It’s a measure of the progress the sector’s made in understanding and tackling climate change that many of the industry conferences and awards cover, or are dedicated to, sustainability and reducing carbon emissions to net zero. With global temperatures already at the 1.5c average increase that is the limit of a habitable planet, and with food and drink emitting a third of global emissions, the urgency to reduce our impact has never been greater. 

 

I’ve always focused engaging people on the business benefits of reducing emissions, but in recent years it’s been encouraging to see how many leaders are motivated by “doing the right thing”, as evident from our interviews with Thom Elliott from Pizza Pilgrims and Steve Holmes from Azzurri. And from Bob Gordon, our forum director, whose previous job title was “do the right thing” manager. The challenge with sustainability being seen as “doing the right thing” is that for some, you can only afford to do good when you’re doing well. 

 

As a result, in a sector that is forever facing cost pressures and constraints on capital, sustainability can be deprioritised. This was evident at a conference this week, when the Slido survey showed sustainability as next to last as a priority, below team engagement and managing costs. While the forum works with a third of the sector, clearly we’ve work to do to demonstrate how climate action can help solve your other challenges. 

 

Our webinar series with Propel aims to do just this. The forum supports operators to measure, plan and reduce emissions individually and collectively to net zero. Our interviews show how operators leading the transition are realising the opportunity to build businesses that are more efficient, resilient to the impacts of climate change and engage the people who work for them.

 

While up to 70% of our emissions are from the food and drink we serve, the compelling business case that energy provides to cut carbon and costs is a good way to engage businesses on the road to net zero. Sustaining any hospitality business relies upon the ability to turn top line sales into bottom line profits.

 

The energy crises highlighted how efficient practices can be the difference between being in business or not. Our “save while you sleep initiative” uses sustainability messaging to engage teams to reduce operational energy waste from equipment being left on. Changing these behaviours has recovered £5m of lost profits across our members, worth up to £12,000 and ten tonnes of carbon per outlet.

 

Nick Young from Mitchells & Butlers outlines how the business has systemised and scaled efficiency measures through automating heating controls, installing all electric kitchens to eliminate gas use and using on-site solar to self-supply. The measures not only deliver against its net zero targets, but significantly reduces the utility costs of each pub it operates.

 

Beyond energy, measuring the emissions to an ingredient level on food and drink has helped members realise savings on food waste from unnecessary garnishes, switching to local producers and achieving higher margins from increasing the vegetable content of dishes. 

As David Attenborough said: “Don’t waste electricity, don’t waste paper, don’t waste food. Live the way you want to live but just don’t waste.”

 

The global supply chains that provide us with the food and drink we serve are uniquely vulnerable to the impacts of climate change, with the increased frequency of extreme weather affecting both availability and cost. Tomatoes, a core ingredient for any pizza operator, have been impacted by the extreme heat across Europe, as Pizza Pilgrims highlighted. Understanding supply chain risks from climate is both an expectation of investors and, increasingly, a requirement to comply with existing and upcoming legislation.

 

The opportunity to build supply chains that can respond to extreme weather events, increase biodiversity and lower carbon emissions has been demonstrated by the work of McDonald’s to engage with farmers to support a transition from conventional to regenerative practices. Regenerative farming removes the need for oil-based pesticides, restores soil health by growing crops alongside companion crops and integrates livestock. This enables both farmers and hospitality businesses to build resilience in our food system and reach net zero targets.

Azzurri highlighted the 10% reduction in emissions achieved by switching ingredient suppliers to those with regenerative practices, such as the Wildfarmed initiative on flour. Other early adopters include Pizza Pilgrims and WSH experiencing how a regenerative supply chain significantly reduces their environmental impact and offers customers a better end product.

We are working collectively to define and implement these changes in our supply chains, which will make them resilient now and in the future. Demonstrating to investors and insurers a robust supply chain can positively affect market valuation, make a difference to the bottom line and enhance reputation.

 

Research has shown that our other stakeholders of customers and employees are also making decisions on who they work for and buy from based on credible climate action. In the fight for talent from the climate conscious generation, demonstrating that sustainability is at the core of how you operate will enable you to attract and retain the best people. The growing trend of climate quitting awaits those who fail to act.

 

It is good to see that the personal motivations to “do the right thing” from business leaders like Thom at Pizza Pilgrims and Steve at Azzurri also aligns with their business responsibilities to minimise staff churn and increase business valuation. As a sector investor put it to me, if we make sustainability a priority for all our investments, it gives us a better price on exit.

 

Through the inspiration, energy and ideas that we get from coming together combined with the tools and support we can provide, we will transition to the efficient, resilient businesses that people will want to work for, buy from and invest in. I hope you want to do good, but I know we’ll help you do well. To net zero together, at pace.

 

It’s no secret that the jobs market for all businesses in the UK has experienced a degree of turbulence due to Brexit, industrial action and periods of high inflation in recent years, with the hospitality industry being no exception. Yet, in this year’s list of Best Places to Work published by The Sunday Times, nearly a quarter of the businesses in the big companies category represented the hospitality industry.

 

Dig a little deeper, and it becomes clear that this is no mere coincidence. With the sector seeing job vacancies fall in the past year by 35,000, according to UKHospitality, hospitality businesses have found new ways to entice prospective employees. Though challenges do, of course, remain, the future of the industry is bright if the sector can maintain its current trajectory.

 

The economic and political backdrop has created several obstacles for hospitality businesses in recent years, with both short term and systemic hurdles thrown in the way. The economic situation has not been kind to the hospitality sector, which has struggled to recruit and retain staff since Brexit. While higher wages are an option, the increases to the national living wage make it hard for hospitality businesses to stick their head above the parapet when it comes to competing for talent against other industries.

 

The pandemic compounded the woes brought on by Brexit, with many staff either leaving the UK or changing career paths. With hospitality lying dormant during the pandemic, and it being harder to recruit staff from Europe post Brexit, the sector’s capacity to recruit reached a new low.

 

More recently, increasing inflationary pressures, the cost-of-living crisis and more frequent train strikes have left the average consumer with fewer opportunities to spend in restaurants, bars and hotels. This has impacted sales, and in turn will have had an impact on those considering applying for roles in hospitality.

 

The reality of being an employee in the hospitality sector is that most roles have to be done in-person and sometimes during unsociable hours, making it harder to recruit staff with caring duties, or those who are based further away from the business’ location. Because of this, many businesses in the sector have found innovative ways to invest in their staff by being more flexible with rotas and upskilling them to improve retention and engagement.

 

This shift is taking place nationwide, with 92% of businesses planning to invest in staff training, according to UKHospitality. While investing in staff is a worthwhile initiative, it is also no silver bullet. More and more businesses are beginning to reward staff in aspects not so connected to work. Businesses that can offer their staff free hotel stays, dinners or vouchers can boost morale while raising productivity as an additional benefit. Young hospitality hopefuls bring new attitudes into hospitality environments, and this needs to be a key consideration for businesses going forward.

 

A survey by foodservice technology provider Nutritics and hospitality data and insights consultancy CGA by NIQ found that more than a third of UK pub and restaurant goers are prepared to spend more than usual in venues with strong sustainability credentials. The sector has responded to this well, with restaurants connecting with local charities to ensure that unused food is donated rather than thrown away, and other businesses joining or building community engagement programmes or setting up volunteer days for staff.

 

While job vacancy levels have not yet recovered to pre-pandemic levels, hospitality businesses employ more than 3.5 million people in the UK, and this looks set to increase steadily as we become accustomed to post-Brexit immigration rules, and as the economy begins to cool. It remains to be seen whether the government, whoever that may be after 4 July, plans to invest more to support the sector. 

 

There are still a great deal of recruitment and retention challenges ahead. For example, how will hospitality businesses cope with the increased salary requirement for skilled work visas? Will a new government increase minimum wage and put pressure on the sector? What role could tech play in alleviating some of these pressures?

 

All hospitality businesses need to find ways to appeal to prospective employees and innovative thinking will be required to alleviate the financial strain. But, as The Sunday Times recognised, the hospitality sector appears to have been particularly successful in creating rewarding environments for employees to thrive in. We can say with growing confidence that the future looks bright.

 

Hospitality has tremendous scope as a great sector to work in as it can offer employees a variety of non-salary-based rewards that other industries may not have access to. If this can be capitalised on effectively, the Sunday Times list of Best Places to Work in 2025 will surely feature an even greater share of businesses from the world of hospitality.

 

One of the most frustrating elements of management in hospitality is the drift in labour cost. After a huge amount of effort working with the team to get to the right cost for a week, including national insurance and holiday, holding to the same labour cost in subsequent weeks seems to undo itself at a more rapid rate than we are happy with.

 

We all hope that we can leave labour management alone to run itself for a few weeks (or maybe months) before revisiting the site and resetting the numbers. Having to go back to it early and rework it undermines the focus and energy we put into streamlining the process in the first place. And, ultimately, it leaves us with a sinking feeling and a bit of resentment for the team running the site, because we feel it could have done a better job managing it all. 

 

Our hospitality bones want to focus on service and sales growth, leaving labour management to run itself and not require too much of our time. This is possible, but the process needs to become more routine and more consistent first. How? One way I have found works well is using rota templates. 

 

If we put a load of effort into getting the rota right, we then want it to be repeated. Writing a rota is hard: deciding when people start and how many you need is vital. But we also have to take a different approach to the “who” and “when” for each day of the week. 

 

The person who is best at line cleaning might always need to come in early on a Wednesday; the manager might always need to work on a Monday because there is a head office meeting; and then there’s the kitchen. Someone might work on a Thursday because they prepare the desserts for the weekend, and another might be the best at carving the Sunday meat. These intricacies all play a part in gross profit. In fact, there are more to consider before we even get to the simpler ones, like how many hours and on which days.

 

Once you have considered all of the people and their particular skills and foibles, you can decide where an hour can be removed here and there. And, just as importantly, you have planned a rota that is economic for your business. Typically, a rota can flex up by 15% without needing any more people if the sales spread relatively evenly across the week. So, a rota for a £20,000 week will be pretty solid up to, say, £23,000.

 

In reality, not many rotas need to be written to optimise your business. If I take my own restaurant, there has been a £10,000 spread in sales across all the weeks of the year. The only exceptions are the very highest weeks, like Christmas, or whenever there’s special events and bank holiday weeks. But, generally, five templated rotas will run most of the year for the business.

 

When I look at our customers, I find them gravitating towards starting from scratch, even when we have spent time writing the rota with them. Inevitably, these rotas cost more and have a negative impact on sales because they don’t consider all of the nuances that are required. This process doesn’t just apply to the rota – the same goes for your shift planner.

 

A well-written shift planner will include all the detail needed to run your specific business really well: the right people in the right places and the critical float roles utilised effectively and with the right purpose. Having no shift planner equals a poorly run shift as the team is not clear on what it is doing. Shift planning remains the key to a great team, great retention, great service and great productivity.

 

Too often, I find that businesses treat the shift plan as an afterthought. Writing a plan for, say, six on shift is the best approach as you can then add the six team members to that plan rather than the other way round. The same goes for using templates – they will massively reduce the drift in cost because the basic principles are agreed first. Together, the two create a first-class business!

 

After an uncertain few years for the hospitality industry, it’s great to see the food and drink market restoring itself this year. Despite the ongoing challenges of rising costs, dining out is a popular activity for so many people – including myself. Whether it is a treat, a celebratory occasion or just a little of what you fancy, UK consumers are now eating out once a week or more, according to Bidfood’s Food and Drink Trends report 2024.

 

Consumer preferences continue to gravitate towards two main trends: seeking value options and indulging in special dining experiences. Additionally, consumers are becoming more and more interested in the origins of their food, and sustainability is a major consideration when choosing where to dine out. 

 

So, what implications does this have for operators? Adapting to evolving consumer trends is nothing new for the hospitality industry, which has become adept at swiftly responding to market demands. Even though we are all still holding on tightly to our purse strings, it’s evident that quality is king when it comes to dining out, with consumers placing a premium on the overall quality of their experience, as reported at the Peach Planet 2024 Sustainability summit.

 

Mintel, the market intelligence research agency, reported that 43% of consumers believe that premium condiments and dressings make a meal feel more special. With this insight alone, it highlights that the smaller components of a dish shouldn’t be overlooked, and perhaps elevating recipes with innovative spice rubs, dressings and sauces can be a winning strategy in terms of customer satisfaction and profit margins. 

 

In today’s culinary landscape, the increase of multi-functional foods has revolutionised kitchens worldwide, offering not only quality and versatility, but also sustainability benefits that resonate deeply with both consumers and operators. As the kitchen evolves to prioritise efficiency and waste reduction, these innovative ingredients play a pivotal role in shaping a more sustainable future for the hospitality sector. 

 

Food brands continue to raise the bar, using their passion for innovation to deliver products that can be enjoyed across various dishes, blurring the lines between sweet and savoury. For instance, mayonnaise, formerly a back-of-house mainstay, is now a specialty ingredient in many cake recipes, taking the place of more conventional fats and oils.

Miso, a fermented paste made from soybeans and a staple in Japanese cuisine, is showing itself as a star ingredient in baking as well as in savoury dishes. Plus, vegetables are increasingly considered a dish in their own right, as they are coupled with spicy/barbecue sauces to provide a new level of indulgence and excitement. These inspired creations highlight the remarkable versatility and culinary prowess of products of today. 

 

It’s not only multi-functional foods. I am also fascinated by the way restaurants are thinking about the use of the whole animal when sourcing meat. Nose-to-tail represents an ethical and sustainable approach to meat sourcing that not only minimises waste but resonates with both chefs and diners alike. Chefs are continuously challenged to incorporate products that elevate the dining experience and excite diners while still making a profit.

 

All of these factors together have a profound impact on the industry as a whole and make it demanding and exhilarating at the same time. With summer in full swing, the future for hospitality is looking much brighter, and I am proud to be part of such a dynamic and versatile industry. I love seeing the innovative ways in which the sector works to adapt to changing trends. It’s making such a monumental effort to make our industry better for consumers and for the planet.