with a summer fruit coulis, or Vanilla Light with 50% less fat and 30% fewer calories. Another option to explore is goats milk ice cream, which contains much less lactose sugar than typical dairy products, making it a viable choice for those with lactose intolerance. Bally Bleat, by Northern Ireland ice-cream specialist Mullins, is available in vanilla and blueberry swirl flavours through Belfield.
Up the appeal
Many pubs make the mistake of failing to sell their offer. Instead of merely referring to ice cream in one line at the bottom of the dessert menu, caterers should draw the customer in with descriptions of flavours and presentation. Identifying the high quality of the ice cream being sold not only encourages purchase but also helps to position your outlet as a user of finest quality ingredients across the board, says Christina Veal, director at New Forest Ice Cream. She also encourages licensees to make ice cream available to take away particularly in hot tourist spots as it makes the perfect impulse buy. Freehold the Bull & Last in Highgate, London, offers takeaway tubs
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Ice-cream parlour
Moleface Pub Company turned a disused outbuilding at Enterprise lease the Lord Nelson in Burton Joyce, Nottingham, into an ice-cream parlour last summer to capitalise on good weather and use its large garden. The ice cream and cones are homemade and on offer through the hotter months for 1 a scoop. Vanilla is the most popular, but unusual flavours, such as jam roly poly, apple crumble & custard, and bread & butter pudding are also on offer. General manager Dean Thacker says around 60 are sold on a really hot day. The Farmers Arms in Darcy Lever, Greater Manchester, has reopened with an ice-cream parlour. Pub novices Freda and John Holland bought the freehold after the pub had been closed for a while and have so far spent 100,000 refurbishing it. The Hollands have given out 400 vouchers to local schools to encourage pupils to come and try the ice cream.
Some people like to have their meal and then take away ice cream to explore the area
Stand-out flavours
Welsh pub operator SA Brains uses only Marios ice cream across its
2 June 2011
IMAGE: MOVENPICK
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