London’s hospitality heroes need support to thrive
By accident more than design, our pages over the past few weeks have featured more than a few hospitality businesses. Today is similar: the CEO of global giant Sofitel, and the man behind the effervescent Sushi Samba.
No industry has had a rougher ride than hospitality over the past few years. The pandemic, of course, was disastrous for the sector at large. Gradually, those businesses have built back, often in better shape than they went in. We haven’t captured it in the interviews today, but both Maud Bailly and Omar Gutierrez spoke eloquently about the value of team, of culture, of embedding training and learning into the heart of businesses that need to be at the top of their game to survive. That has been mirrored across the industry, with those businesses that have pulled through and are beginning to thrive again doing it with staff who care passionately about what they’re doing.
It is in everybody’s interest that they do. London will of course be a global financial and professional services hub for decades to come, but to remain at the top table it also has to be a global city, a fun, buzzing place to live. Those people who thought we’d all up sticks to Frankfurt have clearly never been to Frankfurt.
There is much to be done to protect our smaller hospitality entrepreneurs; the pubs, the small cafe owners, the independent restaurateurs. Governments at national and local level must make their lives easier. An investment in hospitality is an investment in talent, in the economy, in energy. Let’s start with business rates reform, and go from there.