A Seasonal Celebration
Seasonal events like Chinese New Year and Burns Night present two great opportunities to boost sales and help you benefit from their popularity during this quieter time of the year.
Chinese New Year
Add a few specials to your regular menu or organise a Chinese New Year event.
What to serve
• Have a mixture of dishes and firm favourites. Visit tildafoodservice.com for inspiration, but include dishes such as Duck Breast with Red Curry-Infused Fragrant Jasmine Rice, Chinese Claypot Rice and Chinese Prawn Potsticker Dumplings.
• Offer smaller or tasting dishes to tempt those with smaller appetites or who are trying something new for the first time.
• Include ‘lucky’ foods into you menu which are said to bring wealth and prosperity. These include citrus fruits, dumplings, spring rolls, noodles, whole fish and rice cakes.
• Serve traditional, popular Chinese beers such as Tiger Beer, Tsingtao and Lucky Beer. Tea is a must for those who do not drink alcohol, so stock up on the traditional options: pu-erh (black tea), chrysanthemum tea (herbal and caffeine-free), green tea and oolong.
Chinese food was voted as the UK’s favourite takeaway last year so why not cash in on the love for oriental cuisine and offer a takeaway service for the festivities?
View recipe: Tofu & Seeded Rice
Burns Night
Hold a traditional Burns Supper complete with eating, drinking, dancing, piping and poetry on the day itself or have a more low-key celebration with haggis specials.
What to do
• Serve a full Scottish breakfast and include lorne sausage and tattie scones. You may want to add haggis and switch the black pudding for white if you want.
• As well as serving the traditional haggis with tatties and neeps, why not extend your menu to include haggis pie, stuffed chicken supreme and steak and haggis burger.
• Why not consider bar snacks that pair well? Scotch eggs, sausage rolls and nachos all work well with the Scottish speciality.
• Whisky is the tipple of choice; either malts or blends – and lashings of wine! A robust red compliments the strength of the haggis.
• Depending on the size of your outlet, why not hire a piper for the day or an authentic ceilidh band to entertain for the evening?
Burns Night is no longer just a national event for Scotland to honour – it is now a popular celebration loved by the Scots and their friends all over the world, so a great event to be involved in!
View recipe: Haggis Croquette, Pickled Turnip & Potato Tuile
