How to take part in British Food Fortnight

Pubs, restaurants, hotels, cafes and visitor attractions

Put British food on your menu!

• Contact your suppliers and ask whether the produce they currently supply you with is British. The Mare and Foal pub in Crediton did this and discovered that the butcher they use guarantees that all the meat it supplies comes from the West Country.

• Use British Food Fortnight as an opportunity to experiment with new dishes on your menu; chefs that do so end up keeping the dish on there for the rest of the winter.

• Set yourself a target of at least five locally sourced dishes on your menu. 

• Make simple dishes special by sourcing British: Soup of the Day and Bangers and Mash are always popular and are easy to localise. 

• Challenge chefs to come up with ‘Chef’s Specials’ that highlight local produce. For example, a ‘Steak & Ale-of-the-Day Pie’ draws attention to the range of ales on sale in the bar and a dish that uses a local cheese will stimulate interest in your cheese board.

• Be open to working with new suppliers. Your customers may be able to suggest local producers whose produce they would like to see on your menu.

Highlight British food on your menu

• Adapt your existing menu or create a special board focusing on British or local produce.

• Daily menus give you the most flexibility to change dishes according to season and produce available. If changing your menu daily is not possible, use generic phrases that give customers enough information about what they are ordering but still give you flexibility: for example, ‘Chef’s Special’, ‘XYZ served with Seasonal Vegetables’ or ‘Seasonal Fruit Crumble’.

• Name producers and farms rather than simply use the term ‘local’ on your menu. If it is difficult to specify producers by name then use generic phrases such as ‘All the meat served comes within 30 miles of this pub/restaurant’. 

• List your suppliers, their contact details and even the number of food miles separately in order to keep the wording on the menu simple and clear. 

Use British Food Fortnight as a catalyst for building long-term opportunities

• Use British Food Fortnight to increase Christmas bookings: pubs and restaurants offering special menus during the event report an increase in bookings as the Fortnight is an opportunity to give customers confidence in the quality of food they can expect. 

• Link up with your local shop. Run a special British Food Fortnight menu that features the produce available in the shop. Produce reciprocal ‘X% off’ vouchers.

• Launch a retail service to complement your menu sales: ready-made meals for take-aways or freezer storage.

Tell people what you're doing

• Use British Food Fortnight as an opportunity to tell people that you support local producers, even if you do so anyway. For example, the restaurant ABode Exeter ran a special two-course British Food Fortnight lunchtime menu even though the restaurant’s policy has always been to source locally.

• Organise an event to which you can invite journalists and that will make you stand out from other pubs and restaurants wanting media coverage. For example, you could offer a cooking demonstration of the dishes on your menu. Send local journalists an invitation to one of your events (good times for media to attend are 10am – 12.30pm and 2pm – 4.30pm). 

• Invest in quality photographs of your dishes to maximise press coverage. Newspapers and magazines are more likely to feature your restaurant and menu if you are able to supply them with quality photographs. Hello! magazine (circulation: 2.2million) ran a 3-page feature on the Island Restaurant and Bar in London that would not have come about without fabulous photographs.



See our Private sector catering section for more advice on taking part, case studies of pubs, restaurants and hotels that have taken part, downloadable resources and promotional material.