Regional pubs told to put more vegan meals on menu

Nick Thurlbeck, PFD Food Services, said pub owners should now emulate businesses like Botanical Gardens Hotel Bendigo, where one in four meals can be easily modified for people with different dietary needs.

"In regional Victoria it is something the industry is working towards," Mr Thurlbeck said.

"I don't think regional pubs 'lag behind', but it's fair to say that inner-city Melbourne will lead trends because there is a much wider market of establishments with cuisines not able to be offered in regional areas.

"And demographics are different in regional areas."

His comments came at an Australian Hotels Association (AHA) Victoria forum in Bendigo recently.

AHA chief executive Paddy O'Sullivan said the regular forums give publicans and their senior staff a chance to talk to suppliers and others in the industry about trends and regulatory changes.

Mr Thurlbeck said the next big cuisine craze was Asian fusion.

"We are talking about anything you would find if you walked into a Japanese or Vietnamese-style restaurant - food that is inexpensive to put together and tastes great," he said.

"What we want to do is encourage Bendigo's publicans to ask themselves what the emerging trends are, or what their patrons would expect to see on the menu.

"They expect to see Asian fusion, pork ribs, vegan options, all those sorts of things."

Bec Pearson, Carlton & United Breweries, said pubs do not need to have the best food going around, but they need to offer "compelling" meals that will get people through the door.

Ms Pearson said craft beer was another trend that kept raising momentum.

But that market was so fragmented - and so many new brands were emerging every week - that wait staff now needed to help patrons choose their tipple, she said.

"Not everyone [on staff] has to be an expert but they should know the basics," she said.

"Publicans need to make sure their wait staff have tried all the beers, you can't recommend something if you don't know what it tastes like.

"Staff also need to know how to pour good beer.

You would send back a corked wine, it's the same with beer, f you are not getting a good beer, why would you drink it?"

This story originally appeared on The Bendigo Advertiser