The National Trust for Scotland
Three National Trust for Scotland (NTS) properties are the latest visitor attractions to
benefit from one-to-one business advice though Scottish Enterprise’s Experiencing
Scotland project, with the objective of enhancing NTS’ Scottish food and drink
offerings.
NTS currently operates cafés, tearooms and restaurants at over 20 of its sites across
Scotland. In the first phase of what is hoped will be an estate-wide project, a full audit
of the catering operation, menu offer and service was conducted at three sites Pollok House in Glasgow (70,000 visitors per annum), Crathes Castle in Grampian
(45,000 visitors) and Kellie Castle, Pittenweem (11,500 visitors).*
As with many organisations of this size and scale, NTS catering policy is coordinated
centrally, with local catering managers having a degree of flexibility in menu
development and supplier selection for fruit and vegetables, bakery goods, fish and
meat.
Sue McCracken, NTS’ National Catering Development Manager says: “There’s
nothing quite like coffee and cake or lunch in historic surroundings, as part of a day
out exploring some of Scotland’s wonderful castles and gardens with family and
friends”.
“Whilst operating within buildings of historic significance brings its own challenges,
our tearooms and restaurants are an integral part of the overall visitor experience many of our visitors come from overseas.
“It’s critical therefore that we do everything possible to enhance the visitor experience
and encourage repeat business. Improving actual and perceived quality of offering,
and value-for-money, are core to moving the business forward - hence our
partnership with Scottish Enterprise’s Experiencing Scotland project”.
The café at Crathes has recently been refurbished. The site is particularly popular
with families and will shortly benefit from the addition of the North of Scotland’s only
Go Ape high-wire treetop adventure course within the grounds, presenting a great
opportunity to extend the ‘grab and go’ range of takeaway sales.
Kellie Castle has a small tearoom facility with limited preparation and service space;
however it has huge potential in being able to deliver a genuinely local food offer. Its
location in the East Neuk places it close to excellent fish, dairy and fruit and
vegetable suppliers. Bakery goods are also purchased locally, and the Castle garden
Experiencing Scotland is funded and delivered by Scottish Enterprise
provides many heritage varieties of fruits and vegetables that are used in the food
offer.
Pollok House offers a waitress service restaurant operation, providing a full range of
meals and snacks over the day, and has a high number of regular customers and
members, presenting an opportunity to up-sell via a balanced menu, better use of
seasonality and promotion of provenance.
In conjunction with Sue McCracken, Experiencing Scotland Consultant Sandra Reid
set about developing a set of ‘menu guidance notes’, to encourage local catering
managers to think about issues including seasonality; use of local specialties and
suppliers; incorporating Scottish traditional recipes into menu offers; badging Scottish
produce more effectively; and including stories of Scottish lore on menus. These
notes then fed into a menu development workshop at the annual NTS catering
managers’ conference which was held in March.
At Kellie Castle, Sandra identified the opportunity to improve the use of produce from
the kitchen garden and to work with garden staff to inform the range available. She
also suggested broadening the existing menu by introducing Scottish fillings to
sandwiches, extending the food and drink offer for families, and introducing
traditional afternoon teas using produce from local suppliers.
At Crathes, Sue McCracken identified the potential to introduce a Crathes
Cheeseboard using local cheese suppliers and to explore the use of high energy
snacks and drinks to meet the needs of the new Go Ape visitors. She also suggested
introducing alternative breakfast options and afternoon teas for local customers,
investigating the use of environmentally-friendly packaging for take-away goods, and
incorporating new signage to highlight the provenance message and food story.
At Pollok House, recommendations centered around improving the menu balance
and seasonality, to improve the food cost line, introducing a Scottish ‘twist’ in menu
descriptions, introducing a day bakery range and extending the range of cakes
available in the afternoon, and using more effective product signage to encourage
purchase of bakery goods.
Sue McCracken said: “As a conservation charity, our core purpose is to protect and
promote Scotland’s rich cultural and natural heritage for present and future
generations. Our catering operations therefore need to generate sustainable income
growth to finance the vital work of our gardens, buildings, collections care and
countryside teams”.
“The one-to-one advice offered by Experiencing Scotland has enabled us to devise a
series of targeted and practical action plans which will help our food and drink offer to
become a much more profitable and valuable part of the Trust’s overall operation. It
was an extremely worthwhile exercise and one which I hope we can roll out to other
National Trust for Scotland properties over the months ahead”.
* Visitor numbers include people at functions and events (1 March 2010-31 January
2011)
Experiencing Scotland is funded and delivered by Scottish Enterprise