In this week’s Diary, we get an update on Young’s Burger Shack rollout; get some wise words on how to survive an onslaught from Jay Raynor and introduce the UK’s first Mezcaleria

Attack of the Shacks

Young’s is launching its Burger Shack concept in two more of its pubs tonight with another due later this week. Retail director Patrick Dardis told M&C that the Ship Inn, Wandsworth and the Wood House, Dulwich, will both launch their Burger Shacks tonight, the latter following a £1.2m development. Young’s has also recently launched a Burger Shack at the Leather Bottle, Earlsfield. Dardis said its mobile Shack, housed in an Airstream, had been stationed at the Alexander, Wimbledon for the two weeks of the tennis. He said there had also been a pop up Burger Shack at the Rose & Crown, Wimbledon Village, for the two weeks. He said: “It’s all been hugely successful. We sold nearly 2,000 burgers and over 1,000 curly fries at the Rose & Crown for the two weeks alone. The original sites, the Windmill, Clapham & the Bull, Streatham are flying too.” Dardis said there are at least another ten in the pipe line over the next 12 months.

I’ll have the Jay Rayner with extra chips please

They say there’s no such thing as bad publicity and apparently that’s true even when it comes to bad reviews from high profile writers. High-end American steakhouse brand Smith & Wollensky launched its first UK site just off The Strand last month and it’s fair to say that the Guardian’s Jay Rayner was less than impressed. He summed up the S&W experience as “about as shoddy an operation in separating people from inexcusable amounts of their cash as I have seen in a very long time” and proceeded to tear into the eatery like it was a USDA dry-aged steak. Surely a dressing down from such a celebrated and hirsute reviewer is bad for business? Not so, according to Nathan Evans, operations director for S&W’s international arm. He told Diary: “We’ve actually had people coming in asking for the Jay Rayner menu and eating exactly what he had. I don’t think it’s done us any harm at all. We’ve had other reviewers come in who couldn’t understand what he was talking about. It’s certainly got people talking about us.”

Best Mex

Manchester pizza parlour Crazy Pedro’s has been recognised for its efforts in spearheading a resurgence of Mexican spirit Mezcal. The eatery has been labelled the UK’s first Mezcaleria by drinks producers Amathus Drinks and Del Maguey, and now has the wall plaque to prove it. Crazy Pedro’s owner Lyndon Higginson said: “We’ve been selling it for nearly a year now and are proud to be supporting the ancient traditions that go into making this little known Mexican agave secret.”

Next generation foodies

Having unveiled its new look menu as the initial step towards rebranding following acquisition by Hugh Osmond last September, Strada has now turned its attention to the most discerning of diners with a new children’s menu. It employed a tasting panel of under 10s to scrutinise the dishes, which include grain fed, higher welfare British beef, fresh market fish, made-from-scratch risotto and more high quality dishes. To mirror the success of the newly trialled set menu, children can pick a starter, main, dessert and drink for £6.50. As well as child-friendly pizzas and pasta the menu includes steak, grilled chicken and baked fish.

Greene King supports Live Your Life Day

Greene King are the latest pub company to pledge their support for Live Your Life Day, the fund-raising day held in honour of Beds and Bars people director Franca Knowles. The day will be held on 30 July - Knowles’ birthday - and will see Beds and Bars partner with a charity each year to raise money. This year’s event will raise money for PubAid director Yaser Martini’s charity Team Margot, which encourages people to join the stem cell register. Yummy Pub Co, Faucet Inn, La Tasca, The Epicurean Collection and Glendola Leisure will be among those hosting their own Live Your Life Day activities to raise money for Team Margot. Pub groups are being encouraged to ask their staff to consider joining the stem cell register and to put up posters promoting the event. Team Margot encouraged over 35,000 people to join the stem cell register in just six weeks last year.

Roll back the barrel

A Barnsley brewery has launched the first cask amnesty. Acorn Brewery has asked 400 pubs and bars to have a look in the back of their cellars and yards - and return any stray casks they find to the brewery to put back into circulation. Brewery owner Dave Hughes said: “Every week we produce and send out about 100 barrels of real ale. A lot of that beer is delivered via wholesalers to hundreds of pubs and bars across the UK, but we also deliver direct to more than 400 customers in the North and East Midlands. It’s these customers we’ve asked to have shufty in their back rooms, to see if they can find any stray empty casks and give them to our van drivers on their next visit.” The expanding brewery has doubled production in the last seven years and now routinely brews 30,000 pints of ale a week. In the last 12 months alone, sales have risen by a further 12% and Hughes said he aims to increase trade by another 20% this year.

Breaking Brews

BrewDog has announced two new concoctions will be hitting the taps at its UK bars on Friday. The Scottish brewer is releasing #MashTag – the recipe and name of which was decided by its Equity for Punks cohort. It is described as “a black barley wine brewed with vanilla beans and toasted oak chips, #MashTag 2015 is hopped with Columbus, Centennial, Nugget, Simcoe and Willamette, bringing a blast of fruit and pine to layer alongside the dark resonance from the malt bill”. The second beer being released on draught on Friday is Elvis Juice; an American IPA with added orange and grapefruit zest.

Oh, what a lovely war

All these new-fangled brews are a bit much for Diary, who yearns for simpler times. Luckily, those ever-inventive chaps at the Inception Group are offering to transport customers back to the 1940s. The group’s post-war-themed underground bar Cahoots is teaming up with the Basement Galley on Sunday, 9 August for an afternoon of 40s-themed fine dining matched with cocktails. Chef Alex Cooper has conceived a four-course menu that pays homage to post-war Britain. The starter will be chilled wild garlic and green pea soup, paired with specialty cocktail Give Peas a Chance. To follow is a cherry wood vodka and grapefruit cured salmon paired with the Gipsy’s Kiss. Diners can then tuck into BBQ lamb neck with white onion and garlic puree, smoked confit aubergine and rosemary croquettes, paired with the See You Later Baked Potato savoury cocktail. The final provision of the evening will be an apricot and thyme sorbet, lavender shortbread and lemon posset.

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