15 Ways Procurement and Hospitality Can Work Together to Minimise the Impact of Coronavirus

We spoke to Jon Prete, Marketing Manager at Enhance who gave us some procurement tips for hospitality establishments during the coronavirus crisis.

Five things procurement managers are doing now:

A survey conducted by Casme, a global membership network for corporate procurement, showed purchasing teams are taking actions in several key areas:

1. Mapping suppliers and identifying those known to be located in high-risk geographies.
2. Prioritising the sourcing of protective equipment for employees.
3. Understanding which items are likely to be impacted and planning for worst-case scenarios.
4. Keeping communication channels open with key suppliers and accelerating the introduction of alternative sources of supply.
5. Increasing safety stock levels.

Five things procurement managers must do in the long term

CIPS has identified long-term actions that procurement professionals should take proactively protect supply chains and manage the impact of coronavirus on businesses.

1. Conduct lessons-learned debriefings to highlight critical areas of supply that could cause a problem in the future and develop mitigation plans.
2. Look to forge alliances with organisations in your sector to develop new markets of supply.
3. Spread your sourcing across multiple suppliers in different geographies.
4. Look to develop more local sources of supply that can also provide additional benefits such as reducing ethical sourcing risks, improved sustainability impact and boosting local economies.
5. Review contract terms to mitigate future risks. For instance, will force majeure clauses be applicable to enforce/accept liability?

Five things hospitality employees must ALWAYS DO

According to Boutique Hotelier, hospitality and food service companies are also reinforcing policies already in place and instituting new practices to protect customers, employees and the business.

1. Emphasise the practices of good personal hygiene and ensure all back of house staff have clean uniforms for each shift.
2. Adhere to strict self-isolation guidelines for any one with even mild symptoms.
3. Ensure par stock is adjusted down to take into account any reduction in business levels.
4. Plan and be prepared to adapt menus at short notice taking into account food margins to cover staff shortages due to illness and shortage of supply due to quarantine restrictions.
5. Increase the room service choices to give guests the option to stay away from public areas.

Enhance is doing its part to reduce risk for their clients and employees. They are continually monitoring the situation and will notify customers if market conditions change and/or there are prolonged supply chain issues. Please make safety your number one priority during this challenging time and contact your Enhance team if you require purchasing support or have questions they can help with.