Des Digest: Heads up & masks on my hospitality friends

I hate to start of a post on a negative but we can all agree that pubs, bars, restaurants and hotels cannot survive a second Christmas due to the surge of Covid-19 restrictions- although we can sympathise that the government faces growing pressure to impose stricter measures to curb the rise in coronavirus cases.

Health secretary, Sajid Javid, said on Wednesday that while new infections could hit a record 100,000 a day, he would not be reintroducing measures such as working from home or compulsory mask-wearing “at this time”. Although, The British Medical Association said later that day it would be “wilful negligence” not to enact the government’s plan B in England to prevent the NHS being overwhelmed.

The likes of Mitchells & Butlers, the pub and restaurants owner of All Bar One and Harvester chains, have quite rightly said, ministers had left it too late to address rising case numbers and that any action now could devastate the industry. As we all know Hospitality businesses typically earn 40% of their annual profit between Halloween and New Year’s Eve so our heart goes out to all hospitality businesses struggling right now. Please reach out if you are in need of any aid or advice and we can see how we can help.

The team and I are hopeful for a new start for the Hospitality industry in 2022, and we believe that starts with a change at the top- the Prime Minister. I was a big supporter of Boris, but I have lost faith in last couple months. I believe it is time for a change, he has run out of steam and is completely incapable to pull his thumb out for the wellbeing of a number of key contributors to the UK’s economy- especially Hospitality!

From our side, we are very excited to be working on a number of different new concepts all kicking off in the new year. Upcoming exciting projects include:

-Exciting art concept: art education, food & beverage experiences, and member community events.

-Plant based project.

-Concept focusing on sustainable communities.

All will be revealed in Jan’s update! Let’s all keep our heads up, masks on and have a safe Christmas & hopefully a brighter new year.

Cheers. D.