Ewan Thompson’s Post

I strongly believe that while the primary goal of a successful business is to generate profits for its investors, the methods employed to achieve these profits are critical, particularly in terms of their impact on people and the environment. . Article: https://lnkd.in/eNnAVRR3 It makes complete commercial sense to reassess locations where revenues are falling in order to mitigate profit risks effectively. However, this situation highlights a broader issue within the hospitality industry the challenge of employee retention and recruitment. Whitbread highlighted the company’s commitment to leveraging both the newly created roles from this strategic shift and its robust annual recruitment process, which typically sees about 15,000 hires annually ( total workforce is 37,000 so gives indication of turnover of employees) Despite Whitbread announcing a 36% increase in profits, they are also cutting approximately 1,500 jobs. What are your thoughts on this matter? How should large companies balance profitability with social responsibility? Summary of article Financial Outcomes: The company reported a 13% growth in group statutory revenue, with a 36% increase in adjusted profit before tax to £561m. Adjusted EBITDAR was also up 19% to £1,057m. Management Commentary: CEO Dominic Paul highlighted the strong results driven by the UK hotels sector and emphasized the company's commitment to supporting affected team members during the transition, with efforts to retain as many as possible Site and Job Reductions: Whitbread is planning to exit 126 of its lower-performing branded restaurant sites and will cut 1,500 jobs in the UK. These sites are still operational to facilitate their sale as ongoing concerns. Financial Performance and Savings: The company achieved £50m in cost savings for the financial year ending on March 2, 2023. A new efficiency program aims to generate £150m in savings over the next three years. Strategic Repurposing: As part of its Accelerating Growth Plan (AGP), Whitbread intends to convert 112 underperforming restaurants into additional hotel rooms, enhancing its food and beverage offerings for Premier Inn guests. Future Projections and Investments: The plan includes the creation of 3,500 new room extensions, aiming for at least 97,000 operational rooms by the end of FY29. This expansion will require an investment of about £500m over the next four years, covered by existing capital expenditure budgets. Operational Shifts: Despite strong performance in the UK hotel sector, some branded restaurants have struggled due to reduced footfall from non-hotel guests. - would be interesting to see what action they took?

5 Businesses with the highest failure rates: 1. Restaurants (80%) 2. Gyms (81%) 3. Construction (40%) 4. Hotels (90%) 5. Retail (70%) Avoid them unless you have a special edge. Or an experienced consultancy associated with you.

“What’s the worst that can happen!” More of a statement I made rather than a question posed, as I signed the contract to purchase my first Hospitality business in January 2020, The Sporting Globe Bar & Grill Plenty Valley. After an amazing experience; a little over two weeks ago, we sold and handed the business over to new owners. I look forward to the excitement of figuring out what to do next – that is, when I return from a well earnt holiday! Of all the great learnings from owning a business; two that resonate most are 1) the importance of an attitude of optimism, and 2) the advantage in ‘really’ knowing your customer. My ‘what’s the worst that can happen’ comment is not based on a negative mindset of catastrophising; but an attitude of optimism & resilience. Acknowledging & understanding risk, however retaining an inner confidence that there is no scenario we can’t overcome. And the flippancy of my comment became all too real only months into our new hospitality venture, when the ‘worst’ did happen with COVID/lockdowns disrupting our original business plan for the next two years. But our business thrived! Our brand remained relevant, & accessible to serve our community (via technology & home delivery), by staying open 7 days per week during lockdowns when most pubs & clubs shuttered. When I purchased the business I didn’t expect to become a 7 day a week food delivery driver, but the opportunity created from lockdowns of connecting with and taking our offer directly into our customers’ homes, was critical in creating enduring relationships & deep memory structures - a competitive advantage for our brand when the reopening occurred. Once lockdown restrictions eased, our customers would drive past 2 or 3 pubs & clubs to visit our venue – we had their trust. The attitude of optimism underpinned an ability to adapt, & implement innovative business solutions (a huge shout out to The Sporting Globe Head Office team). With many years of FMCG experience, I believed I was a customer centric business leader. My greatest insight from operating my own hospitality business for nearly 4 years, is that I didn’t recognise how far away from my customer I actually was. Working with great global brands such as Wrigley Mars & Hallmark, I had so many resources and insights to tap into. From first class consultants, agencies and category management resources; to research & data, and consumer panels – I believed I was connected to my customers in a way that created depth of understanding & advantage. My learning since, is that I was at arms-length and lacked customer intimacy. The intimacy of Hospitality where your customer engages with & consumes your product, and provides in the moment feedback, creates real time insight & business agility. Sure, perhaps easier to do in a small business; however, I now think about the opportunities I could have created as a leader in a large branded consumer goods business for more moments of intimacy with my customer.

📚 BOOK RECOMMENDATION 📚 If you're in the hospitality industry, I highly recommend reading "Unreasonable Hospitality" by Will Guidara. This book is all about exceeding guest expectations and leveraging the power of memorable experiences to drive success. It brilliantly illustrates how elevating customer service can not only transform the customer experience but also significantly impact your business's financial health. Guidara's insights into transforming customer service by giving more than expected are not just inspiring—they're actionable. Whether you're running a restaurant, bar, or any service-oriented business, there's something valuable in these pages for you. Have you experienced the impact of "unreasonable hospitality?" I would love to hear your thoughts. https://a.co/d/eo45WBd #HospitalityIndustry #Entrepreneurship #SmallBusinessAdvice #AdvisoryServices

Really interesting article and lovely use of picture with the Dodo. However, the message is increasingly mixed with some pubs and restaurants suffering from many of the problems mentioned in the article with earlier peaks in trade, shortened hours and rising prices. Many others see it differently though - and that's always the issue with cultural change isn't it? It takes time for the picture to be clear and for operators to settle into a new norm with adjusted hours, changed offerings and different clientele. We're seeing people buying new outlets, changing their operations substantially and making decent profits. We're also seeing the opposite as they struggle to deal with the "new normal" - the message is still that we need to adapt, look at other successful businesses and sectors and see what they're doing well. Nothing changes until something changes is still the most apt phrase in hospitality business and standing still will not deliver any change will it?

Starting a new business is never a straight forward process, especially in the hospitality sector. It is easy to quickly to be overcome, with which aspects of the business need to be addressed and how to prioritise those tasks. Our friends at growyze have produced a very helpful checklist to ease some of the operational woes that new hospitality entrepreneurs may face when starting their new hospitality business. I was delighted to be able to support growyze with their checklist, by providing tips on #licensing compliance and what new operators can do from the outset to mitigate the risks of costly legal battled, down the line. Check it out below! 👇 Any questions.... get in touch! John Gaunt & Partners Licensing Solicitors #hospitalityindustry #hospitalitybusiness #hospitalityexcellence #hospitalitytech #bars #pubs #restaurants #alcohol #cafes #cafe #foodandbeverage #foodandbeverageindustry #compliance

💡 Not many of the ideas for running a great hospitality business I’ve used are my own. 💡 I’ve borrowed (read stolen) almost all of them from others. The following piece of thievery has always served me well when trying to take a hospitality team from good to great. Warren Buffett, the legendary American investor, has an ability to turn the complex world of investing and management into the insanely simple. When deciding on whether he wanted to buy a company, he would ask this one important question about the CEO of the business: “Would I want to compete against them?” If he thought they were so good that he would never want to own a business that competed with them, then in his mind he was onto a winner. And obviously the opposite was true as well; if going up against them wasn’t a daunting thought, then he probably hadn’t found the CEO he was looking for, and so on to the next potential opportunity he would go. It’s such a simple concept that as soon as you read it, you know you can use it. You’ll probably find your own way of thinking through how to utilise it for your venue, but this was how it worked for me; It’s not always easy to know who your direct competitor is in hospitality, but I would make sure I had the bar or restaurant in mind that I would least like to see with more delighted customers than us next week (read - It would annoy me). I would then run through all of the key people in key roles in the business and how annoyed I would be if they were working for that competitor. Not just annoyed, but how much positive effect they would have on the competitor's business and how much harder it would be for us to stay as the place our customers first choice to return to. What was surprising was how easy this question was to answer, and the effect it had on how we started thinking about how to support and challenge each member of our team. We started to realise just how valuable the real stars in the management team were, and challenged ourselves on how we could make sure we did everything we could to keep them with us as long as possible. On the flip side, the team members who you don’t feel reach the mark of being “scary” to compete with become the people that you really start to have honest conversations with on where they want to go, how much they want to improve, how much they’re prepared to challenge themselves to get there, etc. It's better for you and for them that this happens sooner rather than later. There’s never a silver bullet to taking a team from good to great, but I reckon this is about as good as it gets in terms of being able to clearly think through and position in your own mind where each of your key team members is at in terms of the value they’re providing to your business. Stay tuned for my next stolen idea 😎

Hospitality Sector and the Need for Understanding! In the realm of hospitality, every day unfolds with a delicate dance of uncertainties. Will the guests come? Will they savor what we've prepared with care? Is the staff roster complete? Amidst these daily queries, business owners summon discipline and consistency, armed with welcoming smiles. However, what often goes unnoticed is the stark reality they face – margins under pressure, exploding fixed costs, and the recent pandemic-led closures. Yet, the hospitality industry resiliently opens its doors, aiming to craft sweet memories for patrons. It's a paradox that those shaping laws for this vibrant sector often do so from a place of ignorance and, at times, whimsy. The challenges faced by hospitality entrepreneurs are real, yet the disconnect persists. Fantasies abound, painting a picture of business owners swimming in profits while evading taxes. What's needed is a deep understanding of the industry's intricacies, not misguided assumptions. The hospitality industry, a major employer in many cities, deserves recognition and support. Expertise and leadership are crucial to crafting policies that align with the sector's reality. Solutions must be devised to ensure the industry's sustainability in the face of challenges. Recognition and support are not just gestures; they are lifelines for an industry that is bleeding and yearning for understanding. As the sector voices its reality, we look forward to a future where governments comprehend the industry's struggles and champion solutions. Only then can we distinguish between those playing by the rules and those who need closer scrutiny. Let's usher in an era where hope triumphs over challenges, and the hospitality sector thrives with the support it deserves. 🌟💼 #HospitalityReality #SupportLocalBusinesses #UnderstandBeforeJudging #ExpertiseVSFantasy

Chapter 5 - The Right Strategies. Because there is intense competition in the hospitality industry, there is also a need for strategic management, effective planning, and processes to attain company success. In an article published in Hotel News Now, the hotel guru, Robert Rauch, wrote that one popular strategy that helps companies stand out is the ‘balanced scorecard’. This strategy allows a company to assess budgets and financial measurement devices as well as non-tangible assets such as customer relationships and brand awareness. In The Strategy Focused Organization, Robert S. Kaplan and David P. Norton state that exclusive reliance on financial measures in a management system causes businesses to do the wrong things. Kaplan and Norton believe that there are four basic strategic themes: 1. Build the franchise: In the case of hoteliers, this applies to the individual franchisee as well as the brand managers. Optimise that brand name! 2. Increase customer value: Today’s savvy customers may pay to stay in a luxury hotel, but they will require value for that money spent. 3. Achieve operational excellence: Satisfactory service is not good enough for today’s fickle consumer; excellent service is now required. Provide unanticipated remarkable service. 4. Be a good corporate citizen: This comes back in increased revenues, better employees, and more repeat businesses. The authors describe five steps necessary to create a strategy-focused corporation: 1. Translate the strategy into operational terms. Want to know more, buy a copy of My Hospitality 😁 https://lnkd.in/dcTq6Zsq https://lnkd.in/duNnaBdX https://lnkd.in/d4iqjiQT https://lnkd.in/dw87_FaJ https://lnkd.in/d_eE8gdg

Why you should care about hospitality in any business 👇🏽 (Especially if you're in a service industry) For most of America's history, we were a manufacturing economy. Now we're a service economy, with over three-quarters of our GDP driven by service industries. Globally, it's more than two-thirds. Statistically speaking, if you're reading this, you and I are in the same business: serving others. Here's the key: You might sell different products, but we're all in the business of serving people. And if you approach your work through the lens of hospitality, you'll be more successful. Here's what I’ve learned: Service vs. Hospitality Service is what you do. In my world, it's getting the right plate of food to the right person at the right time. Hospitality is how you make people feel when you do it. Why "Unreasonable Hospitality"? The most successful people are relentless in bringing the best version of themselves or their product to life. They are unreasonable in their pursuit. Unreasonable hospitality means being as relentless in making people feel valued as you are in perfecting your product. The only true competitive advantage Someone will always come along with a better product or a stronger brand. The only lasting competitive advantage comes from investing consistently and generously in relationships. Because well-built relationships create loyalty that takes a long time to erode. How to practice Unreasonable Hospitality Be present: Care so much about the person you're with that you stop caring about everything else. Take what you do seriously, but take yourself less seriously: Don’t let self-imposed standards prevent you from doing what makes your stakeholders happy. Treat people as unique individuals: The best form of hospitality is bespoke, creating stories that people will share over and over. Takeaway Invest in relationships through hospitality. It’s not about what you serve, but how you make people feel. Repost this ♻️ for your network. Thank you! P.S. What’s one thing you can do today to practice unreasonable hospitality?