The Caterer and BaxterStorey marked International Women's Day by inviting movers and shakers to share successes at an Inspiring Women Lunch, sponsored by Tugo and RDA
There was a buzz in the air as women from across the food industry gathered at Mediabrands' state-of-the art premises in London's Old Bailey a few days before International Women's Day. They were there for an Inspiring Women Lunch, hosted by The Caterer and event partner BaxterStorey, and sponsored by RDA and Tugo.
Delegates were treated to breakfast and lunch provided by BaxterStorey and showcasing the talents of female chefs such as Raastawala's Rinku Dutt and the team from Luminary Bakery, which supports disadvantaged women into jobs.
Here, we round up some of the top takeaway messages of the day.
What one change could promote greater diversity?
Holly Congdon "I would like hospitality to be seen as a vocation rather than a job you fall into."
Harriet Hastings "Only 3% of capital investment in the UK goes to businesses run by women – that should increase."
Ruth Hansom "We need to represent hospitality sector courses, such as contract catering equally in colleges. A lot of women drop out because they don't want to work restaurant hours – they need to see that contract catering is not just about hospitals and schools. If we could showcase the great food we serve in contract catering there would be fewer dropouts."
Louise Denton "We are a big organisation and so if we set the bar, we hope we can pull in diverse opportunities for everybody."
How did you hone your management style?
Ruth Hansom "Lots of companies don't do management training, but BaxterStorey does it well. They extend your knowledge even when it's not directly related to your role. [I've learned] you can't have one type of management style because everyone needs to be managed differently."
Harriet Hastings "Back in the day, I learned through experience and through other people. [Today, the] problem is [that companies are] pushing people into management roles with no experience. This is common outside hospitality, too."
Don't forget marketing
Harriet Hastings "Putting up a website is easy, but businesses don't always put marketing front and centre. That is my area, and I find it sad when people have great ideas but they are not discoverable. Often marketing is bolted on, but for me it is the DNA of a business."
The challenges of starting a business
It's always fascinating to hear how entrepreneurs overcome initial challenges when building their business, and Harriet Hastings' story of balancing motherhood and a career chimed with many women in the room.
Back in 2007, she was juggling being a mother of four children, running the Women's Prize for Fiction and working part-time for her husband's event company when she came up with the concept for Biscuiteers, which now sells three million hand-iced biscuits a year across consumer and corporate gifting.
"I felt that food gifting was an open space and ecommerce was new. The product is flexible, interesting and can go in the post," she said.
Armed with a wealth of marketing expertise, she quickly proved the concept and by December had recouped the initial investment. But she first had to overcome the fact that she had no experience of manufacturing, production – or how to ice biscuits.
"It was a lot harder than how to sell them – we were making it up as we went along. We started by employing artists to ice the biscuits because we were located near art colleges, and we've now got a manufacturing model."
Scaling up has been another challenge for Hastings, who now oversees the planning, technical, wholesale, audit, finance and customer service departments.
"These are departments we didn't think we would need, but it just grows," says Hastings. "As a person running a business it is about recognising what you are good at and what you are not good at. My husband has designed the manufacturing side, so finding your strengths and bringing the right people in to support you is crucial, especially as you upscale."
Her daughter Holly Congdon has clearly taken this on board, telling the audience that identifying her own weaknesses and preparing accordingly has been key to success. She took over her father's business Lettice Events, which was effectively being wound down just before the pandemic hit, and since then it has grown from three employees to 20 and is listed with 40 major venues.
Congdon recognised that her finance skills were weak so she took a course at the London School of Economics, and to hone her management skills she hired a business coach. As the business has grown, her managers have benefited from being coached, helping them to understand different perspectives across the team.
"Communication is crucial because challenges happen at different times – the kitchen is always under the cosh, the operations team are tired because they are out late, and sales feels misunderstood and so on… everyone thinks they are working harder than everyone else," said Congdon.
As well as setting out with a commitment that all decisions would be based on three core values – kindness, sustainability and integrity – Congdon ensured Lettice earned certified B Corp status, which crucially has helped her to create a good work-life balance for employees.
"Nobody expects hospitality to be easy, so you need to convince recruits that it is not a sacrifice. We talk about wishing hospitality was seen as a vocation and not something you fall into, so how do you bring work-life balance into it? We offer flexible hours that they can pick and choose from, and those working in operations must allow 12 hours between finishing work and coming back. We have a young team, so we have round table discussions about how we can improve social responsibility to the team."
Hastings has tried to create a wholesome culture for the Biscuiteers' team, too, bringing everyone together in its first headquarters in 2019 and turning the car park into a garden.
"One of the big challenges is not having ‘us and them' between the manufacturing staff, office staff and retail teams," Hastings said. "We try to work on ways the business can do things together such as socials and so on. We want to show that everyone is equally valued regardless of their role."
Hastings has also brought the recruitment process inhouse, which helps the company hire the right employees. At Christmas, for instance, demand scales up with about 150 extra staff between September and December, and the inhouse team has identified that these roles typically suit gap year students.
"It was about profiling the right people to be employed," says Hastings. "Training is a big cost, so we don't want them to leave after a month. We looked at who would benefit from working with us for four months from their point of view and how we would sell it to them – obviously they can earn money for travelling, but we can also offer them experience at an interesting company and the chance to learn new skills."
The importance of a diverse board
Harriet Hastings "Often a board builds organically. I realised that although 80% of our employees are women, I was the only woman on the non-executive board. I felt it was the wrong dynamic, but I'm also aware that contenders need to answer a specific skillset."
Louise Denton "There are four women on the BaxterStorey board so that is nearly 40% of it, and I can share experiences with them. Coming into that role you do get a sense of imposter syndrome, but it has also given me and others more drive and ambition. A friend said to me: ‘You are there because you already have value and now you can add more value. I see you in this position and I see there is opportunity for me now.' You need to remember as a woman to leave the ladder down."
Rise at work, and the importance of being heard
Louise Denton, regional managing director south-west at BaxterStorey, was keen to share the success of the caterer's women in hospitality network, Rise. The network, created 18 months ago, drives change in areas such as mental health and the menopause to create a more inclusive workplace for women.
She said a key achievement in the past year has been the creation of a "market-leading set of benefits", including an enhanced maternity package, inclusive of fertility treatment and adoption, and the launch of a wellbeing programme to give women support around menopause and depression. "It shows the power of people in a group who share what is important to them – we have opened the door to things that weren't shared, and we will keep pushing that door."
Denton also announced that she has recently been invited to join the board, a testament to the Rise network's aim to help drive gender equality, achieve better representation of women at senior levels, and champion diversity.
Rise is now focusing on improving kitchen culture for all marginalised genders. "We are collaborating with our Chef Academy apprentices to improve mental health at work. We are changing our small corner," said Denton.
Also on stage was Ruth Hansom, a chef-partner with BaxterStorey, who has recently launched a debut solo venture, Hansom Restaurant & Wine Bar in Bedale, North Yorkshire. As someone who has entered many competitions and was the first female winner of Young National Chef of the Year 2017, she agreed that women tended to be less represented in competitions, but she inspired the room by describing how the lessons learned in taking part had fed into her career.
"You can measure yourself against your peers and as you progress you are bettering your skills. Now I'm opening a restaurant, I think competitions are invaluable," she said. "It is tough and there is a chance you will fail, but you need to learn and go back the next year and prove to yourself you can do better. When I was younger, I was competing against other people and now I am competing against myself and improving."
She also told the audience that she is more selective about which competitions she enters, as "I entered too many when I was younger." Hansom, who is also a chef ambassador supporting female chefs, told the audience that working in contract catering as a woman had given her a platform to flourish. "The young all have ideas. BaxterStorey is all about ideas. But in a high street restaurant young chefs would be scared to input anything."
About Tugo
Tugo provides high-quality, innovative food solutions and market-leading support for its clients across food service. It sponsored the event because as a business, it is passionate about equality and diversity.
The company enjoyed how key female figures throughout the hospitality industry told their stories of their progression and the hard work they've put in and their trials and tribulations.
"It was amazing to be in the room filled with such hugely inspirational women within the hospitality industry, people that I personally look up to, and have inspired me throughout my career as a chef," said Nicole Benham-Corlette, development chef at Tugo. "I left the event more inspired than ever."
Tara Lyon, Tugo's head of operations, was similarly impressed: "The day was very inspiring hearing the ladies' stories and what they accomplished, and it gives you the extra boost to want to do better. You felt proud for them, even though you didn't know them."
About RDA
RDA is incredibly proud to have been a sponsoring partner for the inaugural Inspiring Women's Lunch. The event really was an industry first, bringing together a wide variety of women from across the spectrum of hospitality business.
Supporting the development of women in the industry we love isn't just a priority for us at RDA, it's a passion. We recognise the invaluable contributions the women in our business make every day, driving innovation and creativity.
And we believe that creating space where women are encouraged to lead and achieve, such as the Inspiring Women's Lunch, will contribute to a fairer, more inclusive future for the hospitality industry.
