I spent a lot of my early life self isolating. I was a shy kid, and although at the time I had a lot of friend groups and thought I could hang out with anyone really, I never truly connected with anyone. I never had any real conversations outside of my own head.

Drinking and later other bits and bobs seemed to help for a bit and so did a hospo job. I could have a chat with someone and it only needed to last as long as a transaction. In the book ‘Watching the English’, Kate Fox goes into detail around the sociology of the pub in one chapter and points out that despite serving people the bar person actually has equal social standing to everyone else in the bar. I found that, and I liked it.

Years on now and all stimulants have long fallen by the wayside apart from morning caffeine and certain foods once or twice a week, but hospo remains, and its still true for me. Actually it is bolstered by a thing I learnt fairly on in sobriety, and that is this:

‘People are at their best when they are connected’

This means so much in so many ways in the service industry. Its the root of why i like the service part of the industry. Its the way I run the places I run when i run them - yes, at times the manager is required to just make a decision, but why not ask peoples opinions if its going to affect them - and in doing so benefit from lived experience that you haven’t actually lived?

And its now my go to when I’m stuck. I used to write about stuff, mull it over, then try things out and I still do this, but now there’s one more step - I ask people what they think. I’ve started collecting hospo blogs on here, because that’s people telling you what they think. I read articles, I watch docs, I go to meetups. I suppose you could call it networking but for me its a necessary part of being a human.

Most importantly though, whatever is bugging me, especially if its a biggie, I see someone who might have a point of view and I ask them:

‘What do you think?’

a couple of blogs I recently followed:

Notes on a napkin

Hospitality is a bloodsport

and the most recent interesting thing I read:

You Gotta Laugh

A friend of mine went for a job recently and told me one question in the interview stood out. It had been a while but as I told him, if you do your research and go into it with curiosity then it can be rewarding, whether you get the job or not.

‘Detail a time when you had to enact a policy or procedure that you didnt agree with.’

I think theres a bit of that going around right now. Times are tough, we’re looking for places to trim costs and every now and then certain decisions cross over from purely business and wander into moral territory.

I am lucky. A while back I was in a bad way and someone suggested a different way of life to me. A key part of that is rigorous honesty. Another key part is regular checks to see if I’m actually doing it or not. So I get to audit myself, which didnt come naturally before, and I get to notice this sort of ‘moral creep’.

Our organisation might’ve been set up with certain values, are we sticking to them?

Am I sticking to my values?

Sometimes its not that deep, you dont agree because you dont think it will work. Thats fine, maybe it will and youre wrong. If the needs of the organisation dictate you do it, then you do it.

Some times though you think ‘if we lose this, then what have we got left?’

‘Is this the last straw’

‘Or this?’

And when the needs of the organisation are less important is when the organisation isnt one you want to work for anymore.

Time to find a new one, whos purpose you believe in again.

UK hospo is under the kosh a little bit at the moment. The obvious things are:

• business rates

• changes to financial support

• NI contributions

• min wage increases

• duty increases

In addition you have raised costs in production and distribution that suppliers/producers pass on. The smaller the producer, the less chance they have to mitigate these costs so this becomes a bit of a tax on supporting small business too.

Last but not least is the guest, the customer, the person on the street. How are they doing?

Hospitality is built on making people feel welcome, thinking about those people and trying to put yourself in their shoes. The simple economic answer to all of the money related changes I’ve listed is: ‘put up the prices to cover the costs’, but this necessarily comes up against resistance as people have less money in their pocket. I feel ‘Passing trade’ is going the way of the dinosaur. Prices that reflect the fact that your beer is made by a living wage employer who employs carbon capture technology, or that your coffee roastery uses single origin beans mean that the trip to the pub or cafe is more of a treat than ever.

Add on to this the fact that the biggest cost for a hospo business is the team and you end up with a lean team. So whats the solution?

I think it starts with the people and ends with the money. You need a spread of offers so you have a bit for everyone. You need robust personnel policies so the team know where they stand and good comms so they know whats what. Then you need to do it in a way that maintains the business as a going concern. And this is especially important if you are a values led site, because you cant uphold your values or employ your team if you close.

This isnt an article that has all the answers, just my current thoughts as we look at duty increases in the UK, a seasonal menu change and the renewal of our values and mission that a new year tends to bring.

Above all else the team need to work together and help each other, managers need to be confident in leading and everyone needs to know the mission, so tell everyone. A lot.

People come first, dont cut this bill, use the biggest asset you have to its fullest potential, and this means training, communication and delegation. A happy, competent and engaged team is the best source of ideas, innovation and the bedrock and the reason why we are doing it: a warm welcome.