THE Summer Sports SEASON
YES, THE English sporting season is here again and with it, plenty of opportunities to reap profits. Whether it's Wimbledon Fortnight, cricket, Henley, Ascot, the Derby or a local football game, you can feature attention-grabbing names on your menu to generate interest and increase business.
Brake Bros has the following ideas - "Return Volley Vent" - vol au vents filled with chicken, mushroom and ham pie filling, 917 or "Net Call" - seafood platter or Fishermen's Platter, 918.
Buy a large screen so that customers can watch the Wimbledon tennis, for example and serve items in keeping with the event such as Buck's Fizz, Pimms, 919, strawberries and cream etc. Or how about Champagne Sorbet (below), made with real champagne, 920, from Brake Bros?
Offer your service to the local cricket team - one cricket team was badly let down recently when their girlfriends and wives refused to make the teas. Your help could be invaluable and profitable. Try Goochy Goujons - Battercrisp Goujons of Lemon Sole, 921, "Imran Khan bowled the Maharajah Over" - Maharajah Vegetable Curry, 922, or "Sticky Wickets" - Sticky Toffee and Apple Fudge Cake, 923, all from Brake Bros.
Provide packed lunches and teas for spectators of local sporting events or open air theatre events. Quiches are always popular. Try serving the new Roast Veg-etable Quiche and Four Cheese and Roast Baby Onion Quiche (right) from Brakes, 924. Include a chocolate bar like Lo Max (above, right) 925, with 5.5gg of fat per 42g bar.
Keep customers happy at open air events by providing a beer tumbler tray from Dolphin Packaging, 926, which holds six one pint or half pint tumblers in special cavities that keeps each tumbler secure.
Cooking in the open air could be difficult, but help is at hand from Container Kitchen Systems, 927, with its fleet of ready-to-use temporary kitchens, dining facilities, storage areas, coldrooms and freezers. The units can usually be up and running within a few hours as they are designed to be installed quickly and easily.
Disposable tableware is essential at large-scale open air sporting events and eliminates the need for washing-up.
The new colourful collection from Linpac, 928, comprises polystyrene drinking cups, plates and bowls printed in green and yellow with designs of leaves and lemons.
Cheers from Magrini with its new champagne flutes and goblets (bottom right), 929, which not only look like the real thing, but won't break as they are made from shatterproof polycarbonate. There's also a three-pint pitcher from Magrini, 930, which has a contoured lip for easy pouring with ice.
American football fanatics, football or rugby fans will like an extra meaty sizzle on the barbecue such as a Full Rack of Ribs, 931, from Brake Bros, marinated in a sticky traditional barbecue sauce. Or there's Plusfood's Friki branded "Simply the Breast" range of butterfly chicken and turkey breast fillets, 932. The marinated chicken breasts are in Cajun, Smoked, Garlic and Herb, Thai and Lemon, while the turkey breast is in Red Wine and Herb.
Miniature bottles of wine are well-received at outdoor events either on sale at the bar or as part of a packed lunch. H&A, 933, fills and sells wines in capacities of 18.75cl and 25cl in glass and 18.75cl in PET including a concave back bottle.
As the British summer weather is so unpredictable, be prepared for cool evenings. Purchase outdoor heaters such as the new Riviera Patio Heater from Tansun, 934, which looks like a lamp, but is also a heater.
Capitalise on beverage sales by creating speciality coffees such as Summer Coffee, a combination of Melitta coffee, dark rum, Grand Marnier, syrup, whipped cream and ice cubes. Other recipe ideas are available from Melitta, 936.
