Think fine dining means high prices and silver service? Wondering where fine dining is heading? The restaurant landscape is changing so fast, but is anyone talking about why?
In a recent Institute of Hospitality In Conversation event, Lightspeed’s Alex Smith, Mark Morris, Founder of The Staff Canteen, and Aktar Islam of two Michelin-starred restaurant Opheem came together to discuss the public’s perception of the fine dining restaurant industry.
In the third instalment of our series, we’re looking at the government and asking, why isn’t more being done to help?
“People often ask why I moved from being a sommelier at a top restaurant to Lightspeed, a global tech firm. The honest answer is the hospitality industry did so much for me, I’m immensely passionate about it, and this is how I can give back.” said Alex.
“It’s hard managing the profit and loss of a fine dining restaurant. One of the reasons why I did okay at it, I like to think, is my obsession with data. I thought, how can I help more restaurants understand how to manage their own data so that they can make smarter decisions, remain open and thrive.” Alex explained.
Alex went on to say “Technology is getting to a point now where we can really enhance how restaurants are operating and give the little guy the opportunity to compete with these big brands and often global conglomerates.”
While technology is a vital tool for restaurant owners, in order for businesses to thrive, more external help is needed.
“I had an interesting conversation with Andreas from the Michelin-starred restaurant Simpsons, and he was talking about business rates. He’s got a property in the centre of Birmingham, and then you go to these huge out of town industrial sites and you’ve got an Amazon, for example, paying minimal square footage because it’s on an industrial park, and yet it turns over billions. What he’s saying is really, rates need to be a percentage of turnover.” Mark explained.
Restaurant owners and those within the hospitality industry are full of suggestions, but they need a spokesperson to get those ideas heard.
“I think one of the challenges is that the hospitality industry needs one recognised voice and that one recognised voice needs to lobby the government.” Mark added.
Within the world of hospitality there are numerous industry bodies, but what’s really needed is one collective group.
“We need everyone to come together. And one single point of contact to go to the government because the more fragmented the industry is, the weaker the voice is. In my view, there needs to be a minister for hospitality–we are the third biggest employer in the UK, but we don’t have a seat at the table. There’s a minister for sport, there’s a minister for culture, but there isn’t one for hospitality. Well, why?” said Mark.
Implementing modern technology and lobbying the government for help are two ways for the fine dining restaurant industry to thrive, but there also needs to be a cultural shift in how the wider hospitality industry is perceived.
‘If we look at our European counterparts, why do they support hospitality in a different way? Hospitality is the third largest employer. Why? Because hospitality takes people in. Why would you not support an industry that spends more in labour than any other industry? It’s an industry that gives people gateway jobs. A lot of the time, hospitality is the first job people have before they move on to their true calling or onto their journey. But it’s the one that brings people into the idea of work. And any society needs that.” Aktar said.
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