Professional Comment

By Alexandra Constantinescu (Lecturer in Hospitality and Tourism Management) at University of East London (www.uel.ac.uk)

An open letter from Elaine Hindal, Chief Executive of Drinkaware

AJ Sharp, Founder of Food and Drink PR Agency Sharp Relations (www.sharprelations.com), shares her top seven things you must do to promote your restaurant locally.

By Kunal Sawhney, CEO of Kalkine (www.kalkine.co.uk)

By Paul Phyall, Managing Director for Northern Europe, Food at NSF International (www.nsf.org)

by Gavin Peters, Chief Strategy & Marketing Officer at Onvi (www.onvi.com)

By Lynthon Musamadya, Senior Lecturer in Events and Hospitality Management at UEL’s Institute of Hospitality and Tourism (www.uel.ac.uk)

By Abbie Walker, Head of Social at www.curtisgabriel.com

By Kunal Sawhney, CEO of Kalkine (www.kalkine.co.uk)

by Gavin Peters, Chief Strategy & Marketing Officer at Onvi (www.onvi.com)

By Tony Lorenz, Senior Partner of The Lorenz Consultancy (www.lorenzconsultancy.com) With the news that Westminster Council is extending licenses for Al Fresco dining, it’s clear

By Lynthon Musamadya, Senior Lecturer in Events and Hospitality Management at UEL’s Institute of Hospitality and Tourism (www.uel.ac.uk)

UK hospitality has been facing challenging times for the past 18 months now.With Covid-19 restrictions in place, the hospitality sector suffered badly hit.Things start- ed changing drastically after the complete removal of restrictions, but there is another challenge, the shortage of staff and staff isolation, which led to the staff being increasingly exposed to a long time away from homes.
Confusion over foreign travel resulted in a boom in domestic travel, with trav- ellers pouring, making the staff reach their tipping point.With the booking from domestic tourists bumping up by roughly 300 per cent, the hospitality sector has struggled to meet demand.
But with more people pouring in, there has been an increasing number of cases of staff abuse by holidaymakers.The UK has some of the most diverse hospitality facili- ties and nightclubs and is often considered one of the best throughout the world. After a year of the pandemic that saw the sales drop, the last thing the industry cannot afford is the unhappy staff serving the customers.
Both hotel staff & customers critical
In the present situation, the hotels and restaurants must manage their staff well both physically as well as emotionally.They need to keep the checks and balances in place in their hotels to ensure that not only do they gain business, but at the same time, no holidaymaker misbehaves with the staff.
Also, with new vaccine passports set to be implemented from the end of September, the customer’s patience could well be a little shaky. Nightclub goers would require a vaccine passport from the end of September, which has been con-
By Kunal Sawhney, CEO of Kalkine (www.kalkine.co.uk)
firmed by the official spokesman of the Prime Minister recently.
The customers would expect a quick and faster delivery process after standing in a queue to gain entry to the bar.The industry needs to gear up with such challenges and need to constantly conduct mock tests to ensure that the staff are up for them. At the same time, regular training sessions are required to be given to the staff to ensure that they know how to deal with such an odd situation.
Besides, they can also hold team bonding sessions, considering there will be an increasing number of hours that the staff is away from their homes.The team bond- ing session often cheers up the mood of the staff. Mental health has become a criti- cal aspect, and it’s essential to realise that post the pandemic, there is an increase in impetus that one lays on an individual’s mental health.
Maintaining hygiene would be critical.
One thing that the Covid-19 pandemic has brought us is the sense of better hygiene.With most of the joints operating under the new standard rules, one of the critical aspects that one tends to forget is that many of them are now more aware of hygiene.The Covid-19 has highlighted the sense of hygiene in public places. Most customers prefer to visit the place frequently if the hygiene protocols are in place, which has been more evident today than earlier.
While the government has been quite prompt about the mask protocols, the hos- pitality industry, on their part too should take care of it to ensure that the joint does not face any legal issues due to the Covid-19 pandemic violations.

Commercial Director of Wanis International Foods (www.wanis.com), George Phillips talks about why venues need to offer more than great food in 2021.

By Travis Henry, Senior Partnership Manager of Travel & Hospitality industries at international payment service provider ECOMMPAY (https://ecommpay.com)