The hospitality industry is undergoing significant change. After the pressures of 2020 & 2021, the food and hospitality industries have (as always) adapted. In many businesses, this has triggered the adoption of new practices, new standards of hygiene protocol, the evolution of service models and the accelerated adoption of technological innovation.

Future Food has been working directly with several mining companies in the mining and resources sector for over four years to reimagine food, hospitality and wellness in design-driven spaces for an ever-diversifying workforce that has high expectations of their remote village life.

The hospitality industry is undergoing significant change. After the pressures of 2020 & 2021, the food and hospitality industries have (as always) adapted. In many businesses, this has triggered the adoption of new practices, new standards of hygiene protocol, the evolution of service models and the accelerated adoption of technological innovation.

By need and by choice, our population is growing and the way in which we live and engage with our cities is changing. Consumers are looking for new and unique ways to spend our leisure time re-evaluating where we live and how choose to play, eat, and drink. In response, hospitality operators and food consultants have had to reimagine the possibilities of industrial space and unconventional hospitality locales, asking ourselves the question: ‘what is entertainment?’

Eating and drinking is “One of Life’s Pleasures” and it’s always much better when you’re eating and drinking with family and friends in one of your favourite cafés, bars or restaurants. However, due to the recent resurgent increase in Covid-19 numbers there are many factors disrupting so many aspects of our lives, especially during the first few weeks of summer when all we want to do is catch-up with family and friends and visit our local café, new restaurants and to make the most of the what we all though was going to be the post-lockdown era.

The hospitality industry - restaurants, cafes and the very people that operate these establishments - have received considerable customer backlash of late as they seek to receive advance payment for future table bookings. Venues are requiring pre-payment as a strategy to reduce the costs of no-shows which slow their financial recovery caused by the pandemic. By establishing a degree of commitment from their future customers, restaurateurs can eliminate the considerable financial harm caused by the unconscionable conduct of some customers.

In part one of this article, I spoke about the customer’s timeless desire and appreciation of quality food and service and how this is the platform from which to drive food and hospitality sales.

Let us be clear from the outset, it is all about sales. Why? because Food+Design+Service =Sales=Rent=Profit=Asset Growth.

In a post-corona world, (at least in Australia and New Zealand,) we have new expectations of our cafes, restaurants, pubs, roof-top bars and food halls, as we all strive to regain daily routine and a comfort-level in the next-normal.

The Business of Food starts with thinking about hospitality – I call it a Consumer-First Approach. One that consistently excites as well as offers choice, efficiency, value, quality and consistency. Food and hospitality spend across the globe is on the rise, with all sectors vying for the food-dollar. Where the customer decides to spend is highly dependent on how well the food operator has considered the customers aspirations and their needs and aligned these with a clearly defined ‘Hospitality Mindset’. Time and time again, this presents as a memorable experience-proposition. A strategic blend of art and science is required by all operators to ensure a return on experience for every customer. The trilogy of design, food and service cannot be separated, as they represent the cornerstone first principles, and when combined with psychology, emotions and passion, produce a successful recipe every time.

2021 is going to be, in the parlance of your local footy team, a rebuilding year. So much damage has been done to retail in general and hospitality in particular this year that 2021 is going to be a year to heal, slowly getting back on public transport and getting settled into the Next Normal.

2022, then, is shaping up as a really interesting year. The food operators that survived the pandemic, and especially those that opened during it, are battle-hardened and realistic: An excellent foundation on which to rebuild Food and Hospitality. With the gradual renaissance of the CBD and face-to-face interactions, there is ample scope to start contemplating how to harness and encourage demand.

Retail Relationships Rewarding Foodies

As we witness the gradual relaxing of restrictions placed on food operators state by state and an uncertain return to trading, one thing is certain – the Food & Hospitality will inevitably recover. In fact, the latest credit card data from both the ANZ and CBA shows that spending on F&B is coming up from its lows.

People are social creatures by nature, with hospitality ingrained in our way of life - albeit it to differing degrees from person to person granted! Moreover, there is still a considerable amount of latent demand: Pre-COVID levels of demand for F&B were not a fad as consumers’ interaction with Hospitality is a practice that has been building over the last two decades.

We as an industry are back and open for dine-in business. The profound power of the anticipation and excitement these simple words hold is balanced by the weight of a new normal for food and hospitality operators. This Monday has seen every state government now relax restrictions sufficiently to reopen our dine-in service – albeit in differing degrees from state to state. If reports of Monday night covers around Melbourne are anything to go by, diners are quite literally salivating at the chance to return to their favourite venue; as competitive as this has become as the reality of seating limitations make this once relatively simple pleasure, not quite so simple.