Head of Food for our regional venues, Paul Lawman, talks to Ensemble about the development of the Spring Menu.

Every January, the first thing we do is look back at our busy Autumn season and evaluate the successes and challenges, with particular consideration to the popularity of our various menus. January always offers us a chance to consider our offer and work together to craft the guest experience for the year ahead.

The Food Group, which includes senior kitchen team members from across all venues, get their thinking-caps on and creative juices flowing, and come together to design and develop the Spring Menu due to launch in March. The Spring Menu is arguably the most important launch of the year as it sets-the-tone for our food experience and informs the many menu derivatives throughout the year.

A key objective for me when considering the Spring Menu is to revive and improve the focus on sustainability in menu planning, including ethical procurement and animal welfare standards which we championed prior to the 2020 lockdown. This doesn’t always mean ‘purchasing from the local farm’ or ‘sourcing from within a 10-mile radius’ necessarily but to trace and reduce the carbon footprint of all ingredients and to challenge ourselves to select product and ingredient that supports a low environmental impact menu.

The first step in bringing this project to life begins by engaging with our main supply partners who, along with their development teams, allow our Head Chefs into their kitchens, offer insights into what’s seasonal and on trend, and give inspiration whilst also showcasing some great ideas which we may not have considered. Our Chefs were invited to visit Reynolds Food Fresh Wholesale and Bidfood Food Service development kitchens which greatly helped our understanding of available product and opportunities. Once we had a menu outline, three days of menu development sessions were held at Cliffs Pavilion, Southend – which allowed our chefs to show off their talents and create some mouth-watering dishes to sample.

Over previous years we’ve found ourselves removing complexity from menus and simplifying the approach to the menu – responding to chef and skills shortages but with venues now having full teams with a wealth of experience behind them, we all agree that now is the right time to elevate the food offering, increase the volume of dishes which are ‘made in-house’ which also helps us to promote the use of sustainable ingredient, reduce food waste and rely less on ‘pre-made’ products from suppliers which can be sporadic in availability.

This Spring Menu will see the venues go ‘meat-free’ on starters, quietly promoting plant-based foods, driving down usage of high environmental impact ingredients as well as continually improving the profitability of our dishes. For example, a conscious decision to only use sustainable, line-caught fish (Fish & Chips makes up a third of all orders!).

We can’t wait for our guests and teams to be sampling new show-stopping dishes such as Cajun Chicken Jambalaya or our Signature Sharing Pie. The food and drink our guests experience can truly enhance their visit. Dining with us prior to the show is all part of the overall night-out, experience economy – it’s so important we get it right! Oh, and try our new in-house-made Sticky Toffee Pudding… you won’t regret it!