Hospitality unites to drive innovation
The question of how to drive growth and invest in hospitality was the question at the heart of a recent session organised by the Hospitality Sector Council and its Innovation Working Group (IWG).
More than 100 hospitality businesses, from large multi-site operators to independents, came together in Oxford last week to collaborate with technologists, consultants and professors to discuss how to improve productivity and drive innovation.
It’s the first accelerator event run by Jane O’Riordan (chair of the Caravan, Turtle Bay and Red Engine resturants) as part of the Hospitality Sector Council, with more expected to follow.
Hosted by Oxford Brookes Business School and supported by the Department for Business and Trade and UKHospitality, the event facilitated discussion and workshops designed to stimulate innovative ideas around productivity, customer experience and dealing with production and delivery.
Operators heard from Kevin Hollinrake MP, Minister for enterprise, markets and small business, among others. Conclusions from the event will soon be shared across the industry.
“Events like this are so important to provide an opportunity for operators to dedicate time to coming up with innovative solutions to drive our productivity,” O’Riordan, chair of the IWG, said.
“Hospitality’s creativity and flair to come up with new ideas was clear to see today and I’m confident that this debut event will be the start of a successful series of events to drive this important agenda.”
Kate Nicholls, chief executive of UKHospitality, added: “Hospitality is one of the most innovative sectors in the economy and bringing together over 100 of our brightest minds made for a fantastic event full of ideas.
“I’m delighted that UKHospitality has been able to work with Jane, the Hospitality Sector Council and the Department for Business and Trade to organise this event, and we look forward to more successes like today in the future.”
The Hospitality Sector Council is a collaborative effort co-chaired by Dame Karen Jones between industry leaders and the government to deliver the first-ever Hospitality Strategy.
The Innovation Working Group is a component of the council and is focused on the identification and promotion of actions to support the creation of the next generation of hospitality start-ups, encourage technology adoption and overcome barriers to innovation.
Staffing challenges are also a key issue for hospitality at the moment, with over 100,000 vacancies in the hospitality sector alone.
It has been a topic of debate across the UK, most recently at the London-based Glion Institute of Higher Education and Sommet Education, which has just released some of the initial result from a new study on the attractiveness of the hospitality industry among young professionals.
Of the 200 young professionals aged 18-34 in the UK, 84% said that hospitality service professions were attractive (while 16% said ‘not attractive’). For the high-end hotel, restaurant and retail sector, 81% reported this was was attractive when compared to other sectors in general.
When asked what would make them want to join the hotel, catering or high-end retail sector, learning and growth opportunities (38%) brought the greatest response, even more than in other countries, followed by training and professional development opportunities (31%). Of greater importance in comparison with respondents from France, Germany, Italy and Spain are career development prospects, and to have the opportunity to learn and to benefit from training (both 58%).
The Sommet Education Foundation will now concentrate on tackling the sector’s employment challenges by focusing on two levers of action: advocating for careers and professions in hospitality and offering scholarships for hospitality education.
Glion’s MD Frédéric Picard said: “Distinguishing hospitality as a career of choice, and opening minds to growing opportunities in the industry and related sectors, is close to my heart. As part of the Sommet Education group we are looking forward to developing initiatives around the Foundation. We welcome UK hospitality providers to join us on our journey.”
The Sommet Education Foundation was set up to offer scholarships for hospitality education to talented individuals from disadvantaged backgrounds and advocate for careers and professions in hospitality.
It launched its study off the back of the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) for Hospitality and Tourism which recently began an inquiry into recruitment and retention of staff in hospitality is a welcome development for everyone involved in the UK sector.
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