‘Not everything has to be done the way you’ve always done it’: fresh thinking at The Caterer's People Summit

4 Find out what it takes to become a Best Place to Work in Hospitality

Be the very first to discover the 30 Best Places to Work in Hospitality in this year’s awards ceremony.

 

The Best Places in Work in Hospitality, run in partnership with Korero, gains invaluable insight into the happiness and satisfaction of the sector’s employees through an employee survey. Those who enter their survey are then judged by a panel and whittled down to the 30 Best Places to Work. The top 30 features companies large and small, established and entrepreneurial, and are held up as exemplars in employee engagement and employment best practice.

 

The top six operators are automatically shortlisted for Best Employer Award at the Cateys 2025.

 

Korero co-founder Jo Harley says: “The survey highlights what is important to people and, once you know that, you can act on it.”

 

Over the past couple of years, the survey has canvased the views of an average of 12,000 hospitality workers which, says Harley, is the “biggest hospitality survey out there”, giving summit attendees the first opportunity to hear what really matters to the workforce in 2025.

5 What do Gen Z really want from the workplace?

Thirty-two-year-old Beth Bond, co-owner of Michelin-starred restaurant the Cottage in the Woods in Braithwaite, Cumbria, oversees a workforce aged from 18 to 30, with an average age of 26.

 

The 2021 Acorn recipient – the award given to the top 30 under 30 in hospitality – will talk candidly about the culture she and her husband, chef and co-owner Jack Bond, experienced in their previous places of employment, along with what her young staff look for when working in hospitality and the culture they are fostering in their 18-strong team of twenty-somethings.

 

Bond says one of the main aspects she focuses on with a young workforce is fostering a sense of community: “It’s really important, so we give them the opportunity to go for meals together and instil a passion and an ambition for hospitality.”

 

This inclusivity, she says, is “super-important for culture” among a younger workforce.

 

6 Learn how to attract and retain talent through green practices

Employees are increasingly wanting to see their companies actively promote sustainable practices and one business which knows exactly how to do this is Heckfield Place.

 

The luxury Hampshire hotel champions sustainable practices, from its biodynamic farm to its dedicated arborists and the hotel’s flagship restaurant Marle, which was awarded a green Michelin Star in 2022.

 

Its eco-friendly credentials has not gone unnoticed among potential and current staff. Kevin Brooke, general manager of Heckfield Place, says its environmental values and commitment to sustainability are part of the attraction for staff at the five-star hotel. And likewise, the hotel “needs to hire people who are passionate about what we do, in the way we do it”. 

 

From the very start of the recruitment process, candidates are asked about their environmental values and approach. Brooke says that “if that’s not brought into play by the candidate, then we see that as a gap. There’s no right and wrong to it – everyone’s got their own opinions and values and approach – but for us that’s something we value greatly and something that we actively look for [when recruiting staff]”.

 

7 Take inspiration from outside hospitality

What parallels are there between the world of elite competitive sport and the hospitality sector? Quite a lot, it seems.

 

Head of psychology and personal development of Saracens RFC David Jones will lend his words of wisdom on what the industry can learn from the world of top sports stars.

 

Jones, who has also worked at Mercedes AMG F1 and a number of Premier League football clubs, says his session will highlight “the importance of understanding different competitive landscapes and the structures and functions of teams [and] how to adapt your team to the challenges you face”, adding that his session will equip listeners with practical changes you can make “to see improvements”.

 

There is also the chance to hear from a special civil service speaker, details of which we cannot share until the day itself…

 

8 How to export your business culture

When Hawksmoor opened its first American site in 2021 in the competitive culinary landscape of New York, the steak house restaurant group had to navigate a new cultural work environment.

 

So, how do you transport the work culture of a British born and bred business across the pond? Ceri Gott, chief people officer at Hawksmoor, navigated this and did so very successfully.

 

Four years on from the steak house’s first American opening, Hawksmoor now runs two restaurants, with their second site having opened its doors in Chicago last summer.

 

“Hawksmoor grew from 150 people in London in three restaurants to 1,250 people across 13 restaurants across four countries and has been a top 100 best company [cited in The Sunday Times 100 Best Companies] to work for,” says Gott.

 

She adds that her session will “pull back the curtain” and explain how the company instilled the Hawksmoor culture in the States, citing that in its annual employee satisfaction survey 97% of their 1,250 employees in the UK and America agree that its culture is welcoming and inclusive.

 

Book your ticket to the People Summit now