Last week I attended Propel’s quarterly multi club conference, ‘New Ways of Working’ to catch the latest industry insights. Unsurprisingly, the consensus swayed closer to concern than confidence for the sector’s future. From discussions around inflation and VAT, to workforces, consumer confidence and Government support, the multi club was full of talking points as pressures bottom out.

The first thing I wanted to write about was the main talking point – the big energy bills. On the opening ‘Money Talks’ group, one panellist said, ‘the best will survive and thrive”, suggesting costs and inflation are not as much of an issue for the top 25% and that businesses aiming at richer markets in the South-East of England will likely do better. But what does this mean for the smaller operators? If we look back at the last two years and the relentless toll they had on the industry, can we look forward now at the effects of VAT and see these businesses fighting another two years? The truth is, we don’t know what will happen. We know that consumer confidence is lower, there’s an issue around labour, and inflation in energy of 500 or 600% certainly won’t make it an easy fight.

Is Government intervention a viable consideration or a hopeless dream? One speaker suggested that the new Prime Minister could have a positive effect for the sector, noting how during the pandemic, Hospitality’s importance to the economy was recognised. This attention from the Government did a lot in the way of exposing how many people are directly and indirectly employed by the sector. The sense I got was an extremely cautious optimism, with the hope of help underpinned by a message to not rely on the Government and assume that the support could fall away, and costs will flow through.

Whilst these concerns are ever-present and should be talked about, the discussions around labour took centre stage for me. All of these issues in one way or another circle around the fact that we are a people-based sector. It is an indisputable truth, and one that will be the sector’s saving grace. When we talk about people, we are talking about customers, but equally, we are talking about workforce. Running a high-labour business is becoming more and more complicated, and it will begin to hit returns and margins. In a sea of cost crises and demand impact, now more than ever it is crucial to tackle struggles around labour availability, costs, and retention. Alleviating these concerns should form the foothill of every business plan.

The fundamentals haven’t changed: the team experience influences the guest experience. Consumers are less forgiving about service – they are out less and so now more than ever operators need to ensure excellent service. I found that Turtle Bay appeared to really take this message on board. Recruiting hard and building a workforce with a ‘One love Culture’ that centered on diversity, inclusivity, retention, and development was their core competence, and this freedom within a framework works wonders for business.

Many operators may ask: what steps can I take towards creating a culture of happiness for my staff and customers? My advice would be to start with the basics: understanding your trading patterns and organising your rota accordingly makes the world of difference. Staff are not overworked and feeling the stress of an understaffed team, and customers are not experiencing long queues and bad service. Opening up platforms for your staff to express their thoughts and feelings at the end of a shift creates a culture of honesty and safety in the workplace.

As Alex Reilley, Chairman of Loungers suggested, we need to make “commitments to change” – it is too easy to assume you lose people because of pay, and actually, it’s about letting people challenge you. That should be the real employee-value proposition.

Casual Dining 2022. Coined the definitive event for publicans and restauranteurs. After exploring this labyrinth of 200+ incredible suppliers for two days, I’m compelled to say it lives up to the name.

Renowned for its keynotes from big names with invaluable industry insight, Casual Dining shares tales, tips and most notably, a projection of hope. Mark McCulloch, founder of Hospitality Rising UK, the biggest hospitality recruitment campaign going, delivered his drive to “Rise fast, work young.” The consensus amongst operators is that hospitality work is being treated as a stopgap and more needs to be done to attract and retain staff. Only 1/5 young adults consider hospitality as an option after leaving education, and only 2/5 employees in the sector would recommend it as a job. It’s clear there are a finite amount of people in the recruitment pool. Likening his idea for increasing recruitment to the shape of a hockey stick, Mark alluded to getting people into the industry at entry level, ensuring there are opportunities for them to rise quickly in the company. The more room there is for workers to rise, the higher the retention rate. Mark’s second point to ‘work young’ was not a reference to age, but rather a mindset. The idea is simple: be fresh in your approach to your business and your staff. Consider unconventional marketing ideas, increase your online presence, and save time and money by utilising the technological innovations in the industry. Lead according to the demands of your business and its staff, and not the blueprint from way back when. This modernising of the mindset is already happening. The CGA Business Leader Survey 2022 revealed that 47% of business leaders are planning to increase their investment in technology this year.

Alongside the discussion of growing the recruitment pool were talks of growing businesses. 38% of business leaders are actively looking into the option of business acquisition in the next 12 months, up by 20pp compared to Q1 last year. These figures are a testament to the industry’s perseverance, creativity, and passion.

To swim in a sea of incredible people, products and innovations for two days was certainly the highlight of my week. S4labour’s partners were out and about in full force; the team and I caught up with the folks at Zonal, Airship & Toggle, Tenzo, Apicbase, Tevalis and Vita Mojo. Having so many of the industry’s incredible minds in one room is a special occurrence, and one I hope to make more regular.

For S4labour, Casual Dining is and will continue to be one of the most important events of the year. As a company that is run by hospitality people for hospitality people, the opportunity to be face to face with operators is of paramount importance. Not only do these events remind business owners of the support we will give to them, but it reiterates to us how important our role is in supporting the industry.

It may have been my first time attending Casual Dining, but I certainly hope it won’t be my last.

The world of hospitality tech is vast. There is a seemingly never-ending list of technologies that can fit into our businesses to help do things “better” than before. Over the last 10 years we have been spoilt for choice. There are solutions out there for recruitment, rotas, communications and team engagement. Not to mention solutions for payroll, produce orders, tracking financials, marketing and customer engagement. Our tills have all become more automated, more accurate, and more compliant. You want a robot serving your guests, juggling dishes whilst telling jokes? Not a problem. We even have excellent data guys like Tenzo and Tahola that pull all the data we have stacked into our businesses into one place, giving clarity and visibility of all the benefits gained from this technical revolution.

Is all of this technology a good thing? Is it good for the customer and, critically, is it good for our businesses? Clearly every business is different. Even though I don’t see my local traditional Italian rolling out waiter bots or my independent watering hole taking on a business analytics suite just yet, there is a different mixture of hospitality tech that is the right fit for most of us. This will depend on the scale, style and priorities of the business. However, most businesses have come to understand that doing nothing will likely result in being less efficient, less productive and being left behind our competitors.

When looking at what tech is right for your business, one of the key places to start is by considering what your priorities are. Maybe it’s labour cost saving, growing sales, marketing, or a smooth EPoS system. As technology has become better and more critical to our industry, so has its consolidation. There have been some excellent innovations in hospitality that tackle the unique challenges we face. Yes, there’s still a significant amount of innovation and solutions being developed. We’ve also seen some giants of the technology service sector who can offer most operators pretty much everything – all under one roof as a multi-purpose tech supplier. You can now get your schedules, payroll, tills, F&B platform, analytics and more from just one supplier. This sounds like a positive thing for the industry: everything you need in one place and on one bill. Big tech has recently been on the acquisition trail, snapping up some of the best and brightest prospects in the hospitality tech world. In the last year, we have seen hospitality’s leading providers in training, compliance and ordering brought under the same roof as event booking and labour planning platforms in one big tech.

The question to consider is: can innovation, value for money, customer service or user flexibility ever be improved by the consolidation of tech? Unlikely. Innovation happens when specialists in their field are given the freedom to continually perfect the areas that they excel in. Customers benefit most when they can form close relationships with their suppliers, acting as the external voice that feeds into the product development.

The consolidated approach works well for those who want the mediocracy of everything. The under one roof offering tends to give operators one outstanding product, but a disappointing “everything else”. An operator can get one incredible piece of kit, but they’ll miss out on the best of everything else. Take Yapster for example: it’s brilliant and integrated with everything. If you want the best for team comms and leadership, go speak to Yapster. Yapster is an independent business with the best-in-class tech. Even though you could get a product from a consolidator, who can put team comms and EPos on the same invoice, there’s a sacrifice. You’ll likely end up with a weaker team comms platform in your business and a mediocre EPoS.

S4labour is 100% focused on being the best people system in the market. There is no other leadership, development or account management team more ingrained and experienced in hospitality productivity than S4labour. Over half of the winners at this years Publican Awards use S4labour, showing just how the best in the industry, who value the productivity of their teams above other tech, use S4labour. S4labour is also integrated with everything else in the category of market leading products. You can have the best people system, integrated with the best till systems, integrated with the best ATS, forward pay, training platform, marketing, comms, tipping etc and seamlessly link it all with S4labour.

By taking a sidestep around the “under one roof” consolidations, you will find a sea of the best of the best and you won’t need to compromise on any part of your technological priorities. The wonderful thing about everything that doesn’t sit with the consolidators, is just how well it all works together and how good we have all become at making the customer experience seamless and integrated with each other. Hedging your tech suppliers really is the only way to ensure you get an uncompromised solution.