Joint venture at traders
Roast meat may be out of favour in many homes, but it continues to be in demand when eating out. But for chefs cooking for high-volume restaurants, however, traditional roasts can be difficult to handle. And, there is the challenge of cooking a large joint according to customers' individual tastes.
Forte Posthouse believes it has overcome both these problems with individual mini-roasts, the recent addition to its Traders restaurant menus. Developed in co-operation with the Meat and Livestock Commission (MLC), the mini-roasts were introduced into Posthouse's 61 restaurants at the end of 1994.
They are already a huge success, claims the chain's catering director Simon Crichton. In the four weeks to mid-January, 50,000 joints were sold, an average of 820 per restaurant.
The MLC was asked by Forte to develop joints that could be cooked fresh to order in 25 minutes. The 12oz joint, which is served on a skillet with Yorkshire pudding, horseradish sauce and gravy, uses topside British beef.
A 10oz mini-lamb joint, served with roast sugar onions, is made from leg meat. The pork joint is made from loin.
All joints retail at £12.95 on the à la carte menu and on Sundays are available as part of an inclusive three-course lunch priced at £11.95.
Demand for the mini-roasts has exceeded expectations, despite being the most expensive items on the menu. Posthouse managing director, Peter Stephenson, claims they are helping to draw more local people, as well as hotel residents, into the restaurants.
"We carried out a lot of research among customers last year and the desire for roasts came out strongly," says Stephenson. "So we asked our supplier Puritan Maid and the MLC to develop something different and imaginative.
"The opportunity for a family to carve its own joint at the table provides a more personal and traditional service which they enjoy.
"Only one in five people in the UK use a hotel in any one year," says Forte's Richard Power. "Of the rest, some are put off and even intimidated by hotel restaurants. Posthouses are designed to get over those fears."
Each Traders restaurant serves about 1,000 covers a week, with an average spend per person of £12, including drinks. The menu is described as North American, but it also carries sections featuring Italian dishes, Fajitas, Oriental dishes, fish, traditional grills, vegetarian meals and salads.
There are 37 main course choices, many of them available half-price for children. There is also a special children's menu which is free for the under fives. In addition, the chef will try to supply dishes not listed where possible.
