Wetherspoon's chases women with new menus
Managed pub operator JD Wetherspoon has radically overhauled its food offering to appeal to more women and office workers.
The change, which sees several lighter, healthier dishes join the more standard Wetherspoon's options, comes as the 750-strong pub chain switched to opening at 7am this week.
New dishes include hand-made smoked haddock and mozzarella fishcakes, Italian flatbread sandwiches, roasted vegetable chickpea and couscous salad, and Moroccan meatballs and couscous.
Wetherspoon's food development manager Jameson Robinson said: "While for spring menus we tend to inject a little bit of seasonality into the food, I think we have really pushed the boat out this time."
"We want to appeal to customers who wouldn't normally come to a Wetherspoon's - of all our new dishes for the spring menu, only one of them is served with chips."
Most of the new dishes are priced at around £4 to £6, although some, such as the sweet chilli noodles, will be sold at the entry price of £2.99.
The company has also revamped its breakfast, adding lower-fat options such as fresh fruit salad with low-fat yogurt.
"We are trying to appeal to a wider audience that maybe frequent McDonald's, Starbucks, Caffè Nero, those kind of places and maybe don't consider Wetherspoon's because they think they are just going to get a fried breakfast," Robinson added.
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By Neil Gerrard
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