Editorial

Citation

Pratten, J.D. and Marechal, F. (2012), "Editorial", Worldwide Hospitality and Tourism Themes, Vol. 4 No. 3. https://doi.org/10.1108/whatt.2012.40804caa.001

Editorial

Article Type: Editorial From: Worldwide Hospitality and Tourism Themes, Volume 4, Issue 3

I am delighted to welcome back theme editor John Pratten, joined for this issue by Fabien Maréchal. John, Fabien and the team pose the question: “What are the ingredients for success in bar food operations?” The theme issue draws on several international contributions and on a study of UK public houses in the North of England. The writing and review team blends academic and practitioner inputs and this combination has produced a fascinating theme issue. I should like to thank John, Fabien and their team of writers for their rich analysis of the challenges and opportunities in this sector.

WHATT aims to make a practical and theoretical contribution to hospitality and tourism development and we seek to do this by using a key question to focus attention on an industry issue. If you would like to contribute to our work by serving as a WHATT theme editor, do please contact me.

Richard TeareManaging Editor, WHATT

What are the ingredients for success in bar food operations?

The Department of Business and Management Studies at Manchester Metropolitan University Cheshire Faculty, has in recent years, attracted several students from the French Institute of Advanced Engineering at Clement-Ferrand, who undertake research for a six-month period. The combination of the exact science of engineering with business has proved to be interesting, so when Fabien Maréchal arrived in 2010, he was asked to undertake a survey of food provision in public houses. Several years ago, John Pratten conducted a survey of the pubs in a small town in the North West of England. Thus, Fabien’s period in the Department provided the ideal opportunity to continue this enquiry, using the same town to examine the provision of pub food.

This study has allowed comparisons between the pubs of a town, and has given some real observations on the directions of the food part of the alcohol service sector. The material has been made available to all of the authors, so that any relevant points can be extracted. The details as to how the survey was undertaken, its aims and many of the outcomes obtained can be found in the fourth article: “Pub food: surveys of customer demand and pub provision”. However, there has been an attempt by the editorial team to avoid the duplication of material, and some of the results or conclusions have been omitted, as they have been used by other authors writing in this theme issue. Thus, any reference to the case study information found in any of the articles refers to this major work.

The aim was to study the catering sector of the public house trade, in the hope that it would be possible to discover the various factors, which would persuade potential customers to frequent these establishments. The purpose of this collection of articles is to offer the results of this enquiry.

The work began with a study of the development of food provision. In the past, the British pub was a place where working class males drank beer. Today, it has many more functions, and sells a variety of alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks, snacks and food to a wide clientele, including families. Indeed, the economic problems that have beset the economy as a whole, and the hospitality industry in particular, suggest that only the most efficient providers of leisure entertainment will prosper. Like public houses themselves, pub food is hard to define. It could be served simply at lunchtime, but many outlets now offer meals all day. It is not restaurant food, although some restaurants and pubs may offer the same dishes. It is fast food, but should not be regarded as a take away. Pub food is basic in that it does not take hours to prepare; it is served rapidly, though not instantly, as some preparation is needed; it is familiar to the customer, and so many similar dishes will appear on the menus; it is relatively cheap and it is usually enjoyed with an alcoholic drink. Moreover, for many pubs, it is not their main income, but an addition to the service of drinks.

This theme issue focuses on pub food and aims to identify what customers want, what licensees provide, and offer suggestions to improve this provision. Such knowledge should have an application to all bars that also serve food. The first two articles set the scene, looking at the development of pub food in the UK, the current importance of food to overall income, and the types of food available. The second, written by John L. Stanton, Martin S. Meloche and Peter Charette, considers bar food in the USA, and discovers a different type of arrangement. In particular, it looks at the menus available. In the third article, Nathalie Ormrod examines the position in France. The decline of the bars there is examined, and solutions offered. Fabien Maréchal then outlines the results of the survey he undertook, and identifies certain key factors, which influence the sale of food in pubs.

The next piece seeks to consider the role of marketing in promoting bar food. Written by Rosalind Jones and Jennifer Rowley, it studies some of the pubs in North Wales, and offers some suggestions as to how their food trade could be improved. One of their suggestions involves the internet, and in the next paper Steven Peet reviews this possibility. His conclusions are less enthusiastic than many supporters of e-marketing, but his suggestions should be considered by practitioners before venturing time, effort and capital into such ventures. After this, Stephen Potter offers a legal insight into the provision and marketing of pub food. This is an area often ignored by many students of the industry, but Stephen shows that the penalties for non-compliance are far too great to be dismissed as irrelevant. It is significant that when this article was sent to a practitioner for review, its return was delayed because the pub was in the process of changing its menu after reviewing this article!

Industry practitioner Amanda J. Pratten has been party to much of the research and additionally participated in the case study. Amanda’s article “Pub food: a practitioner’s view” reviews the suggestions arising to determine if there is anything that could assist her business and also to propose other factors that could be of value. Finally, the concluding piece draws together the strands of analysis with the aim of providing some inspiration to practitioners. The importance of the practitioner cannot be underestimated, as there is little point in undertaking research in business unless it can help that business, and the state of the licensed trade suggests that it needs some assistance. There are some suggestions that may be helpful to some outlets, but this is not a panacea to the problems that have beset the trade.

The process of peer review has resembled that which would be undertaken for a purely academic journal. Our goal was to ensure that each article is appropriate to the overall theme, and sufficiently robust to be academically sound and accessible and informative to practitioners and other readers. When potential authors were approached, they were made fully aware of the direction of the article and the sort of content expected in each article. Every article draft was read by the editors to ensure that it meets the overall requirements of the theme issue, and appropriate amendments made. Then it was sent out for academic review. The reviewer had been briefed on the purpose of the theme issue and the role of the specific article. It was also considered by at least one, and usually more, practitioners. Thus, it is hoped that the fusion of academic and practical input will assist practitioners, and also provide academics with an overview of the needs of the sector. We hope that you will enjoy this theme issue and that its contents will stimulate a wider debate.

About the Theme Editors

Dr John Pratten is a Research Fellow in the Department of Business and Management Studies at MMU Cheshire, a Faculty of Manchester Metropolitan University. His main research areas have been in hospitality in general and the alcohol service sector in particular. He has published more than 50 refereed papers and a number of text books. In recent years, his interests have concentrated on corporate social responsibility within the alcohol sector, and he has endeavoured to suggestion solutions to the problems of excessive consumption.

Fabien Maréchal is a Logistics Manager at Peugeot Citroen. Prior to this, he was a postgraduate student at the French Institute of Advanced Engineering at Clement-Ferrand. In 2010, he spent a period of six months at Manchester Metropolitan University where he studied business and management. He also worked on a research project, which sought to explore the changing nature of food provision in British pubs.

John D. Pratten, Fabien MaréchalTheme Editors