The best meal of the day

Dinner was superb, the room perfect, the bed nice and comfy. A pity, then, if the parting impression your guest gets is a lacklustre breakfast……….. People may be unadventurous when it comes to breakfast at home, grabbing a couple of slices of toast before they shoot out of the door, but away from home when there's more time to enjoy it - and someone else to cook it - breakfast becomes something of a treat.

There's a huge profit opportunity in breakfast so it's worth putting time and effort into the menu and sourcing the right ingredients. "Consumer demand has led to caterers sourcing local produce, largely as a result of the farmers' market movement," says Paul Hartley of breakfastandbrunch.com. "It's a trend that has started in the past couple of years - people bought produce from farmers markets and found it tasted so good they were prepared to pay extra for it. They will buy things like wild boar or venison sausages at four times the price of standard sausages."

Many hotels already make use of speciality produce such as bacon and sausages from local farms or butchers, and more are catching on to the fact that there is an added attraction to a morning feast of produce sourced locally.

Ynyshir Hall, Powys, has always sourced its produce from the surrounding Welsh countryside. "It makes a lovely meal that tastes just gorgeous," says owner Joan Reen. Traditional Welsh laverbread - seaweed made into cakes with oatmeal - is fried in bacon fat and served as part of a full cooked breakfast along with hand-cut, home-cured local bacon, free range eggs and sausages made to the hotel's own recipe of pork, leek and herbs by a local butcher.

While Reen estimates that 75-80% of her guests opt for a full cooked breakfast, those preferring something lighter are well catered for with choices such as smoked salmon and scrambled egg, made with wild salmon from the Herefordshire/Welsh borders - a dish apparently very popular with Atkins dieters - and organic yogurts from nearby Rachel's Dairy. The kitchen even makes its own muesli with plenty of nuts, pumpkin seeds, pistachios and dried cherries. "Our muesli is very popular and once a guest has tried it they will always order it again," Reen says. "We've even converted some non-muesli eaters."

Across the Irish sea into Northern Ireland, the Ulster Fry reigns supreme at the 40-bedroomed Rosspark Hotel in Ballymena with about 80% of weekend guests opting for a full cooked breakfast. It differs slightly from the Full English by the addition of soda bread and potato bread, both traditionally Irish and served fried. "They're popular with local people who'll be familiar with them and visitors tend to want to try them too," says second chef Mark McCausland.

Nigel Franks, owner of the 17-bedroom Darroch Learg hotel in Ballater, Aberdeenshire, is committed to serving locally sourced produce to his guests. "People like the idea of local things and around here the produce is as good as it gets so there's no logic in going outside the North-east," he says.

He maintains that being in the countryside, where visitors undertake active pursuits, means guests want a good meal in the morning to keep them going throughout the day, and a full cooked breakfast of bacon, sausage, black pudding, egg, tomato and mushrooms is a popular choice. So too are the fish dishes, for which the kitchen uses catches from Scottish waters: scrambled egg with Scottish smoked salmon, and smoked haddock from Aberdeen served with a poached egg.

Proper porridge, made from oatmeal, salt and water is a must on breakfast menus north of the border. Darroch Learg guests enjoy a bowl topped with cream and honey - probably not how a true Scot would have it, Franks admits. The hotel also has a Continental option featuring a roll from north-east Scotland called an Aberdeen buttery - which Franks describes as more flaky and denser than a croissant - bought from a local baker and served with butter and preserves.

But local produce is not just the domain of the hotel breakfast. Operators from caf‚s to pubs are extending their menus to include a breakfast offering.

Proprietor Paul Thomas serves 200 cooked breakfasts each Saturday and Sunday at the Farmcaf‚ on the A12 at Marlesford in Suffolk. "Just because we're a roadside caf‚ doesn't mean we can't go upmarket with breakfast," he says. "People have been put off a cooked breakfasts because of its image of being greasy and served in a smoky atmosphere. We're not cheap, but people are prepared to pay for quality served in a nice environment."

The caf‚'s cooked breakfast items are sourced within 10 miles of the restaurant. Dry-cured bacon comes from a local farm, where it is hung for three months. Award-winning pork sausages made from 78% fresh meat with spices are delivered four times a week from Revetts of Wickam Market and the Farmcaf‚ gets through some 200lb a week. Grilled smoked kippers are popular, too. Sourced from Lowestoft, they are fresh and undyed.

Diners who to stay over in one of the three bedrooms at the Punch Bowl Inn, near Kendal, Cumbria tend not to over-indulge too much the night before if they want to take full advantage of the breakfast prepared by proprietors Marjorie and Steven Doherty's head chef, Anthony Dennis-Payne.

A thin-link Cumberland sausage and Cumbrian Fellbred back bacon take pride of place among the free-range eggs, tomatoes, mushrooms and black pudding that make up the full English breakfast. The black pudding is also rather special, being made to a traditional Lancashire recipe that Dennis-Payne says is less spicy and less fatty with a more meaty taste.

But that's only the middle of the breakfast experience Punch Bowl Inn-style, with many people starting off with juice, porridge or cereal and ending with toast - using local white and wholemeal breakfast loaves - or croissants and preserves. Poached fresh fruits, smoked salmon and scrambled egg, and kipper fillet with butter and lemon complete the menu. "Breakfast should be like other meals and offer plenty of choice," Dennis-Payne says.

Breakfast facts

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  Consumption of porridge significantly increases during winter and spring compared with summer and autumn, with the British consuming about 47 million gallons of porridge a year.

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  The traditional way of serving porridge in Scotland is to have it in one bowl with cold milk in another. Each spoonful of porridge is dipped into the milk before it is eaten - but on no account should sugar be added.

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  Added-value Continental morning goods such as croissants are growing in popularity and about £52m-worth are sold each year.

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  In the UK we eat about 300 million kg of sausages a year.

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  There are more than 400 varieties of sausage made in the UK.

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  Bangers are so called because during the Second World War they contained so much water that they exploded when fried.

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  More than 200 different kinds of bread are produced in the UK every day.

What the suppliers say

"Consumers will often pay for a good breakfast if it's good value, because most people rarely have time to cook a big breakfast at home. This gives caterers a great opportunity to maximise their profits at breakfast time. It's important to offer a varied breakfast offering, as well as catering for the growing demand for regional preferences, such as the classic black pudding or Continental-style croissants. What's more, caterers can capitalise on current dieting trends, such as the Atkins diet, by offering a low-carbohydrate alternative."

Penny Moore, marketing director, 3663

"At home many of us are grabbing breakfast on the go, increasing demand for convenience products and cereal bars. But away from home breakfast remains a time to enjoy traditional favourites, with a bowl of cereal followed by an English breakfast still the most popular option. Weetabix Catering has developed a selection of quality breakfast cereals that provides choice across the whole range of different tastes, making sure there is something for everyone."

Nigel Smith, catering sector manager, Weetabix

"As there are more and more scares about artificial additives and preservatives and GM ingredients, consumers will demand 100% natural products such as porridge. Quaker continues its innovation programme by introducing porridge in ways that will appeal to the younger market, with products such as Oatso Simple and Scott's So Easy, which help caterers offer porridge on the go and quickly - essential for busy lifestyles."

Gill Wise, foodservice marketing manager, Quaker Oats

"It is vital to ensure that hotel guests leave on a high note so that means treating them at breakfast with delicious croissants, pastries and quality beverages. The growing popularity of caf‚ culture in the UK too means more opportunities to add value. But since few caterers have the time or resources to bake daily, top-quality bake-off products are the ideal solution."

Peter Drew, pastry category director, Bakehouse

"No matter what type of outlet you're catering for, from snack bar to hotel, a selection of high-quality, authentic French pastry and bread products will allow you to satisfy the growing consumer demand for diverse breakfast menus. The importance of eating breakfast, and particularly carbohydrates, has been acknowledged and promoted by nutritionists and dietitians in the UK and bread and morning goods, together with fruit, now make up two-thirds of the breakfast foods market.

David Barker, foodservice controller, Le Pain Croustillant

contacts

Bakehouse 01276 850500
www.breakfastandbrunch.com
Kellogg's 0161-869 2524
Le Pain Croustillant 020 8571 6111
Quaker Foodservice 020 8574 2388
3663 0870 3663 0000
Weetabix 01536 722181

BOXHEAD: breakfast week

BOXTEXT: The Home Grown Cereals Authority is encouraging caterers nationwide to organise events for Farmhouse Breakfast Week, which takes place from 25 to 31 January 2004. A leaflet containing six recipe ideas has been produced by the organisation and help is available with organising and publicising joint promotions with suppliers. For more information call 020 7520 3971 or see www.hgca.com/breakfast.

CAPTION: Guests expect to be offered choices these days - they won't all want orange juice and sliced white