Counter measures

Twenty years ago, the carvery was considered to be cutting edge in the pub food sector. Every pub chain wanted to incorporate the concept, and three- and even four-star business hotels often had a carvery for dinner service. A side of beef glistening under bright halogen lamps and being carved and served by a chef, while customers helped themselves to vegetables, made a lot of economic and marketing sense.

However, the decade just past saw carveries being ripped out to make way for a magpie menu with a mix of dishes from every cuisine in the world and for every size of appetite. With the traditional British roast dinner, served from a carvery, reduced to being a Sunday lunch item only, it no longer made sense to have a darkened carvery counter in the restaurant for just three hours' use a week.

But while the eclectic menu still dominates, in the value-for-money market, where plate- and stomach-fill are key factors for customers, the marketing men are rediscovering the business potential of the carvery. Olympic Catering Equipment, which makes carveries for Scottish & Newcastle's 50-strong Country Carvery pubs chain, is just one of the manufacturers noticing this reversal of favour, but Olympic director Bruce Furness says that the design and the way pubs are using this second generation of carveries have moved on considerably from 20 years ago.

"The demand now is for something that has a more interesting design, rather than just functionality," says Furness. "There is more of a ‘pubby' look to them, with lots of brass and decorations like hanging copper pans to make the carvery counter a focal point of the restaurant, yet give that traditional look to what is a traditional British meal."

Key feature

While food-led pubs are rediscovering the carvery, other serveries and counters are beginning to appear in the most unlikely of pub settings, young persons' venues, where the accent is on loud music, designer lagers and breezers.

Here, the opportunity for food sales was recognised when pub operators realised that, while young people were coming for a drink and to socialise with friends at lunchtime, they were buying their lunchtime food somewhere else. The serveries are now becoming a key feature of lunchtime business.

And young persons' venues are not the only pubs turning to serveries for a new revenue stream. Another growing trend is for pubs to enter the takeaway food market and compete with the high street speciality sandwich shops. A sandwich servery counter positioned near the door, with a sandwich and snack offering which competes on quality and price with the speciality shops, plus good signage, can win both eat-in and takeaway sales.

The construction of serveries is also changing, with the latest generation of induction hobs - far more controllable and reliable than earlier types - being incorporated into servery counters for food holding. London's Park Lane Hilton, for example, has a new breakfast servery suite which is using flush-mounted and built-in induction hobs for keeping breakfast tureens hot.

Perfect condition

The Hilton's servery was built by Counterline and uses Induced Energy drop-in hobs, which have a power system and heat control system so sensitive that the manufacturer claims a tray of runny fried eggs can be held in perfect condition for as long as half-an-hour.

And while hygiene concerns dictate that the working surfaces of countering are in standard stainless steel, or non-porous decorative materials such as Corian or granite, changes are coming in the overall design of serveries. Curves are becoming fashionable, particularly in bespoke countering suites, where the caterer wants to get away from one long, straight trayline.

According to Ian Bell, chief designer of servery manufacturer RSS, having curved fronts in display cabinets increases the viewing area and enables customers to view the contents of a counter display from further away.

Other developments include those in the basic materials used in the construction of serveries, with coloured stainless steel or embedded and etched surface patterns now available, and bringing only a modest price premium over standard-finish stainless steel.

Currently, it is off-the-shelf mobile and permanent serveries which dominate the more price-sensitive areas of the market, since the impressive bespoke suites chosen for upmarket self-service restaurants are very expensive. But this, too, is changing with the growth in fixed-site modular assembly units which use standard-sized carcasses and standard-sized countertop and under-counter fitments which, when fixed together, give the appearance of a bespoke suite but at a much lower price.