At the end of the month, mums all over the country will be busy putting their feet up and indulging in some of their favourite food. For caterers, Mother’s Day is typically one of the busiest days of the year, attracting more traffic than both Valentine’s and Christmas Day, as diners hope to spoil their mums with a special (and well-deserved) treat.
Although the prospect of a busy establishment will undoubtedly have caterers bristling with anticipation, you should by no means expect families to just start queuing up outside the door. After all, the competition on Mothering Sunday has always been particularly fierce, while the Carlsberg 2014 UK Consumer Insight Report identified that 64% of families usually choose to eat at a pub.
If you want to stand out from this growing crowd, then you’ll have to work alongside food wholesalers and create the mother of all menus.
Serve up a Delicious Brunch
There’s no better way to kick-off a great Mother’s Day than going out for a delicious brunch. Typically served alongside a sparkling glass of champagne or prosecco, a fantastic brunch will serve up everything from smoked salmon and poached eggs, to hash browns and succulent rashers of bacon. In fact, you could even go as far as offering a popular “bottomless brunch” as a way of encouraging diners to choose your establishment, serving up the ultimate treat for our beloved mums.
Although most other big occasions will involve a late evening meal, the beauty of Mother’s Day lies in the fact that families will be looking to dine all day long. Without question, the elegance and sophistication of a good brunch has always held a certain appeal for mums, so you’ll be missing out on a large number of customers if you fail to offer an extensive brunch or breakfast menu.
Afternoon Tea
It’s no secret that most mums love a good afternoon tea. Often served on an elaborate tier of plates, a typical menu will include creamy scones, miniature sandwiches, mouth-watering cakes and, of course, plenty of tea. These quaint little treats have always been appealing to mums, satisfying both their savoury and sweet-tooth at the same time, and caterers can use this appeal to capitalise on what would normally be a quieter part of the day.
Keep Things Varied
Although many may be partial to a brunch or afternoon tea (perhaps even both in one day), caterers must ensure their menu contains plenty of variety. After all, every mum will have different tastes, while a large number will be dining out with small children who obviously need to be catered for, too.
The key here is to provide a wide range of dishes, ideally coming up with different menus for different parts of the day. Of course, it’s impossible to serve up every mum’s favourite dish, but caterers need to make sure they’re serving up a combination of mild and spicy, meat and veggie, and savoury and sweet options for people to choose from.
After all, Mother’s Day is all about bringing families together and, if your menu doesn’t cater to all of those family members, then they’ll take their custom elsewhere.
Offer Elegant Sweet Treats
No Mother’s Day meal can ever be complete without some mouth-watering desserts. The kids will undoubtedly prefer oversized ice cream sundaes or great slabs of chocolate cake, but you need to create a menu which always keeps mums firmly in mind. Instead of just serving up a standard chocolate brownie, caterers should come up with a selection of more elegant desserts.
Dark chocolate mousses, strawberry souffles and inventive cupcakes are always great options for Mother’s Day, while apple-rose flavoured tarts and lavender cheesecake are among the more adventurous sweet dishes. Whatever you decide to serve up this Mothering Sunday, you need to create a menu which is varied enough to cater to everyone’s tastes.
