Until relatively recently the most consistent type of accommodation that I stayed in over the years was to be found in pubs. It was consistently below average. The idea of polishing off a meal and having a relaxing drink ahead of simply having to wander upstairs was always a massive temptation. But sadly the facilities were always something of a let-down and I’d inevitably vow to not get lulled into it again. I can recollect instances of being kept awake for what seemed like hours as the jukebox cranked out tracks well into the early hours. I’ve “slept” on beds and mattresses that were worn to the point that my back was almost touching the floor.

 

I’ve found un-chic plastic sinks that have been used to stub out cigarette butts. Heating had frequently been a non-existent utility. I’ve made efforts to eat breakfasts that incorporated the sausages that clearly hadn’t sold at the previous night’s dinner. And I’ve had the peace of breakfast time broken by being hoovered up around by harried cleaners. In reality, taking a room in a pub was a largely desperate decision made only when I was either very short of money or when there had been no other option in the town or village that I’d found myself needing to stay in overnight.

 

Thankfully this scenario has been changing as pubs have realised that they have needed to up their game or they would no longer remain in the game. When the pubco model ran out of steam and the smoking ban removed cigarettes from people’s mouths the typical pub was under great pressure and needed to fight back. The obvious first line of attack was to sort out the food. There cannot be anybody alive today over the age of 30 that would not agree with the statement that there has been a revolution in the standard of food in pubs. 

 

With the food battle largely won, accommodation has more recently been brought into focus by pub owners. We can see how this follows the trend for “restaurants with rooms”, which has brought terrific business to many dining establishments. It is obvious that almost everybody staying the night in these places will be dining in the restaurant. This has proven to be a double-whammy for such businesses and the investment in accommodation has been returned at a rapid pace.

 

There is not quite the same symbiotic relationship between rooms and the food and beverage offer in pubs. But we can absolutely say that the rooms do drive extra food and beverage revenue. Pubs frequently have a more sociable and relaxed eating and drinking area that helps drive the use of accommodation, especially among business people who will often be travelling solo and find hotels a less relaxing atmosphere. Accommodation booking website InnPlace reckons that pub owners can expect an increase in profits of 80% once the rooms are up and running as most guests will eat in the bar or the pub’s restaurant.

 

This ability to drive significant dual revenue streams from utilising the spare rooms above a pub’s trading area has not gone unnoticed by the pub companies, which have been increasingly playing around in this area. But whereas in the past there was a rather inconsistent approach to their efforts with the fitting out of the rooms – that were distinctly less appealing than those found in a hotel – this is no longer the case. 

 

JD Wetherspoon typifies how things have changed. It is not in the market of offering sub-standard accommodation any more and chairman Tim Martin is proud of the fact the result now makes the proposition comparable with that of a boutique hotel. Although at the company’s recent results presentation he remains slightly puzzled about where exactly the £75,000 fit-out for each room goes.

 

The company now has 1,000 rooms and expects to add 50 to 100 hotels over the next three to ten years, which will all be incorporated into Wetherspoon pubs – there are no standalone hotel plans at this stage. Such is Martin's confidence in the revenues that the addition of rooms brings to his pubs it is not seen as a volume-driven strategy. The Golden Hope pub in Sittingbourne, Kent, for instance has a mere three rooms but this is deemed financially worthwhile as they add very little costs to the pub – beyond requiring a cleaner’s services each morning.

 

It was therefore no surprise whatsoever that in Fuller’s recent results chief executive Simon Emeny stated accommodation was recognised as an “opportunity” and it has identified a number of locations where rooms would be added – that will take it beyond the 665 that it currently operates.

 

This chimes with a survey undertaken earlier in the year by Stay in a Pub that found 21% of pub operators had planned to increase their number of letting rooms in 2016 compared with a lesser 14% in 2013. It also found 67% of pub operators had enjoyed revenue growth from their accommodation over the past 12 months compared with 48% in the year up to 2013. Expect these trends to continue.

 

One result of all this activity is that accommodation in pubs is becoming increasingly consistent again, but unlike in the past, this is a consistency in the high quality of the offering available rather than it being unanimously poor.

 

Some would have you believe London has something of a monopoly when it comes to new concepts in the hospitality sector. While it’s true our capital has undoubtedly become one of the leading restaurant destinations globally, other regions in the UK can boast equal levels of creativity and entrepreneurship. Until recently it could be said the north provided an opportunity the south didn’t, with lower premiums, a less saturated market and more property availability. This is far from true today, however, with many suggesting the powerhouse cities of Liverpool, Manchester and Leeds are close to saturation point regarding restaurants and bars.

 

Earlier this year, I made the move north to take up my role at Thai Leisure Group as we grow our Thaikhun and Chaophraya brands nationwide from a mainly northern base. Basing myself in Leeds – on the one or two nights a week I find myself at home – I’ve used the opportunity to discover some brilliant people running great brands out of the north. I thought I’d get under the skin of a few companies that are not only successfully trading but growing in the north – and further afield too.

 

Spotting a gap in the market for an Indian restaurant that didn’t just trade in the “10.30pm tikka masala slot”, Nisha Katona created a concept developed around the 20 dishes she’d happily eat for the rest of her life – her “desert island discs of Indian dishes”, we joked during our interview. A barrister of 20 years, Katona was primarily a consumer until she ventured into the restaurant industry, but knew she required the skills of an experienced restaurateur so hired her general manager before even finding a site. A self-professed “curry evangelist”, Katona explains her cuisine is based on Hindi ayurvedic principles, with no onion or garlic, making food distinctly different from the dishes most people think of when choosing an Indian meal. This also makes for a great lunch option, a trade the majority of Indian restaurants simply don’t have.

 

The break for the concept came in finding a 70-cover site in District 13, which has since become a trendy destination on the Liverpool restaurant scene. Still self-funded, the brand has signed for four sites, two in Liverpool, one in Manchester and one in Leeds. Site selection has been carefully undertaken with the thought being to prove the concept in high-street locations as well as within schemes. With the well-publicised chef shortage and a particular challenge surrounding the recruitment of Indian chefs following changes to UK immigration laws, the sector has to be careful to avoid the pitfalls of an immigration-based chef population that can result in inflated egos and, at times, situations that feel more akin to a ransom situation. Instead, Mowgli’s kitchen team is built on energy and enthusiasm, with clear specifications and an in-depth training programme. The aim is to go national when finding the right investors – and sites!

 

Following a rapid rise in the corporate environment, Martin Wolstencroft, chief executive of Arc Inspirations, was keen to do it for himself when he jumped ship to create the company with a business partner in 1999. He was a student in Leeds, lived there and knew the market, so it was the obvious place to start, he tells me in our interview. The multi-brand group now operates 15 units spread across Leeds, Harrogate, Manchester and York. Of the nine brands, he says the biggest roll-out opportunities are contemporary bar restaurant concept Banyan Bar & Kitchen, American barbecue concept The Pit, and sports bar The Box.

 

The regionally focused roll-out to this point has seen the company leverage a great reputation, with natural cross-usage of the brands also providing an opportunity to cross-promote. Growth is ongoing, with another site signed in Leeds and a continued search for the right property from Birmingham upwards. With two to three sites planned per year, the company is confident it has a concept that fits almost any good site, with each brand targeting a slightly different market. As with any roll-out, a central support team has been growing healthily, with operations, food development, finance and marketing functions soon to be joined by a newly created role dedicated to development and new openings.

 

When asked about the nuances of the north, Wolstencroft talks of confident consumers who know what they want and how to get a great deal, and who expect more from hospitality businesses. He adds that they also know their brands, who the competitors are, and how competitive the market place is. With many London brands growing in the north, his advice is not to take it for granted that just because you are successful in the south, you’ll do well in the north – pointing to a number of brands that have tried and failed. He believes consumers are looking for a strong identity and clear differentiation, with vanilla just not cutting it.

 

The neighbourhood American-style barbecue brand, backed by Piper, opened its first venue in Chester in 2010 and has since grown to five sites. The concept draws on the best of the southern US states, with a particular focus on Texan barbecue food and New Orleans beverages. The brand has big growth plans, with eyes on an estate across the north of England, having ventured as far south as it planned. The expansion will continue to concentrate on community sites, focusing on a loyal customer base that returns regularly. The company is looking at sites in Yorkshire, Shropshire, Staffordshire and Cheshire for future openings.

 

The local approach is reflected in the brand marketing strategy, which sees no above-the-line advertising, instead focusing on community engagement through a range of sponsorship initiatives and local events. The company has also decided to educate the English on American football’s National Football League, leveraging this as a key brand hook for the future.

 

With the expansion of barbecue concepts in recent years, Paula Brown, marketing manager for the brand, says Hickory’s is focused on authenticity to ensure it stands out from the crowd. This is being delivered via a considerable ongoing investment in training to encourage the team to understand and deliver “Southern hospitality”. In the past year, the company has sent more than 50 of its key team members to Texas, including chefs, trainers and general managers. Back home, 26 full-time trainers deliver more than 48 courses that broaden the team’s knowledge of a range of subjects covering products, company culture and specific knowledge.

 

Next year there will be a reinvigoration of the brand, with a new-look visual brand and interior concept being rolled out as part of the redevelopment of the Wall Heath site that was destroyed by fire in August. This change will see the addition of theatre to the food, with a barbecue on the veranda and barbecue smokers in the restaurant.

 

The Almost Famous brand was devised in 2010, ahead of the better burger revolution that followed. Founded by Beau Myers and Marie Carter as a pop-up in Manchester’s Northern Quarter, the outlet took a publicity-shy approach built on hard and fast rules that would build a reputation all on its own – no photos, no press, no bloggers and no ketchup. The brand has continued down a rather bold route with its proposition, with the website clearly highlighting its no-reservations policy, instead encouraging potential customers to “chill out and turn up”, as well as clearly stating a lack of vegan options – with something of an edgy confidence that only burger brands seem to be able to boast.

 

The company, of course, grew to become a fully-fledged restaurant in the Northern Quarter and, having launched a second site in the city, it’s fair to say in its home town of Manchester the brand may have exceeded its only ambition of being “almost famous”, with almost everyone knowing this brand. The growth has continued with additional locations in Liverpool and Leeds.

 

Fast-casual in service style, the venues are industrial and quirky, with large bars making the concept stand out from other burger brands in the market. As you might expect, the proposition is mostly burgers with the addition of three non-burger items and a limited selection of sides. Since launching its latest site in 2014, the company has concentrated on optimising trading in its existing sites, introducing newer, bolder menu items and tweaking venues to provide more covers. This next year will see the brand acquire new sites, with the intention of growing nationally and with London firmly on the horizon.

 

In the meantime, to bring the brand to a broader audience, the company has invested in the “Wondertruck” – an oversized American-style food truck that is an Almost Famous restaurant on wheels. So far the truck has treated burger-lovers across the UK at events such as Meatopia, Grillstock and Indy Man Beer Con.

 

In April 2000, when the auction of 3G next-generation licences raised £22.5bn, it was clear this was going to have a big impact on our lives but few (if any) of us really understood how the technology would work or what the future products would be. At the time, we were still nursing our Nokias, while the pioneers among us were experimenting with BlackBerrys and electronic handheld devices. It took until the launch of the Apple iPhone in 2007 for the impact of change to start to enter our lives.

 

Today, smartphone penetration has reached more than 80% of UK adults. They have become our networking-shopping-entertainment-photography-scheduling-media-research-navigating-banking-gaming-emailing and phoning tool, and get viewed more than one billion times a day in the UK. During the past decade, new digital companies have developed their technological platforms into dominant market positions, with tools and services now core to our daily personal and business routines, including Amazon, Twitter, Instagram, Uber and, more recently, Deliveroo. This smartphone revolution, and the associated technological advances in related sectors, is transforming the hospitality sector and its guests.

 

We are now fully accustomed to our guests (and potential users) having full access to online reviews of our businesses and to review and rate us themselves (TripAdvisor and Facebook have both been about for more than a decade). Increasing smartphone penetration has merely hastened the immediacy of guests posting their comments, while new applications such as Snapchat and Instagram have offered guests more platforms to share their opinions with their friends – and the world. 

 

What is evolving now is the reality that we need to assume total transparency in the way we do business. Any action we take (from supply chain sourcing to staff policies and operating practices) must be made in the full expectation that our guests can access and share this information. We need to ensure our actions are positive and defendable to avoid any potential implications of negative newsworthy incidents being shared.

 

In the retail world, the sector impact of e-commerce has been more immediate and profound. The convenience and money-saving value of online shopping has transformed the way people shop. Physical retail stores are now reducing to specialist roles – for instant consumption convenience, for browsing (where there is a need to touch and see the product before purchase) and for “retail entertainment”. A by-product benefit for the hospitality sector has been a renewed access to good locations – landlords seeking bars and restaurants to replace closing retail stores and as an entertainment attractor to enhance the overall retail experience for the remaining stores.

 

The impact of e-commerce growth in the hospitality sector is now intensifying, driven by the scale of delivery companies entering the market. Many businesses are already seeing 5% to 10% revenue coming from these new delivery aggregators, with predictions this may grow to between 20% and 30% over time. And greater impact is ahead as new operators use the potential for a delivery-only trading platform without the need for expensive capital investment in restaurants and front-of-house service teams.

 

The expression “cash rich – time poor” has been popular for some time. Smartphone expectations take this to a new level – “wait time = waste time”. The increasing capability of technology and access to information means customers now have an expectation their needs can be serviced immediately. Ironically, the smartphone is not freeing up our customer’s time – it is another burden on their time availability. UK adults now spend more hours a day on technological media consumption than they do sleeping.

 

We are now seeing the early impact of wait-time intolerance in our sector. In the service models in the fast-casual sector, operators are focused on fast service and removing guest wait times, as well as related investment in cooking and service technology that enables faster cook times and more time-efficient systems. A key time barrier is typically the wait for bill payment and various technical and service model enhancements in the hospitality sector are focused on removing this delay – typically in the retail sector this is being managed with more self-service checkouts.

 

A good example of service speed focus is Domino’s Pizza, which is investing in technology to remove its delivery and takeaway guest wait time – in certain overseas markets it is developing a “five minutes out the door” model (order received and processed, and product cooked within five minutes). It is also using GPS technology to track a takeaway guest’s arrival time so the product is processed to be freshly cooked as the guest enters the door.

 

Our customers are strongly influenced by the need to connect and network with their online community, on whatever social platforms they relate to. They have a growing desire for “experiences to share” so they have relevant content and updates on their lives to post. Our business is transforming into the picture business, providing our customers with opportunities to share their product choices (food and drink) and their social company in our bars and restaurants with their network community.

 

So we need to help curate our guests’ hospitality experience and give them positive news content to share – from the photogenic standard of our products to the way our staff engage with the guests and the style and entertainment of the ambience of our businesses. And our guests have a growing expectation their experience will be customised for their individual needs. This is an increasing trend of the retail experience (for mass customisation – allowing each customer of a scale brand to personalise their individual shopping experience). Our guests will expect a similar level of detail from their hospitality experience – how they can personalise their product and service needs to their individual requirements.

 

Related to this is the growing interest in pop-ups in the retail and hospitality sectors. These provide guests with a uniquely customised moment-in-time experience of the offer, typically with a more intense experience of the product offer that, again, gives them more opportunities to share their new experiences online. The hospitality world is growing in complexity. As well as the day-to-day focus on flawless delivery of the product, service and ambience of the guest’s experience, the rise to dominance of the humble smartphone is continuing to cause a rapid evolution and, in some cases, transformation of our approach to business.

 

Some of these trends have become the “new normal”. However, I would challenge that for the majority of the themes above, the hospitality sector is in the early stages of adoption, with many depths of understanding ahead. And this is still early days – we are still in the first decade since Apple launched the iPhone. Think of the ongoing transformation of the way our businesses will satisfy the changing needs of our guests during the next decade.