Hospitality unites to drive innovation

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By Jo Gilbert

Published: May 28, 2024

More than 100 hospitality companies, from large multi-location operators to independent companies, gathered in Oxford last week to engage with technologists, consultants and professors to discuss ways to improve productivity and drive innovation.

This is the first accelerator event led by Jane O’Riordan (chair of Caravan, Turtle Bay and Red Engine restaurants) as part of the Hospitality Sector Council, with more to come.

Hosted by Oxford Brookes Business School and supported by the Department for Business and Trade and UKHospitality, the event provided discussion and workshops designed to stimulate innovative ideas around productivity, customer service and how to deal with production and delivery.

Operators heard, among others: from Kevin Hollinrake MP, Minister for Enterprise, Markets and Small Business. The conclusions from the event will soon be shared with the entire industry.

“Events like these are so important that they give operators the opportunity to dedicate time to developing innovative solutions that increase our productivity,” said O’Riordan, IWG chairman.

“Hospitality’s creativity and talent for coming up with new ideas was clearly visible today and I am confident that this debut event will be the start of a successful series of events to deliver this important program.”

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 has created a fantastic event packed with ideas.

“I’m delighted that UKHospitality could work with Jane, the Hospitality Council and the Department for Business and Trade to deliver this event and we look forward to many more successes like today in the future.”

The Hospitality Sector Council is a joint venture between industry leaders and government, co-chaired by Dame Karen Jones, to develop the first ever Hospitality Strategy.

The Innovation Working Group is part of the council and focuses on identifying and promoting activities that support the creation of the next generation of hospitality start-ups, encouraging the adoption of technology and overcoming barriers to innovation.

Staffing challenges are currently also a key issue for the hospitality industry, with over 100,000 vacancies in the hospitality sector alone.

This has been a topic of debate across the UK, most recently in the UK London Glion Institute of Higher Education and Sommet Educationwhich has just published some of the preliminary results of a new study on the attractiveness of the hospitality industry among young professionals.

Of 200 young professionals aged 18-34 in the UK, 84% said hospitality jobs were attractive (while 16% said they were “unattractive”). For the luxury hotel, restaurant and retail sector, 81% found it attractive compared to other sectors overall.

When asked what would make them want to work in the hotel, restaurant or high-end retail industry, the largest response was learning and development opportunities (38%), even more than in other countries, followed by training and career development opportunities (31%). ). Career development prospects and the opportunity to learn and take advantage of training are more important than respondents from France, Germany, Italy and Spain (58% each).

The Sommet Education Foundation will now focus on tackling employment challenges in the sector, focusing on two levers of action: supporting careers and professions in hospitality and offering scholarships for hospitality education.

Glion CEO, Frédéric Picard, said: “Highlighting 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 the development of initiatives around the Foundation. We invite UK hospitality suppliers to join us on our journey.”

The Sommet Education Foundation was established to offer hospitality education scholarships to talented people from disadvantaged backgrounds and to support careers and professions in hospitality.

The inquiry was launched thanks to the All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Hospitality and Tourism, which recently launched an inquiry into the recruitment and retention of staff in the hospitality industry, which is a welcome development for all those involved in the UK sector.

Written evidence can be submitted to the APPG investigation until June 14.