Caterer.com Recruiting in Hospitality Podcast

How do people of colour get more support in the hospitality industry?

Be Inclusive Hospitality (BIH) is a not-for-profit organisation, founded by Lorraine Copes in 2020 to build a thriving community to accelerate race equity within hospitality, food and drink. Lorraine is an award-winning advocate and champion of change in the hospitality industry and in this episode of the Caterer.com Recruiting in Hospitality Podcast, Lorraine casts a light on the state of industry from the perspective of people of colour.

Be Inclusive Hospitality released their annual report was released a few months ago and cast a light on the state of industry from the perspective of people of colour. The report states that Black respondents, at 43%, are most likely to report that ethnicity has hindered career hospitality progression. Asian (37%) and mixed (28%) respondents reported the same. In contrast, just 7% of White respondents believe this. In real terms, what are the knock-on effects from this? How does this affect the individual and the face of the industry as a whole?

We also spoke to Lorraine about the exciting launch of the Be Inclusive Hospitality Spotlight Awards, which shines a light on exceptional individuals and businesses from Black, Asian and ethnic minority backgrounds within UK #Hospitality, food and drink.

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Do you LOVE the industry? Help promote and champion the hospitality industry as a great place to work

The Springboard Ambassador programme was created to promote the hospitality industry as a great place to work by inspiring the next generation of hospitality professionals. Each Ambassador works hard to champion the industry, but what does the role actually entail?

In this episode of Recruiting in Hospitality, Lancelot Narayan speaks to The Nerdy Hotelier herself, Catrina Pengelley. She tells us how she became involved in Springboard’s Ambassadors programme, how her role as an ambassador helps others in the hospitality industry and why the Ambassador programme is so important in the midst of this difficult climate.

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Why is learning and development so important in the battle to retain your top talent?

Sam Coulstock a renowned hospitality Learning and Development expert, previously holding positions at Springboard and Umbrella Training. He is currently Head of Professional Development at the Institute of Hospitality and is also Founder & CEO Founder Inspired Community Group CIC, working with schools to showcase and drive talent into the world of work.

In this episode of Recruiting in Hospitality, Lancelot Narayan talks to Sam about how the hospitality skills shortage deepened since covid and Brexit, why L&D is crucial to an employer’s offering and why it’s becoming more and more important to candidates.

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How can hospitality businesses bridge the skills gap?

Recruiting in Hospitality Podcast with John Holden, Bridging the Skills Gap

Recently, Caterer.com hosted roundtable discussions to address the current skills crisis and to gauge the opinion of hospitality leaders on sourcing entry level talent. Engaging the next generation of hospitality workers is vital for the industry and forming stronger links with educational organisations could go a long way in ensuring the success and future growth of the sector.

In this episode, Lancelot Narayan speaks to John Holden. John has worked in the hospitality and catering industry for 30 years, starting his career in a local pub as a waiter and chef. John has started an initiative called ‘Bridging the Skills Gap’ to address shortages within the Chef and Front of House areas of work and is keen to develop and expand the organisation to offer information, help and advice where it is most needed.

Inspiring new talent with exciting work placements is one of John's main objectives for ‘Bridging the Skills Gap’ and as part of making that happen he is helping UK hospitality employers forge better connections with colleges, providing a direct pipeline of fresh talent, direct from college to the workplace.

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How can the industry combat the poor perception of working in the hospitality industry?

Amongst our guests were Youth Employment UK, an independent, not for profit social enterprise founded in 2012 to tackle youth unemployment and Umbrella Training, founded in 2012, the company works with hotels, restaurants, food service businesses and many corporate services organisations across the UK. Since its inception, Umbrella Training has supported the recruitment, development and progression of more than 2,000 apprentices. 

In this edition of Recruiting in Hospitality, Lancelot Narayan speaks to:

• Lauren Mistry - Youth Employment UK
• Laura-Jane Rawlings - Youth Employment UK
• Dan Power - Umbrella Training

They discuss the skills shortage and how we can combat poor industry perception, how we can attract a diverse talent pool from the beginning of their career journey and how the sector can engage the next generation of hospitality workers.

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Tackling Mental Health & Wellbeing in the Hospitality Industry

Employee Wellbeing has become a crucial part of recruitment strategy within the past two years. As hospitality workers suffered for a variety of reasons during the pandemic, HR departments had to adapt by discovering the needs of their employees and acting on that information in an empathetic way.

Malmaison du Vin was one of the 15 winners in the Employee Wellbeing category. Lancelot Narayan spoke to Kate Lees, Head of HR at Malmaison about their win, Malmaison’s Mental Health and Wellbeing Policy and Strategy, how the pandemic and lockdown affected team members, and the amazing results Malmaison continues to have.

 

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Mission to advance racial equity in Hospitality

Lorraine Copes has been working with the hospitality industry for nearly two decades. As a senior procurement leader, she has worked with the likes of Gordon Ramsay Restaurants and Corbin & King.

In this episode, Lancelot Narayan speaks to Lorraine, who also Founded Be Inclusive Hospitality in 2019 with the mission to advance racial equity in Hospitality and the wider Food & Drink sector.

Caterer.com is proud be sponsoring Be Inclusive Hospitality's new Inside Hospitality Survey, which will be published later this year. We discuss this, her career and the aims and goals of Be Inclusive Hospitality in celebration of International Women's Day, which this year focuses on breaking down bias'.

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Factors negatively affecting mental health in the hospitality workplace

Welcome to another edition of Recruiting in Hospitality from Caterer.com. In each programme we invite top guests from the world of hospitality to discuss issues affecting employers. We talk recruitment, development and retention as well as matters concerning you and your teams.

In a recent survey, 84% of hospitality professionals questioned had experienced some kind of mental health issue within their career and 46% would not feel comfortable talking about their health concerns with their colleagues. There is still a stigma attached to mental health issues in our industry.

The Burnt Chef Project was launched in May 2019 with the sole intention of eradicating mental health stigma within hospitality. Join your host, Lancelot Narayan, as he is joined by Kris Hall, founder of The Burnt Chef Project. They discuss factors negatively affecting mental health in the hospitality workplace, methods of improvement in recruitment and retention for employers, services offered by The Burnt Chef project and how you can get involved.”

What is it going to take to engage the next generation to think, what a cracking career they can have in hospitality?

In this episode, Lancelot Narayan speaks to Sally Beck, General Manager of the Royal Lancaster Hotel.

Not only has Sally enjoyed great success at one of London’s top hotels, she’s committed to developing careers for others and ensuring that hospitality is a nurturing environment for individuals to thrive and prosper and that team members are given every opportunity to train and grow within the industry and as people.

We discuss Sally’s hospitality journey, her amazing work at the Royal Lancaster, her part in the Educators Forum, the creation of the Hotelier’s Charter and promoting hospitality as a great career choice.

Could Only a Pavement Away members be the solution to the current skills shortages in the hospitality industry?

As the hospitality industry continues the process of rebuilding, focus is heavily on the workforce and rebuilding teams, but businesses are struggling to find the right candidates with the right skills. - Could ex-offenders help to fill the skills shortage gaps? Are hospitality employers willing to give them a second chance?

In this edition of Recruiting in Hospitality, Lancelot Narayan speaks to Joshua Jarvis, owner of Wing Shack and Greg Mangham, the Founder of Only a Pavement Away about this talent pipeline and explores whether hospitality employers may have overlooked a potentially rich source of talent!

Continue the conversation on our social media channels @catererdotcom (LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook and Instagram or watch the interview on your YouTube channel @hospitalityjobs

Only a Pavement Away Ambassador – featuring: Tom Aikens

“There has been a 55% increase in in homelessness in the past five years, with over 10,000 people sleeping rough in London alone in 2020. Only a Pavement Away is a charity founded by representatives from the hospitality industry who believe that everybody deserves the chance to find and forge a career. Michelin-starred chef, Tom Aikens has become an Ambassador for the charity, not just by raising awareness but also by getting deeply involved in OAPA’s Life Skills Hub.

In the latest episode of Recruiting in Hospitality, Lancelot Narayan spoke to Tom about his work with OAPA, including their exciting new cookbook, the upcoming Cook & Dine event as well as how Only a Pavement Away can be a valuable resource for new talent in the industry.

Find out more about Only a Pavement Away: https://onlyapavementaway.co.uk/

Watch and download more Caterer.com podcasts: https://www.caterer.com/recruiter-advice/podcasts

Hospitality skills planning

In this edition of Recruiting in Hospitality, Lancelot Narayan is joined by L&D Specialist and host of &Happiness podcast, Klaudia Mitura, Director of Zest for Life, Sally Prescott and Head of L&D at D&D London, Adam Harwood as they discuss the immediate challenges employers are facing post-covid.

What gaps have appeared in the fallout? Are employers having to adjust hiring policies? What are the new skills required for a hybrid workplace? With many hurdles to jump, what does hospitality have to do to rebuild a strong workforce and how important is it that this is addressed now?

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