Event Review

Hospitality business leaders and industry professionals came together for Arena’s Summer Event which took place at the stunning Waldorf Hilton. On arrival, guests were able to network, whilst enjoying coffee provided by Néstle Professional and pastries supplied by Délifrance. They then sat down for the opening session hosted by event sponsor Omne, who went on to present the headlines from their ‘Brands Away From Home’ report.

Firstly, CEO Michael Gividen and Strategy Director Anna Massey introduced  Omne - an agency that works as the creative, strategic and growth partners to the world’s best brands within foodservice. Anna explained Omne in simple terms, “it is about two things - about building brands and about demand generation.” The presentation then moved onto the report, which focuses on the perception and role of brands within foodservice. It delves into how operators perceive brands within the marketplace, how their attitudes are shifting from front to back of house, how much operators are prepared to pay for brands over an own label product, and where, why and how they do that. Also, what they expect from brands to deliver for them in the future. Topics included sustainability, dietary requirements, innovation, consistency and customer loyalty.

To give the audience a bit of an introduction, Anna explained how every autumn at Omne, they commission, in partnership with CGA, work around building hierarchy of needs - and this is done on two levels; on the consumer needs for out -of -home experiences and the operators needs from supplier brands. The reason for them doing this is so that they can see how these factors of influence are moving and shifting.

Anna pulled out four of the core challenges from this report when it comes to supplier and brand clients. The first was identified as supporting sustainable menus, whereby she placed sustainable ingredients within the report as ‘essential’, followed by the choice of dietary requirements and the need to really ‘embrace choice’. The third was around the demand for new, and the fourth was about providing that level of support in training.

‘Dialling up’ seemed to be the key takeout from this report, in many aspects, as Michael really emphasised the need for brands to increase their quality assurance. He explained that it isn’t just about saying you're a quality brand, it’s about questioning, what is your assurance around quality and what that actually means. He described this as “the key back of house moment.”

The purpose of the research was also to delve deeper around what the relationship is with brands to understand permissibility, so in terms of support, is it coming from wholesaler, own label or is it coming from brand. Who has the right to support in what areas for brands? It was suggested that from a wholesaler perspective, they are best placed for supporting data and menu engineering, meanwhile supplier brands could support in future technology advice - front and back of house. It was also suggested that the supplier and wholesaler brands could work together in areas of consumer trends, insight and training.

Both speakers also emphasised the need for brands to dial up their storytelling for operators in areas including technology, sustainability and training. They also discussed the emotional and functional factors that drive purchase intent and the importance of staying agile and resilient in a volatile market.

Brand perception and definition were also key areas, with a particular focus on supplier and wholesaler brands, along with unveiling why customers choose brands front of house, which according to the findings, is a result of shared values, higher transaction prices and higher margins.

After sharing slides of the findings from the report with the audience, the focus then moved onto new brand reality and what it actually looks like. The importance of ‘dialling up’ cropped up once again, along with quality assurance, consistency, availability and functionality. It was also suggested that brand communications go one step further and create more emotional connections and deeper storytelling. Data was also referred to as a key factor, but it was also suggested that we need to encourage brands to actually drive operator communities as an opportunity.

To conclude, the challenge brands face right now is what and how they will ‘dial up’. In Michael’s words, everything has got to be “cranked up” in order to compete and succeed within this competitive marketplace. This is just a very quick overview of some of the findings revealed in the report. 

Lunch

Following Anna and Michael’s informative session, guests were then given the opportunity to network at a drinks and canapé reception in the Waldorf Hilton’s stunning Palm Court, enjoying Tosti Prosecco supplied by Unity Wines and Spirits, a selection of soft drinks from Britvic Soft Drinks and Délifrance’s focaccia which was used to create the canapés for the event.

A delicious three course meal followed served alongside fine wines, again provided by Unity Wines and Spirits and event partner Nutritics explained more about their food platform Foodprint.

Panel discussion

After lunch a panel of inspirational hospitality leaders took to the stage for a discussion hosted by Rachel House, Co-Founder of Impetus Global.  Panelists were Matt Wood, Managing Director of Lexington Catering and also now responsible for the B&I division of Elior UK, Simon Wilkinson, Board Director at D&D London and Shane Kavanagh, Regional Managing Director of BaxterStorey London.

After each participant gave a brief overview of their role and how the past six months have been for them and their businesses, they each spent time discussing how business is, what the rest of the year is looking like ahead, and what the plans are beyond 2024. Key focus areas for the panellists included investing in people and food, injecting fun into corporate foodservice, focusing on social value, education around gut health, procurement and improving quality by driving efficiencies.

Innovation is key

The discussion then moved onto innovation. Matt began by pointing out that in order to innovate successfully within your business, you must make sure that you engage with everybody and “empower your people to deliver their best.” He believes everyone should have a voice and it's about putting culture at the heart of your business. Shane was in agreement and explained that for his business, it’s about partnering with people to bring innovation into the business. Simon, however, felt that in some areas of D&D London, and industry wide, we are “behind the curve of innovation” and although we are embracing it, we could be doing more.

Rachel invited Simon to share his words of wisdom with anyone that’s looking to go for a transformational journey within their business. Simon’s one word of advice was - don’t overcomplicate it. “Keep it simple. Win the hearts and minds of people and don’t be afraid to make decisions. If you make a mistake, learn from it and move on.”

What are suppliers to you?

The next question put to the panel was, ‘what do you look for in suppliers?’, with Shane highlighting partnerships as being the critical word here. Particularly for BaxterStorey, Shane stressed he would much rather have less partnerships that they can build a deeper relationship with. “It's when you get into that relationship of partnership rather than just transactional is when it gets interesting.”

All of the panellists were in agreement that you need supply partners who really understand your business, inside out - offering advice, guidance and sharing new ideas and products coming to the market. In terms of questioning whether suppliers can be doing anything differently, Shane would like to see them continuing to challenge the market, bringing out new products that can get translated into the market.

Aligned with Shane’s view, the other panel members agreed: “It's not about cost. It's all about value. And I think we've always got to use the value word.”

Technology at its best

Technology then became the main talking point, whereby Matt celebrated the group’s achievement in being one of the first corporate providers to put in a fully digital solution

into a very large international financial services organisation. It has stripped out all EPOS and installed an app and had QR codes put onto every price point everywhere in the restaurant. As a result, this has given them the ability to reach customers quickly, whilst also capturing real -time information in relation to things like allergies, calorific content of dishes and carbon - something Matt believes we will see all over menus very soon. He also highlighted Ai as a huge opportunity for the business and is beginning to trial it for training purposes.

Although Shane fully embraces technology, he is still slightly hesitant on the matter and believes there’s “too much of an urgency to chuck technology at things.” Having said that, BaxterStorey is implementing some fully digital locations, but Shane is a firm believer that the optimum solution is to be open to everyone. “There's a tendency sometimes to say you have to use a till or you have to order on an app or you have to use a kiosk. Actually, I think technology needs to be about removing barriers. Make it omnichannel.”

The panel agreed that robotics is set to get bigger and will help assist and add value to our operations.

Change in government

The million dollar question was put to the panel - what does the recent change in government mean to your businesses and industry? Matt identified potentially reforming the apprenticeship levy as a real positive for our industry and described the introduction of day one rights for employees as “an interesting one to watch.” Simon shared a lot of Matt’s views on this, “that we all just want positivity and for the economy to now move forward. We need people back working and spending.” Shane also touched on the apprenticeship levy and wanted to highlight the fantastic training opportunities apprenticeships present. However, he said, it’s also about working on our own businesses to help make them more attractive places to work. He’s also hopeful that an increase in pay rates might also not only attract future talent, but also retain, nurture and motivate people into the sector. Ultimately though, the panellists shared the same hopes for the government - “that the atmosphere improves, consumer spending improves, consumer confidence improves, and that creates a lot of opportunity.”

Attracting new talent

It was agreed by the panel that attracting talent is definitely for us to do, as an industry, rather than the government. It’s about getting the message out that you can go anywhere in hospitality, and do anything. You can go down so many other channels - marketing, finance or compliance - you name it.

Shane said that as a business, they try to be as inclusive as they can - welcoming all walks of life into the industry. For the first time in years of trading, BaxterStorey did a survey, asking all of their teams what it is like to work for them. As a result of the findings, they have launched a new benefits package, introducing maternity surrogacy leave and fertility leave - all benefits that are well overdue within this sector.

Question time

It then came to question time for the panel members, which covered topics including sustainability and how to drive growth through innovation. A question was also asked on how we, as an industry, can make hospitality attractive and a safe space for those less fortunate. How can we really give those people opportunities where doors are potentially closed. The participants were all in agreement that there are jobs for everyone in this industry and teaming up with charities and programmes to support and welcome people into the industry, is a good starting point.

The event raised just under £1000 for the Springboard charity. Thanks also went to Kraft Heinz, who supplied a delicious selection of Heinz Professional Mayonnaise cupcakes for guests to enjoy later on in the day.

Event Timings