Pub chef isn't quidding about low cost meals
PUB chef Wayne Hodgkins thought he'd get people queuing round the block for his credit crunch-busting meal deal.
A big banner outside the Fleur de Lys on Baslow Road, Totley, advertises main courses at just a QUID.
But Wayne has not exactly been bowled over in the rush for what must be the cheapest main course in Yorkshire.
"I've sold 61 meals this week and only five have been 1 meal deals," he says mournfully over a plate of liver and onions he has cooked the Diary.
If liver's not your thing he's also got pasta bolognese, prawn curry and stew in a bread bowl, all for just a pound.
But customers are either staying away or going for the more expensive 2.95 or 5.50 menus.
"People say 'wow!' when they hear the price but they're still not buying it. They are thinking 'what's the catch?' but there isn't one. We are after getting people into the pub and I've got a deal with my butcher," says Wayne.
"If people come in for food then they spend money on beer and perhaps have a dessert."
Wayne offers home-made rice pudding for 2.75 or a selection of sponge puds.
Although the banner can, Wayne says, be seen from the bus stop, both the Diary and photographer Roger Nadal overlooked it.
And when we popped in for a 1 meal the specials board was tucked away around a corner of the roomy, Tudorbethan-style pub.
Wayne, a trained chef and former social worker, has run the place with co-owner Anne-Marie Ball for just over a year.
"We just want to get people through the doors to see what we have to offer. The idea was that after having a pound meal they'd try something else. I make a fantastic meat and potato pie," says Wayne.
"It's hard to please some people. A man came in the other day and wanted fish and chips which is 2.95. I said he could have something to eat for a pound. But no, he insisted on fish and chips."
And the Diary's liver and onions? Your reporter orders it pink. "I don't think it's going to be that pink, it's a casserole," says Anne-Marie, coming back from the kitchen.
Wayne is not giving up. He considers his main rival to be the Moorlands restaurant at Owler Bar which is packed for its 3.95 meal offer.
He's got another idea up his sleeve: "A customer suggested I sell dinners for 99p."
Wayne's 1 meal deal is Monday to Friday from 12-2pm.
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Friday 25 May 2012
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