Two elements of any guest house, B&B or hotel that must be done right are “bed” and “breakfast”. We’ve already covered “bed” and how you can ensure your guests have the best night’s sleep in a superbly comfortable bed pampered with exquisite linen.
The second critical element is the “breakfast”. You want to wow your guests and have them remember their stay for your incredible breakfasts.
Gone are the days when guest houses or B&Bs could get away with a carton of corn flakes and some milk as their cold offering and an oily full cooked breakfast.
When guests arrive at the breakfast room in the morning you want to be offering them a superb buffet of cold choices to help themselves to, whilst their hot breakfast choice is being prepared.
This is truly an area where you can shine.
Guests are tired of the same old cold breakfast offerings. Mostly, they’re dire, pitiful and speak volumes about the way establishments treat their guests.
Imagine arriving for breakfast and finding an array of delicious, colourful appealing choices before even receiving your hot meal choice.
A visually enticing cold buffet is a wowzer for guests. No-one else does it.
And it isn’t hard to provide.
Always available at our guest house are:
- Proper thicky creamy Greek yoghurt,
- Mixed berry compote,
- Manuka honey, maple syrup and regular honey,
- Stewed fruit (of apple, rhubarb, strawberries and dried cranberries)
- Fresh (induvial portions of) fruit salad
- An array of jars containing sunflower hearts, dried goji berries, chia seeds, cereal topper, dried cranberries and pumpkin seeds
- The usual suspects of corn flakes, bran flakes, muesli and granola (except ours is home-made and delicious!)
- Individual Chia pudding topped with puree, blueberries and strawberry
- Individual Overnight oats topped with banana and blueberries
The above does mean heavy investment in daily purchases of fresh fruit and the time and dedication to producing and arranging the breakfast treats such as the chia puddings, the overnights oats puddings, fresh fruit salads and stewed fruit. But that’s what sets you apart!
We have so many guests, particularly women guests, who (once they’ve seen the cold buffet on offer on their first morning, opt out of a cooked breakfast on future mornings so they can enjoy the cold buffet offerings.
Some tips:
- Don’t present your fruit juices in the cartons in which they were purchased. Despite the fact we purchase the freshest and highest quality fruit juices, a carton is coarse. Serve it instead in Kilner sealed tops like these (link) for a bit of class.
- Likewise with cereals – never in their proprietary cartons. Kilner ring seal jars such (link) as these are so much more elegant.
- In fact, apart from the honeys, nothing on our breakfast buffet is presented in its original packaging.
- Suit yourself with adding prunes to stewed fruit but ours is only ever lightly stewed apple, rhubarb, strawberries and dried cranberries. If not stewed too long it retains a desired level of firmness, looks vibrant and colourfully appealing.
Note on allergies and intolerances:
Over the years we’ve noticed an increasing number of guests that, when asked, admit either allergies or intolerances (gluten, lactose, egg etc) or convey preferences toward vegan, gluten-free, lactose-free etc
It’s not acceptable nowadays to simply provide the old norms.
You only have to visit a supermarket nowadays to see the incredible selection of lactose and gluten-free alternatives, and realise that the offerings are devoured by a willing market.
Communication with your guest before-hand (we’ll visit this important aspect in another episode) will establish their preferences and it’s really easy to cater for their preferences.
Oat, almond or rice milk alternatives are easily available and delicious. (Links)
Equally, gluten-free breads and treats are easy to source (Co-op produces a gluten-free sliced wholemeal bread that is fabulous!)
Whether you operate a guest house, bed & breakfast or hotel, the array of cold selections on your breakfast buffet can (and should) be something your guests remember as being astonishing. It will be remembered as being a highlight of their stay and as a result make you… …a Guest House Hero!
