Rick Stein’s goes social to reach out to community
8:00am Saturday 18th August 2012 in Business
Rick Stein’s Fish and Chips is reaching out to the Falmouth community in a bid to create closer links. As part of this, a new Twitter account, @SteinsFalmouth, has been set up to give that part of the business its own identity.
Sarah Collins, marketing executive for Rick Stein’s Fish & Chips, said: “We wanted to do one just for Falmouth, so we could get involved in local activities and be part of the community.
“We’d welcome ideas from locals and community groups about how they want to get involved.”
Ideas in the pipeline include their chefs going into the town’s primary schools to teach them cooking skills. This already exists in Padstow, where schoolchildren have developed dishes with chefs that have even gone on sale in the restaurant.
“Sometimes they also come into the cookery school in Padstow and work with the chefs in the kitchen, getting hands on experience with fish. “With seafood especially it can be quite a scary prospect, for some parents even, to work with.
It’s nice for the children to get the chance to work with fresh produce,” added Sarah. Chef demonstrations, private parties, wedding receptions and Christmas parties are all on the horizon, with exclusive dining available in the first floor seafood bar.
At the same time the restaurant would like to see more families eating there. They have introduced a £19.95 family meal deal – incorporating two adult cod and chips and two child’s cod chunks and chips – which will continue through the winter.
This week also saw the introduction of a set price menu in the restaurant, offering three courses also for £19.95. Meanwhile the à la carte menu has expanded. Sarah said: “We just want to incorporate more of Rick’s favourite seafood dishes. We want to focus not just on fish and chips but seafood dishes in general.”
The menu now features dishes such as grilled hake with crushed new potatoes and goujons of plaice with mixed leaf salad and chips – although it changes daily to include that day’s catch. There are even more meaty additions such as chicken curry and sirloin steak. “It’s to give it more of a restaurant, every day feel, rather than just fish and chips,” added Sarah.
