outside
Let’s take this by JOHN PORTER
It’s that time of year when bums on benches mean many pubs are able to double their dining capacity. Al fresco dining can provide a big boost to your food operation, but it brings its challenges too. We look at how three pubs rise to the occasion. The Beehive Egham, Surrey
Food truck Dawghouse Pizza helps The Beehive offer a very different concept that complements the pub’s main dining offer
There’s a buzz around The Beehive in Egham, Surrey, all year around, but it definitely gets louder in the summer. And not only because of the hives themselves, which are located in the pub’s garden. Chloe Lay, who co-runs the tenanted Fuller’s pub with her mother Michelle Perkins, says: “The pub itself is small, so when summer hits, the garden triples the number of covers we can do, as well as enabling us to run parties and events.” The Beehive offers a menu including traditional pub food dishes, a choice of daily specials, and a very popular Sunday roast,
all freshly cooked from seasonal ingredients. While the same menu is offered inside and outdoors, “we change it regularly, so when the weather is good, we’ll have more summery specials and lighter dishes,” says Chloe. Thursday evenings see The Beehive’s kitchen close and the staff given a night off, which has proven a useful recruitment and retention incentive. In their place, a local food truck operator, DawgHouse Pizza, sets up in the pub garden. Customers order in advance, and their pizzas are freshly cooked at the appointed time. “We don’t have pizza on our menu, so it’s a very different concept to what we offer, but Dawghouse also champions local ingredients, and takes time over choosing the ingredients, so has a similar ethos to ours,” says Chloe. “We put some thought into who we’d allow to be here, it’s very complementary.” Summer also sees a series of ticketed Supper Club events in the Beehive’s garden, with long tables set up for guests to create a very different feel. The events are hosted by a guest expert, such as a local chef who forages for wild ingredients, and a local wine blogger. “We couldn’t get by just on the covers inside, so it’s about making the most of different opportunities outside,” says Chloe. “We aim to make as much use of the garden as we can all year around.” So, from January to early April this year, the Beehive offered
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12/05/2023 09:21