February is a busy date in the calendar for foodservice providers. Between couples celebrating Valentine’s Day, socialites sticking the final nail in their Dry January coffin with St. Patrick’s Day and a packed month of 6 Nations and other sporting events, there are a lot of opportunities to cash in.
Never afraid to embrace our Irish heritage, we’d be lying if we said we weren’t excited by the 6 Nations and St. Patrick’s Day – and you should be too! Unlike football, rugby draws in a wide demographic of sports fans and if your venue will be televising it, you can expect a lot of thirsty fans and hungry mouths.
With fast food restaurants seeing a typical uplift of 50-60% and local restaurants increasing sales by up to 140% during the 6 Nations*, getting your food offer is crucial.
Many of the same rules apply for all televised sport – it is important to keep queue time down, to stop bottlenecking before games and at halftime as well as providing food options for customers who may be standing and holding drinks.
With frequent back-to-back Saturday matches, expect a rush for food before the first games, between the first and the second game as well as during two half times. Keep wait time down by serving food that is quick to prepare; Big Al’s 4oz Flame Cooked Beef Burgers cook from frozen in under two minutes and need only a microwave.
Equally, Big Al’s Italian Twist Pizzas work perfectly for 6 Nations fans and St. Patrick’s Day partiers alike. Quick to prepare and served in handheld packaging, these make the perfect snacking option for customers who are keen to eat-while-they-drink and don’t have room to sit down in a packed out venue.
Whether it’ Valentine’s Day, St. Patrick’s Day, 6 Nations or even Chinese New Year, there are a lot of days to remember when preparing for a busy period. We’ve got you covered with our UK Food Diary 2018 – so you’ll never miss an date again.
