Lunch breaks

Richard Hughes is a veteran of lunch-for-a-fiver schemes. As chef-proprietor of Number Twenty Four in Wymondham, Norfolk, he now has three Times Eat Out for a Fiver promotions under his belt.

For Hughes, the schemes have several benefits. They fill his restaurant for eight weeks, boosting the revenue for an otherwise erratic lunch trade. This year Number Twenty Four achieved £400 every lunchtime for eight weeks, with an average spend of £12.

"You would not get that money in January, February and March - they are quiet months. If I didn't do it, people would only go somewhere else," says Hughes.

The promotions are perceived by the local people as good value for money. They create goodwill and the restaurant becomes a local talking point.

Finally, the restaurant gets coverage in the national press, advertising that Hughes would not normally be able to afford.

careful costing

Although the benefits of the promotion are clear, Hughes has to cost his menus carefully to achieve a worthwhile financial return. Spending no more than £1 in total for two courses, Hughes offered starters such as a vichyssoise of smoked haddock, which costs him 30p, or a home-made pork and red cabbage terrine, which costs 35p.

His main courses include ballantine of chicken, which costs him 45p per leg, served with caramelised root vegetables; and tagliatelle with salmon and spinach cream, costing roughly 60p in total using a 4oz portion of fish.

Hughes decided to boost spend on the £5 lunch by offering more wines by the glass. Where a glass of wine normally costs £2.25 Hughes was selling better-quality wines for between £3.50 and £4. He also bakes bread on the premises and was able to charge £1 per cover for this.

On reading that former Caterer Adopted Business the Red Snapper in Bristol was interested in the Times promotion, Hughes contacted the chef-proprietor John Raines with details.

At Red Snapper the offer saw a slow lunch trade grow to between 20 and 30 covers a day from Tuesday to Sunday over eight weeks. The promotion boosted evening trade as well.

"We had the two best months since opening two years ago. It's like having a big ad somewhere," says Raines.

Like Hughes, Raines looked carefully at the cost of each ingredient. He began by ringing up his suppliers to find out what was around and cheap. Starters on Red Snapper's lunch for £5 menu included a tomato, sun-dried peppers and basil soup, which cost the restaurant 30p.

For the main courses Raines put mackerel and cod on the menu for between 70p and 80p a portion. In addition, guinea fowl was widely available over the period and cost only 25p per leg.

He also incorporated sea beet into the menu at no cost to the restaurant as he picked it himself locally. The entire meal ended up costing the restaurant between £1 and £1.50.

Raines saw his takings boosted over the two months. Red Snapper grossed over £4,000 a week, achieving an average spend of between £7.50 and £8.

"We had customers coming back three or four times and some were regulars. It's good for business and it's extra money going to the bank," says Raines.

The Times is not the only newspaper with a restaurant lunch promotion. The Financial Times has run a similar scheme for five years. In 1995 the FT included three price brackets in its scheme: £5, £7.50 and £10 for a minimum of two courses. This encouraged restaurants at the top end of the scale, such as Hambleton Hall in Rutland, to get involved in the promotion.

"We can just about live with £10," says Tim Hart, Hambleton Hall's proprietor.

Whereas normal lunch numbers at the 40-seat restaurant vary between five and 15, the promotion ensured it was full every lunchtime. It was so popular that Hart decided to extend it to a third week.

Average spend during the promotion worked out at £22 with most people going for a dessert, normally priced at £9 but reduced for the promotion to £5. Normal average spend at the restaurant is £60, so the margins for the month did suffer. Hart feels, however, it was still worth it.

"I look forward to it in January. It creates a lot of goodwill and attracts people who don't normally come in. There's a certain magic about the promotion. It hypes people up for a particular period. It has a real following," he says.

Like Hart, Tim Withers, chef-proprietor of the 35-seat George and Dragon pub-restaurant in Rowde, Wiltshire, went for the promotion for a second time hoping it would attract new people and be a good public relations exercise.

Although Withers felt the promotion would not make him any money, participation in the scheme paid off in another way. The offer won him a £2,000 cash prize when the George and Dragon was voted best restaurant in its price category by FT-scheme customers based on value for money, atmosphere and quality.

Alongside the fact that the promotions fill establishments in an otherwise quiet time, this year restaurateurs had the added incentive with the FT Lunch for a Fiver to help raise money for Save the Children. This was one of the reasons Jonathan Phillips, manager of the 75-seat Glass House in Ambleside, went for the FT scheme.

In addition, Phillips has been able to identify between a 10% and 15% increase in new business to the restaurant since the end of the promotion. Throughout the promotion customers came from up to 50 miles away to try the restaurant, while locals came in the first week and immediately booked for the second.

"We had 30% to 40% repeat business. It's all about perceived value and enjoyment," says Phillips.

He, like the others, will participate in this kind of promotion again, and in the meantime some have introduced their own lunch offers to fill in quiet times.

Hambleton Hall offers a two-course "lunch for less" than £14.50 all year round. Raines, likewise, has sent a mailing to over 300 promotion customers offering them a main course for £7.50 until the end of June if they have a starter and dessert or coffee. Main courses at Red Snapper are normally priced between £8.50 and £14.50.

Meanwhile, Hughes is already planning to offer dinner as well as lunch for £5 next year with the Times promotion.

"It gets the name of the restaurant about and people know where you are. But it's hard-earned money," says Hughes.