How to offer the best breakfast offering

It may be a cliché, but the adage that breakfast is the most important meal of the day, is never more apt than when you think ‘B&B’. In fact, it is so important to guests that an entire section of our assessment criteria is dedicated to the provision and quality of breakfast at any establishment. We even go one step further and honour the B&Bs whose breakfast goes the extra mile, giving out our coveted breakfast awards to those which exceed guest expectations by offering an excellent range, great presentation, quality ingredients and brilliant service.

We are often asked how you can objectively assess the quality of a breakfast, grading it between one and five stars. For an inspector, this all comes down to what and how a breakfast is offered. So for example, we assess the ‘provision’ of a breakfast, requiring either a cooked or continental breakfast to be served in a designated eating area, but will not judge specifically what is on offer, unless we’re considering you for an award. Similarly, we grade businesses on the number of hours that breakfast is on offer, clear pricing (in the event of a room only rate, or if breakfast is on offer to non-residents), availability of a menu, written or verbal, the choices available, and the provision of allergen information which is of course a legal requirement.

Aside from this, our assessors fulfil a secondary role as expert advisors, offering information and guidance to help improve businesses, lower costs, increase profits and generally support who you are and what you do. Although they won’t reveal themselves during the inspection, at the end, and as part of their report, they will be able to offer additional information and formal or informal chats to help owners. This could be anything from suggesting a switch from a fruit salad to whole fruit offering, reducing unnecessary wastage, or expanding the existing menu and guest choice, while using ingredients that are already in stock. While these may not seem like big changes, they often offer significant value for an owner, because they are relevant to the specific circumstances of your business.

Of course for your guests, the taste needs to be good, and they will want to be fully satisfied, however we don’t include this in the official objective criteria as taste is very subjective. That said, many of our assessors eat hundreds of provider breakfasts a year, so are pretty clued up and will be able to tell you if they feel something is not up to standard.

What is also a consideration, but which doesn’t specifically fall under the breakfast criteria, are the legal food preparation requirements. As part of the wider assessment, we will expect to be able to easily access and check environmental health reports and food hygiene compliance to ensure these are up to date.

So when it comes to breakfast, here are some of our most significant good practice guidelines.

• Provenance – Where you source your ingredients can be an added USP, and doesn’t necessarily cost any more to implement. As one owner told our assessor “We don’t offer an English breakfast, we offer a local breakfast”. The devil is in the detail and hospitality offers an opportunity to meet guests’ individual requirements, and using local ingredients often starts a great conversation. If you do go local, don’t forget to shout about it.  
• Locality – Many areas in the UK have signature ‘dishes’ or local delicacies. Although some of these may not be relevant to breakfast, if you can incorporate delicacies it is an excellent USP.
• Dietary needs – It is now a legal requirement to display or make available information on the allergen ingredients of any of your dishes, but this also presents an opportunity to cater for, and shout about, your commitment to guests with special dietary requirements. Many suppliers will be able to offer substitutes for specific products on your menu and in many cases (think sausages for example), you will be able to adopt the dietary version for all your guests. My local butcher does amazing gluten-free, dairy-free sausages, and no one I know can tell the difference.
• Accessibility – Assessed as part of the wider grading, accessibility in the dining area is paramount. Adequate space between tables is a must, tables should not wobble, making sure there is clear contrast between cutlery and tablecloths for visually impaired guests, offering dining flexibility for diabetics, all are important and assessed.

There really is no perfect breakfast, but there are some absolutely fantastic ones. If in doubt, ask your guests what they would like to see on the menu and incorporate small changes as and when you can.

In the spotlight: Field Green Oast B&B, Cranbrook, Kent

Owned by Cathy and Ian Miles, Field Green Oast is a five-star B&B with a Quality In Tourism Gold Award, and a breakfast award. The property is a converted square kiln oasthouse, in the Weald of Kent originally built in 1890 and converted to a family home just over 30 years ago.

The Field Green Oast B&B scores an exceptional 100%, five-star rating for their breakfast provision and quality of service, making them highly deserving of both their gold award and their breakfast award. Their focus for breakfast is on high quality, local ingredients with explanations and a gallery explaining and showcasing the produce.

The dining room has a bold and bright colour scheme, with beautifully presented Oak flooring. The guests are hosted at a large communal table, which is presented with high-quality table settings and which comfortably accommodates guests and all the breakfast accoutrements.

The buffet offers a choice of boxed branded cereals, fresh orange or own and local apple and pear juices, fresh fruits and compotes, Greek and fruit yoghurt. Homemade and locally baked breads are served to the table along with own preserves and Kent honey. There is a wide choice of teas and coffee offered. Much thought has gone into the presentation on the buffet and the breakfast table. The hot menu offers Aga porridge, a range of items to make up a full English breakfast including local sausages, Kent or own-grown tomatoes and local free range eggs. Omelettes, smoked salmon and scrambled egg, jugged kippers, pancakes with maple syrup, bacon and fried egg, eggs benedict, florentine and royale are also offered. Cathy also creates her own amuse bouche each morning for visitors which has previously consisted of mini-pancakes with pancetta and honey, porridge made with clotted cream served in an espresso cup and french toast with blueberries.

Owner Cathy Miles says: “Receiving the Breakfast Award was a fabulous accolade for us, our guests regularly choose us because of it and it’s also enabled us to negotiate a small discount with our local butcher and farm shop. The pre-assessment we received from the Quality in Tourism team was invaluable. They came for an hour and looked at our offering, giving us some great advice on how we could improve our menu and organise the rooms differently.  We attended a workshop at Rick Stein’s restaurant in Padstow, where we were taught how to make our own granola, smoke our own salmon and also make our own muffins. As a result, we serve much more granola and muesli than before when we were using a leading brand, and guests love that smoked salmon and muffins have been created on site. It has certainly been one of the best workshops we have ever attended. Make sure you stay aware of the courses on offer as you never know what you may learn.”

In the spotlight: Olive Branch, St Ives, Cornwall

The Olive Branch is just minutes from the beach, down the cobbled streets of St Ives. With four of its five bedrooms offering sea views, the B&B makes the most of the locale, and all guests are offered a traditional full English breakfast with vegetarian and lighter alternatives.

The Olive Branch is a four-star B&B with a silver award, highlighting their commitment to exceeding guest expectations. Owners Justin and Julie offer exceptional hospitality, and the breakfast includes fruit juice, yoghurt, tea and toast, alongside a cooked breakfast offering for all guests. They are working towards achieving a breakfast award next year and hope to pass with flying colours.

The dining room is shared with Justin and Julie’s lounge and is very well presented, with modern solid wood dining furniture and very well maintained decor and flooring. The table setting is attractive, with a separate sideboard for the buffet items and a well presented menu available. The cooked breakfast on both mornings of the most recent assessment, were very well cooked and presented. There are also home-made, gluten-free sausages available, which is a great touch.

When asked for the best piece of advice they’d ever been given, Justin and Julie said: “We were advised to add into our breakfast menu: Mixed fresh fruit salad, natural Greek yogurt and homemade compote along with eggs benedict. I was keen to try these changes but needed to be confident I could do them well on top of my other breakfast offerings. Virtually all the ingredients were already being used, other than the muffins, which just meant offering them in a slightly different way. I must admit all the suggestions that I implemented have gone down very well with our guests. I may also add eggs florentine and eggs royale to my menu in due course. I was also advised to shout about my homemade: Vegetarian ‘Morgan’ sausages, gluten free vegetarian sausages and my gluten free pork sausages which I have also done with new printed table menus.”

This feature first appeared in the February 2016 issue of Hotel Owner.