Cafe des Plantes

Pershore College's Cafe des Plantes at Chelsea Flower Show was about Beverage Botanics and all the drinks that can be fermented, infused and distilled from plants.  Sadly, no actual cafe but interesting nonetheless.

Edamame Beans

 A soybean that can be eaten fresh and best known as a snack with a nutritional punch and apparently responsible for Posh's 23" waist.

Now mainstream (i.e. in Pret).  Tasted one yet?

The New Mini

Clever idea - mini bitesize versions of your favourite cakes at a maxi price (80p in this case) - seen at Peter Jones' rooftop cafe.

The Latest Cafe Accessory

Wood burning stoves are the latest 'must have' to generate that informal, relaxed, back to nature, cosy feel that so sum up the appeal of cafes over more formal catering ventures.

Pork Pie & Piccalilli

Peyton & Byrne's clever sale of a traditional staple plus the added value of piccalilli

Biscuits, not Cookies

Another bright idea from Peter Jones' cafe - Nutmeg & Custard Biscuits at £1.95 a pop.  Different, determinedly British and a full price.

Ploughman's

The £5.95 Ploughman's at Langford Garden Centre's Ival Valley Coffee Shop in Bedfordshire.  Opened a year ago and sales climbing rapidly.

The local pubs better watch out.

The Cold Drink Conundrum

Those smart trendy bottles of cold drink are popular but don't do much for your margins.

Solution: Decant bulk-bought quality juices (or your own lemonade) into plastic cups as done here on the eye-level top shelf at smart operators Pain Quotidien.

Fresh Scones and Tree Stumps

The sign on entering Highgrove (the Gloucestershire home of HRH The Prince of Wales) says: Beware!  You are now entering an old fashioned establishment. 

The gardens are quirky, fun and show the amazing artistic potential of tree stumps.

The catering by William's Kitchen at Calcot (Manor Hotel) was simple but good - tea and scones.  The owners, Richard & Cathy Ball, guaranteed me £100 that their scones will always be freshly baked and you can't argue with that.  They came up trumps with creme patissiere for a guest who couldn't eat cream.  Lovely china but not sure tea bags are old fashioned or up to the overall quality of the experience.

Welsh Dresser at Waddesdon

Don't let anyone tell you that expensive custom-made counters are required to display cakes attractively.  Waddesdon Garden Centre has kept it simple, colourful and on next to no budget.

Fresh Fruit Display

Fruit provides colour and that healthy glow to your food display (even if sales will be low) but baskets are generally so unimaginative.  Couture has brought some creative thinking to the fruit display at their Canteen at Pinewood Studios as befits a world class film studio location.

More on Macaroons

We had the giant macaroons at Peter Jones - see blog post dated 12th April - and now we have Macaron Frappes courtesy of Paul.

You may also have seen the Unifine food and bake ingredients flyer in your Caterer magazine publicising their French Macaroon Mix - mix with hot water for 4 minutes and bake for 20 minutes - and all the colourful things you can do with a macaroon!

Jamie's Success

Enter the Jamie's Italian in Liverpool and it's theatre - live pasta making.  This hugely successful, fast-expanding restaurant chain has much to teach us.  I note and applaud:

• Kitchen cloth type serviettes
• House wine in tetrapaks
• Lots of food and product out on display
• Planks/platters/boards used to serve food
• "Humble" green salad
• Wood and metalwork artisan fit out with an inexpensive, basic ceiling
• "Posh Chips" - truffle oil and parmesan, funky garlic and parsley

Keep an eye on this one.  Customers love the unpretentious feel of it all.  Jamie's 'get it', are full and are on the money.

Best Eccles Cake Ever

OK it's subjective but the 'made daily' eccles cakes at St John Bread and Wine off Spitalfields are fab - it's more of  a restaurant than a cafe but they do take-away sales.  Get in touch if you know anywhere that might rival their quality and taste!

Colour Me Beautiful

Wells-next-the-Sea in Norfolk has a new Beach Cafe sporting colour, windbreaks and quality food.

Simple touch - different coloured napkins to engender that seaside buzz ........ plus an appropriate paperweight!

Proud Purveyors of Cake

Photo:Michelle Meiklejohn

Is there a problem?  

Check out the most chilling set of powerpoint slides -

http://www.cdc.gov/obesity/downloads/obesity_trends_2009.ppt

and although it is the USA, something similar is happening here.  Cafes are proud purveyors of cake so what can we do? 

The British Hospitality Association is recommending caterers provide calorie information as part of the government's Responsibility Deal.

Suggestion: have one or two items that you always sell marked with their calories - or Weight Watcher ProPoints - so that you show willing, inform customers and take a small step to being part of the solution.

The Food Issue

 
I have been asked to lead workshops at the Caffe Culture Show - Olympia 18th & 19th May, noon to 1.30pm - on 'The Food Issue':

"How we can produce distinctive food in a small space with minimal equipment??  A workshop where we learn from the participants led by an expert café consultant, Chris Brown of Turpin Smale Catering Consultancy.

Bakery cafes are the rage throughout Europe and innovative, distinctive food is a must.  Easily prepared and fresh is the mantra..

Obesity is a real challenge – how can we sell something that few of us should be eating?  The challenge of calorie count menus and pro-points.

The big chains have specialist food development teams and huge purchasing power – how the independent can compete, flourish and win out."

The sessions cost £50 and bookings are via the organisers at http://www.caffeculture.com/Content/Workshops/40/

Cafe's Best Friend

Dogs = Owners = Walks = Potential Customers

Do we welcome them? 

The best - Doddington Hall, Sandbanks Cafe - feature quality dog bowls, lead securing points and dog treats.

Effective Signage

Signage can be more memorable than a banner.


Seen at Tissington Village in the Peak District - a case of attracting (and humouring) the visitors rather than scaring the crows.







Caterer Couture's 'Milk & Honey' cafe brand at Pinewood Studios

What a Cafe isn't

£40, eight course, set menu served at a fixed time.  Three types of butter.  Credit to the food, service and effort but .....

The Dining Room in Ashbourne, Derbyshire has the quality but not the customers - seven on a Thursday night.

It brought home to me what cafes are so good at - a range of good value food served throughout the day and, generally, lots of customers.

Edible Flowers, Figs & Exotica

How do you make the ordinary extraordinary?      

Bill's Produce Store - Brighton, Lewes, Reading and now Covent Garden - puts edible flowers, figs and exotic fruit on top of desserts such as cheesecake and pavlova.  A treat for the eyes.

Worth a £1

£1 child food items - great value and, apparently, hasn't taken away from £4.50 child theme boxed meals.  Given the 'children eat free' seen at many outlets nowadays it is probably a clever move.  Seen at National Tramway Museum in the Peak District.

Hopefully always Good

Comment Books - not just cards - are back in fashion.  It certainly fits the historic venue location and if you can find an old leather-ledger type book, all the better.

Great examples seen at Rufford's Savile Restaurant, Burghley House's Orangery Restaurant and Holkham's Rose Garden Cafe.

Staff Tips

What do we think?

Naff in the extreme is my view.  Especially in a cafe where you queue to order and take your own drink to the table.

My suggestion would be to feature the food rather than the tip box.

Memories of Spam & Dripping

The cafe at Crich Tramway Village sold dozens of Spam, Corned Beef and Dripping sandwiches at their Easter 1940s Weekend.  True retro food!   The National Tramway Museum based at Crich has turned around the financial performance of their catering operation by careful management of their margins - case study to follow.

Fun with a Multideck

Napket (5 outlets in the City and West End) have fun with their multi-deck chiller cabinets.  They make most folk look plain boring.  Wood on the shelves and artificial grass on the base.

Makes you smile.

Honest staff?

This is how Burger King at Paddington station keep a check on things.  Simple, self-policing and relevant to high volume locations.

Grocer Deli Bakery Cafe

Melrose & Morgan in north London. Kitchen and storage area right in front of you. Product fresh from the ovens displayed on a simple wooden table.  One of our favourites.

Stuff the Rules; Make me Smile

Welcoming, inclusive and unexpected - our characterful 'local' on the river at Cookham.  Do you have a sign that makes your customers smile?

A new take on Toast

A clever take on an old favourite - toast.  Starbucks, and now EAT, offer thick slices of fruit bread toasted on the panini grill.   There has always been that challenge of how you can get a decent price for dear old toast - now you can.

Cakestands - No need to get married

Wedding cake stands are what you need to present your cakes and, boy, are their makers doing some business.

Suppliers culled from the web:
http://www.cakestands.co.uk/
http://www.cake-stands.co.uk/
http://www.supaprice.co.uk/p/result.jsp?ga=uk2&q=wedding+cake+stand


Good to Great Cafes - chris.brown@turpinsmale.co.uk

New use for telegraph poles

Cocomaya's new cafe on Pavilion Road (Sloane Square end) uses the same cake presentation device - a chopped down telegraph pole with fret-shaped shelves - as its original cafe on Connaught Street.  Fabulous food, beautifully presented.

Two Stars; No Sense

One way of putting your customers off!    As yet, you don't have to put the score on your door.

Macaroons on steroids

Seen at Peter Jones' rooftop cafe on Sloane Square: whoopie size (i.e. large) macaroons at £2.60 a pop.

John Lewis have redone the servery but its design is how not to do it. Check out the number of coffee machines and how you can pay for a main course and not even see the cakes. Great company but off the pace in terms of great cafes.

Kastner & Ovens - Keeping it Simple

Simple and inexpensive cake presentation on standard mobile stainless steel shelving units at Kastner & Ovens' new unit in Spitalfields.  Great name for a bakery retail unit.

Lolly Cake

Cake on a stick - colourful, fun and not seen elsewhere.....yet.  Not the easiest to eat but typical of the innovation seen in the cut-throat coffee bar business.  Well done Starbucks with their 'Petites'.

As part of our popular London Cafe Tours we always visit the majors and caterers are often the worst at knowing what's new in the market.


Good to Great Cafes - chris.brown@turpinsmale.co.uk

POD - one to watch

Nine City of London locations, growing fast and voted Independant Retailer of the Year 2010-11.
http://www.podfood.co.uk/index.php

Their tag line is: Fresh, seasonal, healthy food in compostable packaging.  You can't argue with that.  Lots of green/sustainable/simple ideas:

How they fit out the place











Recycling station















Good to Great Cafes - chris.brown@turpinsmale.co.uk

Timed and undated

We are well used to truly fresh sandwiches and the horror of the dated (i.e. potentially yesterday's) lunchtime favourite.  Benugo put the time of preparation - smart.

Good to Great Cafes - chris.brown@turpinsmale.co.uk

Popcorn and not just at the movies

Pret has had it for a while - popcorn that is - and it has now moved mainstream.  Low cost, high margin, healthy (oh yeah) and popular.  A rival to the kettle chip.   Metcalfe's popcorn spotted at Maidenhead station in a Puccino's unit -  a wonderful example of a compact take-away servery.

Tea ....on the Sea

The £52 million rebuild of the Grand Pier at Weston-super-Mare (Bristol way) is quite something. The latest in arcade gizmos, a 4D cinema, dodgems and a go kart track all under cover - 60,000 people a day are anticipated in peak season.



The Tiffany tea room at the end of the pier feels like you are at sea (when the tide is in) and is both upscale and thankfully quiet.

The owner Kerry Michael (Mr Weston-super-Mare) deserves to do well.  Catering is in-house and covers the bases http://www.grandpier.co.uk/food-drink 
Worth a look sea!