Event Review

In the last of our 2020 webinars, we were delighted to welcome Wendy Bartlett, Founder, Bartlett Mitchell; Mark Davies, Managing Director, ISS UK Foodservice and David Mulcahy, Culinary Ambassador, Sodexo UK & Ireland to the floor, hosted by Jane Renton, Executive Editor, H20 Publishing.

In what has been a year none of us could have ever imagined, it’s fantastic to see our industry working together and supporting each other to build a more sustainable future for all.

The session began with an introduction from Wendy Bartlett to Food Service Circle, the new platform that has been created to help those out of work with opportunities, tools, interview techniques and that all important ability to “think outside the box”.   The content is fuelled by a unique collaboration of the vast majority of contract caterers across the sector and is designed to not only help people find work, but also to give them the tools and knowledge to make them employable to a wider range of employers.

And, importantly, it has created, for the first time, a showcase for the foodservice industry.

The webinar continued into a panel discussion hosted by Jane Renton, which focused on flexi-catering, mental health and the road to recovery:

Adaptability and innovation

Everyone agreed that a different approach is needed.  Clients are looking for security, so everybody needs to review what “good” looks like.  Whilst the core values of “great food and great service” remain at the heart of the industry, a more flexible approach is needed to fit with customers’ changing working patterns.  Cloud kitchens and food delivery is one approach, whilst others are focusing on evolving their on-site facilities and production. 

Each caterer has their own strategy and there are many innovations in the pipeline which we’ll see in 2021.

Mental health

Working from home will not ‘replace’ office working.  Whilst it was agreed that the way people use their offices will change, there is a fundamental need for people to interact face to face in a working environment.  For many people, working from home is like “living at work”.   It’s expected that mental health will really come to the forefront in the coming months.

Food culture

The landscape has clearly changed and we have seen rationalisation of the marketplace.  It’s a volume-based industry, so is a natural step.  But, as time goes on, there will be opportunities for more players.

A fantastic food culture has been created in the UK, which everyone is confident, will not change.  Covid will not set us back 20 years. In some ways it has created a ‘fast forward’ button, accelerating many innovations and approaches that were already beginning to take shape.

If you’d like to watch the full webinar, please click here 

For further information on Food Service Circle go to https://foodservicecircle.com/
LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/company/food-service-circle 
Twitter @FoodserviceCirc

We hope that you’ve found our webinar series helpful this year and would like to thank all our members for their continued support and collaboration.  We are very much looking forward to meeting up face to face again in 2021, as soon as we are able. In the meantime, we hope you have a very restful Christmas break.