PARTY TIME - THE HIT OR MISS WITH DARREN CHEESMAN

Darren Cheesman has been licensee at the Hit or Miss in Stamford, Lincolnshire for the past three years. The Hit or Miss is part of the Batemans Brewery, who won Publican’s 'Pub Company of the Year 2009'.

The Hit or Miss is a traditional community pub - the oldest pub still serving beer outside the town wall - with a customer base ranging between 18-80 years old. In order to keep these customers coming back in troubled economic times, the Hit or Miss keep everything priced fairly with regular events such as pub games and live music drawing in a crowd and giving customers a reason to keep visiting the pub.

The Hit or Miss specialises in Bangers & Mash, offering an impressive 15 different sausages, five types of mash and 11 types of gravy, as well as a buffet menu for the festive season. Always one to seize the opportunity to try something new, Darren trialled the Party Time menu from Moy Park Foodservice because they get a lot of party bookings from local businesses during the festive season and he wanted to liven up his buffet offering from the standard sandwiches and pastry products.

Moy Park Foodservice's Party Time menu is an ideal alternative to the traditional turkey dinner, which can get a little repetitive, as people usually attend a few functions in the run-up to Christmas. Darren's Hit or Miss customers enjoyed platters of Battered Natural Onion Rings with tomato and BBQ sauces for dipping, Crispy Coated Baby Camembert and Brie Wedges served with a cranberry sauce accompaniment, Cajun Mushroom Boats with a sour cream and chive dip, Hot 'n' Spicy Chicken Dippers with cooling cucumber dip, Crunchy Chicken Mini Fillets with lemon mayonnaise and Wings of Fire with a creamy blue cheese dip to name but a few!

Darren explained: "The Party Time menu was very popular, we fed 192 people, during six separate events, resulting in us receiving additional Christmas party bookings. Feedback from the customers was very positive: everyone said the quality of the food was really high and the kitchen found the Moy Park products really easy to cook. They're quick, efficient and there’s no waste, the chef absolutely loved them, he thinks they’re fantastic!"

"In particular the Crunchy Chick 'n' Mini Fillets were a firm favourite with the customers and will certainly be re-appearing on our menu in future!"

Darren concludes: "Offering Moy Park Foodservice's Party Time menu is a definite profit making decision for any pub, the quality is very high and I'm sure it will increase anyone's sales. We’ve taken additional bookings from both existing and new customers drawn in by the Party Time menu, so I can highly recommend it as an incremental sales opportunity over the Christmas and New Year period."

Darren's Top tips to other publicans wanting to promote parties or events during the festive season are:

Offer a wide variety of foods on the menu
Offer a fair price
Added value – make it a proper party

Pubs wanting to capitalise on the Party Time menu this festive season should find out more at www.moyparkfoodservice.com where they can download free tailored POS and create a specific menu via Moy Park’s Menu Makers - taking the hard work out of creating menus. Alternatively, call the Prime Line on 0800 085 2749