CLH Digital - Issue #102

Issue 102

Spring Statement a “Bitter Blow” to Hospitality www.CLHNews.co.uk

Sector leaders have hit out at Chancellor Rishi Sunak’s Spring Statement, which has been met with disappointment, and called a “bitter blow” to a beleaguered sector still struggling from the fallout of the pandemic.

The return to 20% VAT for the hospitality and tourism industry on April the 1st has been met with disappointment by thousands of hospitality businesses

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UKHospitality said, following the Chancellor’s statement.

In addition, it said that ending the 12.5% rate for hospitality would jeopardise jobs and restrict the sector’s efforts to stifle price rises for consumers, and its ability to lead the UK’s post-pandemic economic recovery.

(CONTINUED ON PAGE 3...)

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CLH Digital

Issue 102

Editor's Viewpoint

Welcome to the latest issue of CLH DIGITAL EDITOR

Peter Adams

Regular readers of my column (I hope you are out there) will know that throughout the pandemic I was a vociferous critic of the lockdown.

more in beer tax on beer drinkers in Germany will pay in a whole year, and that the 5.5 million living in Essex will pay more than alcohol duty in Spain, France and Italy put together.

It was and remains my opinion, and does not necessarily reflect the overall views of my bosses or colleagues, but I am paid to edit CLH News, and to do so as honestly as I can!

This came as a real shock to quite a few people I spoke to, were unaware of just how highly taxed we are compared to other countries.

The lockdown will, I believe, go down as one of the biggest errors, the most foolish of policies ever.

I did say in my column last week that if the Chancellor failed to extend the VAT reduction December to at least December it would not only be a real blow to the sector (which it is) but a real missed opportunity to PROVE not only to this chancellor, but also subsequent chancellors, how successful the initiative will be. After all it has proved successful on the continent, hence the reason none of them have reversed it!

TELEPHONE:

Great news to hear that we are having an extended weekend of fun to celebrate Her Majesty’s Platinum Jubilee.

EDITOR

Under the proposal, venues in England and Wales will be allowed to extend their operating hours from 11pm to 1am on Thursday 2 June, Friday 3 June, and Saturday 4 June.

SALES EXECUTIVES

The Covid-19 pandemic resulted in “eyewatering” levels of public spending. Current estimates of the cost of Government measures announced so far range from about £315 to £410 billion. This, what I have seen is the equivalent of about £4,700 to £6,100 per person in the UK.

We also squandered, according to reports, almost £10bn on defective, unsuitable and overpriced personal protective equipment as ministers rushed to meet unprecedented demand at the height of the coronavirus pandemic.

RBC Publishing also produces a title for the adult social care sector (residential and nursing care homes) and I suspect the 10 billion figure referred to above is a very conservative estimate.

Now it is, of course, payback time. I am reminded of this quote, one I often use, by economist Adrian Rogers: "The government cannot give to anybody anything that the government does not first take from somebody else."

That someone else significantly includes the hospitality and licensed on trade sector.

I have just returned from one of Europe’s largest catering and hospitality trade shows, the Hotel Restaurant and Catering show (HRC) at London’s Excel.

The show was, I am really pleased to say, very well attended. We here at CLH News had a busy show and I made a point, since it was taking place leading up to the day of the Chancellor’s Spring Statement, in asking what people thought he should do.

Maintain VAT at 12.5% was top of the agenda, and no surprise there.

What was rather dismaying was the lack of knowledge surrounding taxation in the industry.

My favourite examples are that by 27 February each year UK beer drinkers will pay

It probably hasn't come as a surprise to anybody, but I've written to the Chancellor (yet again) to suggest re-introducing a 5% VAT cut or a ‘Eat Out to Help Out’ scheme just for that extended weekend. (But I am not holding my breath!)

It is a wonderful opportunity to put some cheer back into the country, and we here at CLH NEWS want to help make this as popular and profitable for operators as possible!

So watch out for our website next week when we will be producing “Queen’s Platinum Jubilee” posters for you to download and display in your pub, bar, restaurant etc, and we would be delighted to publish any initiatives, events, fund raising activities - whatever your plans are for that weekend please do let us know and share them.

Once again I would ask the favour - we are trying to maximise our advertisers reach as much as possible, without them would not be possible to run CLH NEWS, so please do follow us on Twitter, and encourage as many people you know in the trade to subscribe to our digital issue, further details can be seen at www.catererlicensee.com

“Never make an excuse for going to the pub, save it for leaving.”― BENNY BELLAMACINA

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Spring Statement a “Bitter Blow” to Hospitality Issue 102

(CONTINUED FROM FRONT COVER) Trade bodies had been urging the chancellor to freeze VAT at 12.5% to protect fragile businesses and jobs, calling the removal of this relief, Undescribed the chancellor’s failure to address this issue as “a massive, missed opportunity”.

In his statement the Chancellor announced that the government will provide a 50% discount on business rates for the retail, hospitality, and leisure sectors, and that eligible businesses will be able to claim up to £110,000 back at the end of the tax year. This, he says will help businesses that have been hardest hit by the pandemic.

The business rates relief is worth almost £1.7bn and will be available to over 90% of all businesses in the retail, hospitality, and leisure sectors.

The Chancellor also used the Spring Statement to announce that the National Insurance threshold will be raised by £3,000, and said that 70% of workers will get an effective tax cut due to the changes, with the threshold for paying National Insurance being raised from £9,500 to £12,570.

The statement also announces a review of the Apprenticeship Levy in the new Treasury tax plan, which will be finalised in the autumn. In the main spring statement document, it states: “The government recognises that employers have frustrations with the way that these apprenticeship levy funds can be spent within the apprenticeships system and is delivering a suite of improvements to address these.

UKHospitality Chief Executive Kate Nicholls said: “This is a real setback for thousands of UK hospitality businesses still suffering the devastating effects of Covid, and facing a tidal wave of rising costs. For many businesses, the removal of the lifeline of a lower rate of VAT might prove fatal. For a heavily, disproportionately taxed sector a return to 20% dashes the hopes that many businesses could begin to recoup some of the losses of the last two years.

“Operators in the sector – large and small – have several hurdles to clear on the road to recovery: huge accumulated debts; unprecedented rising costs for energy and raw goods; a chronic shortage of staff; and a fundamentally unfair and crippling business rates regime we’re desperate to see reformed.

“Locking in VAT at 12.5% would have given hospitality businesses a major boost, and helped the sector in its ambition to lead the UK back to postCovid prosperity. As it is, thousands of jobs could be lost, the UK will remain uncompetitive versus international rivals, and already hard-pressed consumers in the midst of a cost-of-living crisis will see price rises in their favourite pubs, bars and restaurants, further fuelling inflation.

“Despite today’s disappointment, UKHospitality will continue to work closely with government to achieve the best possible trading conditions for the hospitality industry – which remains the sector best placed to turnaround the economy – and is buoyed by recent support for our 12.5% VAT call from a significant number of MPs.”

POSITIVE ELEMENTS OF THE CHANCELLOR’S STATEMENT “The reform of the Apprenticeship Levy, to focus on improving productivity, is something on which we have lobbied Government for five years or more and will be widely welcomed by our sector. Additionally, the generous increase in the NIC threshold for employees is a very positive move and will boost disposable income, although extending that measure to employers would help hospitality businesses to recruit and retain talent.

“In short, the longer-term measures in the Chancellor’s statement will be positive for those businesses equipped to survive the coming months.

However, the opportunity – primarily through retaining VAT at 12.5% – to help more vulnerable hospitality businesses navigate their way through to the autumn has sadly been missed.”

GOVERNMENT URGED TO CONSIDER IMMEDIATE SUPPORT Chris Jowsey, CEO of Admiral Taverns, said: “I’m disappointed the Chancellor has not announced any new support measures for the pub and brewing industries, which together contribute £26.2 billion to the UK economy each year. Industry trading volumes have not yet returned to prepandemic levels and its vital that the Government continue to invest in the sector at this critical juncture as support measures come to an end. Our licensees worked incredibly hard to sustain community pubs throughout the pandemic and yet their businesses are now being put at risk by further rising costs such as energy and food prices. If community pubs up and down the country are to keep their doors open and, in doing so, maintain the jobs of the 936,000 people employed in these industries, I urge the Government to consider further support through the immediate introduction of lower beer duty (currently planned for 2023) and much needed reform of business rates.”

LEVEL FOOTING WITH FOREIGN COMPETITORS Paul Waterson, SLTA media spokesperson, comments: “The Scottish Licensed Trade Association (SLTA) is disappointed that a return to 20% VAT for the hospitality and tourism industry is to go ahead – this is a bitter blow for hospitality businesses which are only just getting back on their feet as they recover from the pandemic.

“Our hope was that there would be a freeze at the current 12.5%. There is no doubt that returning to 20% will potentially jeopardise jobs and lead to price hikes at a time when the cost-of-living crisis is growing and bills for everyone are increasing.

“We have previously called for the permanent reduction of VAT for the hospitality sector to allow us to compete on a more level footing with our foreign competitors who enjoy much lower levels of VAT.” Nick Mackenzie, chief executive of Greene King, commented: “Whilst the Government has taken some important steps to address the cost of living crisis, including the very welcome cut to fuel duty, we feel the measures

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announced in today’s Spring Statement do not go far enough to support pubs. We’re disappointed that the Chancellor has failed to reverse the VAT rise for the hospitality sector, which is a bitter blow for UK pubs still struggling to recover following the pandemic. Coupled with rising prices across the supply chain, and disproportionately high business rates, today’s VAT hike is a missed opportunity for the industry and puts at risk the ability of UK pubs to fully recover from the pandemic, create jobs and support the wider economy.”

PUB “AT THE HEART OF COMMUNITIES Kevin Georgel, Chief Executive, St Austell Brewery said: “Recovery of the hospitality sector has been a priority as restrictions have eased.

Undoubtedly, costs have risen exponentially for businesses given the ongoing situation in Ukraine, and rising inflation, energy and fuel costs present a significant concern, meaning further financial support in these challenging times is crucial. We are therefore disappointed that the government has decided not to extend the 12.5% rate of VAT today, and that it will return to 20% next month.

“Pubs create jobs and play a huge part in the UK tourism sector, something which is critical to the economy here in the South West. Pubs are also at the heart of communities across the West Country and beyond, providing people with places to gather and socialise.

“The economic and societal benefits of extending the 12.5% VAT rate would have been enormous and enabled tourism and hospitality to thrive.

We would urge the government to provide further long-term support to Britain’s pubs and breweries by addressing the overall tax burden that businesses now face. This will enable the hospitality sector to rebuild and help businesses like ours play a role in accelerating the UK’s economic recovery.

Neil Manhas, Managing Director and Chief Financial Officer at Pizza Hut UK and Ireland, Said: “Several Government initiatives have been critical for the survival of hospitality businesses, but the temporary VAT cut has played an out-sized role in allowing the industry to rebound following the pandemic. The Government choosing not to grant an extension will be devastating for the momentum of our post-pandemic growth, recruitment and expanding the support we offer our communities. We urge the Government to reconsider their decision not to announce an extension of the VAT cut.

“The unprecedented levels of volatility – further complicated by geopolitical crises – mean that businesses across the sector need more support to continue the recovery and growth that we’ve seen over the past year.

Extending the VAT cut past 1 April will offer a crucial buffer for businesses like ours. Ultimately, it will help to reduce costs that we'd otherwise have to pass on to consumers as we manage the compound challenges of inflation, keeping up the franchisee and investor support needed to grow, and balancing rising fuel, supply and staff costs.”

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Issue 102

Where Does Hospitality Stand Amid the UK-US Trade Talks?

By Kunal Sawhney, CEO of Kalkine (www.kalkine.co.uk) The UK has finally clinched a deal with the US to end the nagging issue around steel and aluminium tariffs. For the last two months, serious negotiation was going on, which fructified into the easing of Trump-era tariffs on UK steel and aluminium shipments.

The US has agreed to a partial end of tariffs on British steel and aluminium. As per the new deal, section 232 tariffs will be replaced with tariff rate quotas and entry to a certain “historically-based” volume of steel and aluminium from the UK without duties.

In rebalancing measures, the UK government decided to lift retaliatory duties imposed on around $500 million worth of American products, including distilled spirits, whiskey, agriculture products and various consumer goods. The hospitality industry that is still struggling to recover from the pandemic blues is going to get good encouragement with the announcement. The removal of tariffs will be a boon for UK spirits importers. Customers will be having a wider choice of world-class whisky, with bourbon whiskeys becoming cheaper for them.

BROADER PICTURE The development marks a big achievement as the 25% tariffs on steel and 10% tariffs on aluminium had cost the industry more than £60million per year. It also cleared the way for further negotiation of the UK-US trade deal. Though there has been no announcement on discussions for a formal free trade agreement, the new deal has paved the way towards the resumption of wider free-trade talks.

After parting ways with the EU, Britain has been making all-out efforts to retain or renew trade agreements

and has successfully done with many countries with whom it had trade relations as an EU Member State.

However, the existing trade deal with the US is limited, and the present US President Joe Biden has been playing hard while prioritising his domestic goals.

US-UK TRADE RELATIONS AND UK BEVERAGES America remains the largest export market and single trading partner for many measures for the UK, accounting for nearly one-fifth of its total trade. A free trade deal would lead to the elimination of tariffs and taxes and would encourage more business between the two countries by making it cheaper.

The two nations also enjoy the largest bilateral foreign direct investment (FDI) relationships, though the UK market represents just 5% of US exports. US investment in the UK has traditionally been in the finance and business services sector, but retail & hospitality also forms a major part with a steady FDI in the segment’s projects. Similarly, there has been a consistent rise in the supported job numbers in Retail & hospitality.

There has been a dramatic change in the liquor market due to globalisation, previously, the concentration was on locally produced cheaper beverages, with lots of taxes on foreign imports to support local producers, but now the reform in general trade policy has led to wider choices within reach. The UK accounts for around 11% of the world’s wine imports and almost 25% of global spirits exports (in value terms).

THE DOMESTIC FOCUS SHOULD BE THE PRIORITY The pandemic has led to a fall in the overall number of FDI projects in the UK and has also devastated domestic investment. Now, apart from bolstering foreign trade, the government also needs to support the industry domestically. Hospitality with a turnover of £130 billion, constitutes 5% of GDP and is a major employment generator. At the time when Consumer Price Index (CPI) inflation has hit 30-year high of 6.2%, returning to the old VAT rate can spell doom for the industry. If the 12.5% VAT rate remains unchanged for some time more, it would not only help the sector but the overall economy as well.

Half Term Boost for UK Hotel Occupancy

UK hotel occupancy saw a sharp increase in February as the easing of restrictions and half term breaks coincided to increase demand across the UK, according to the RSM Hotels Tracker.

The data, compiled and produced by STR and analysed by RSM, shows an 18 per cent point increase in UK occupancy from 47 per cent in January to 65 per cent in February in line with expected seasonal trends.

However, UK occupancy still sits 8 per cent behind pre-pandemic levels.

Among key countries in the region, Wales saw the largest month-over-month increase of 21 per cent closely followed by Scotland at 20 per cent. Of note, London’s occupancy also increased 20 per cent over January. Despite seeing a strong increase in February, London remains 19 per cent behind pre-pandemic levels due to reduced international tourism and business travel, which is pulling down the UK average.

Average daily rates (ADR) in UK hotels jumped £14 month on month and surpassed pre-pandemic prices at £86, whilst revenue per available room increased from £34 to £55, but still sits £4 behind February 2020 rates.

Chris Tate, head of hotels and accommodation at RSM, said ‘Easing of restrictions and a February half-term boost has bolstered UK occupancy, but, without the return of significant business travel, the oversupply in the Capital continues to bring the UK average in behind pre-pandemic levels.

‘Increases in average daily rates and revenues per available room are good to see, but due to the inflationary impact over the last two years reaching pre-Covid levels will still feel like a shortfall for hoteliers.

However, nearly a quarter of pre-bookings for March will be a welcome boost for the sector, as the upward trajectory for occupancy looks set to continue.

‘Despite positivity, economic headwinds are ahead. Soaring energy and supply chain costs, which could worsen due to the Russia/Ukraine conflict; rates and VAT reliefs coming to an end; rising inflation and increasing labour costs all present the perfect economic storm for hoteliers. The Chancellor needs to step up and respond to calls to extend VAT support, whilst offering further support to mitigate the energy burden on hotel businesses, in this week’s Spring Statement to aid recovery into the Spring/Summer season.’

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St Patrick's Day, Weather and Sport Lift Drinks Sales to a 2022 High Issue 102

Last week’s out-of-home drinks sales were 7% up on pre-pandemic levels, CGA’s latest Drinks Recovery Tracker reveals.

The figure—for average drinks sales by value in Britain’s managed pubs, bars and restaurants over the week to last Saturday (12 March), compared to the same week in 2019—marks the best performance of 2022 so far. After several weeks of parity with pre-pandemic levels, it suggests the drinking-out market’s recovery is building momentum. However, with inflation currently running at 6% for the last year alone, sales remain well below pre-pandemic patterns in real terms.

Last week’s trading was boosted by St Patrick’s Day celebrations, with drinks sales on Thursday (17 March) up by 37% on the same day in 2019. The extension of celebrations, plus widespread good weather, kept sales

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well ahead on both Friday (up 7%) and Saturday (up 11%). Saturday trading was also lifted by rugby fans watching the final round of Six Nations fixtures in pubs and bars. Across the week, spirits sales were 25% up on the same period in 2019, while beer (up 7%) and cider (up 10%) recorded year-high growth as well.

Jonathan Jones, CGA’s managing director, UK and Ireland, said: “Last week’s trading figures show the hard work of Britain’s pubs, bars and restaurants to build back from two years of disruption is paying off. They also emphasise the value that good weather and celebratory occasions like St Patrick’s Day can bring to the On Premise, and with more sunshine, Mother’s Day and Easter on the horizon, operators can be cautiously optimistic about trading. However, confirmation this week of high inflation and the end to hospitality’s VAT relief, and mounting pressure on consumers’ disposable incomes, remind us that a return to pre-COVID-19 normality is still some way off.”

Only a Pavement Away Launches “Back on Track” Prison Leavers Backpack Project

The “Back On Track” Backpack project provides prison leavers with some of the basic essentials needed to immediately start looking for work such as a charged, pay as you go mobile phone, toiletries and access to support services including a free clothing service to support interviews. The essentials are provided within a robust rucksack, eliminating the need for a plastic bag, giving people more dignity and personal control over their transition to the outside.

“We’re committed to working with prison leavers to give them the additional support they need to find work on the outside and helping the hospitality sector to give someone a life chance and potentially, grow new talent, said Greg Mangham, Founder & CEO of Only A Pavement Away.

“At a very basic level, the Backpack removes the stigma of having your possessions – your life – in a seethrough plastic bag. However, in addition it also provides some basic employment essentials and details of the information and support available from Only A Pavement Away and other related charities so help prison leavers begin again on the outside.”

“With just £76 in their pocket and a complex benefits system, it’s imperative that prison leavers get sup-

“Getting a job and having purpose in life, gives people confidence, increases self-esteem and independence – and it reduces the likelihood of reoffending”, explains Lady Val • MICROWAVES • EXTRACTION CANOPIES • Corbett of The Corbett Network.

The initial pilot will see 200 backpacks being distributed across 16 prisons, and it is hoped following this, the project can be rolled out across the UK. Only A Pavement Away is seeking hospitality partners interested in supporting the initiative as part of their ESG commitment to help leavers develop life skills, become job ready and provide them with a direct route into employment.

For further information, visit www.onlyapavementaway.co.uk

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Only A Pavement Away, the hospitality sector charity supporting prison leavers, veterans and those facing homelessness into employment, has been supported on this initiative by The Corbett Network, a prisoner reintegration service and The Right Course, an initiative run by Fred Sirieix.

port quickly, have access to opportunities and employers willing to help them develop life and work skills so they can move forwards.”

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The Backpack Project, a new initiative from the hospitality sector charity Only A Pavement Away, will provide basic essentials and signposting careers in hospitality for people leaving prison.

MPS Call Last Orders on Draconian Pub Tax 6

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Issue 102

A new report, issued by the All-Party Parliamentary Beer Group (APPBG) of MPs, calls on the Government to urgently address the business rate iniquity which is threatening the future of pubs and their communities while online giants continue to swerve the taxman.

system mired by complexity and opacity, where online giants are not paying their fair share.“Urgent action is needed, and I call on the Chancellor is his Spring statement next week, to help us level the playing field and turn back the clock on years of stealth increases to business rates which threaten to bring a sector so critical to economic and social recovery to its knees.”

The report, Levelling the Bar: reforming outdated business rates for pubs’ survival, has been produced by the APPBG with evidence from a cross section of sector leaders.

Cassie Davison, Licensee of The Gate Hangs Well, Leicestershire, who gave oral evidence to the inquiry, added:

The report notes: • Pubs contribute 2.5 per cent of the total tax collected in business rates, but they generate less than half a per cent of rateable turnover – this equates to an overpayment of £570 million every year.

• Due to an ever-increasing ‘multiplier’ since the tax was introduced in 1990, business rates are now one of the biggest fixed overheads faced by pubs.

• The average pub pays 3% of its turnover in rates alone (some up to 10%), while the global giant, Amazon, only paid a total of 2 per cent tax on its 2020 turnover of almost £21bn.

• This outdated tax on bricks and mortar is threatening investment in high streets, skills, and communities – running counter to policy ambitions for levelling up.

• Pubs are being further hit by an opaque and esoteric system for determining their rates bills, which can place them at unfair disadvantage to competing retailers – such as restaurants and supermarkets – and penalise them for increasing their turnover.The APPBG also reports that the pandemic showed just how critical pubs are to communities across the country. Rates relief and other Covid support have been ‘lifesavers’ for community pubs – which in turn are supporting local recovery economically and socially – but many have been left reeling. One in ten publicans believe their business is unviable; and they’re now facing continued uncertainty as their customers feel the pinch economically. If support is withdrawn without a more equitable tax put in place, up to 20,000 UK pubs may be at risk. In response, the group of Parliamentarians is making a number of key recommendations to the Government, ahead of the Chancellor’s financial update later this month.

• Swift measures to introduce an online sales tax so that the burgeoning digital sector bears its fair share of the tax burden, with the funds raised used to reduce the costs borne by bricks and mortar high street businesses.

• A new and specific rates multiplier for pubs, closer to the 1990s level of 32p per pound of rateable value, to reflect the wider contribution that pubs make in sustaining and investing in their communities.

• Greater transparency and VOA resource to support the current system of valuation for pubs.

• As rising utility costs squeeze the life out of pubs, the government should help ensure their survival by increasing small business relief to include more community pubs to benefit.

Mike Wood MP, chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Beer Group, said: “British pubs are at the heart of the community. Never more so, than since the pandemic – when their fundamental place in society has been pivotal.“The onus of business rates falls disproportionately on pubs in a valuation

‘I’m sure many thousands of licensees across the country are joining me in urging the Government to act swiftly on this report’s findings. Too many of us have accepted our business rates as being a necessary evil, and a disproportionate fixed cost, for too long. It’s time for pubs to be recognised, not penalised, for our continuing physical presence in our communities.“As the pandemic has shown so clearly, not everyone prospers in a virtual world; we know our customers need us, and we need a fighting chance to deliver for them.”

Kate Nicholls, the CEO of UKHospitality, has this morning welcomed the call: “Business rates in its current form is a fundamentally unfair tax for pubs and the wider hospitality sector. It actively works against Government’s levelling up agenda by suppressing and deterring investment in skills and local communities.

“In order to safeguard jobs and businesses, and to support a fully recovered and thriving hospitality sector, business rates must be reformed, with a fairer system that does not disproportionately penalise businesses that bring people together and create jobs. There must also be a fully functioning infrastructure to ensure that valuations are accurate and that appeals are accessible.

“More widely, the pubs and hospitality sector needs a fairer tax system. These businesses, when compared to other sectors, are significantly overtaxed, which stifles investment, growth and jobs creation.”

Emma McClarkin, Chief Executive of the British Beer and Pub Association said: “The current business rates system places disproportionate burden on pubs and brewers which is stifling their recovery and return to sustainable growth. Reform is needed to create a fair system which accounts for how the economy functions in the modern day.

“We welcome this timely report from the All-Party Parliamentary Beer Group following our submission to its inquiry, and hope its recommendations are seriously considered by the Chancellor ahead of this week’s Spring Statement. Pubs and brewers are at the heart of our communities and will help to foster social cohesion as we reconnect and recover from the pandemic, and so now it is critical that our sector receives the support it needs so we can deliver jobs and additional economic value across the UK, to ensure the entire country is levelled up."

Pubs and Brewers Show Support for Ukraine Businesses in the brewing and pub industry are responding to the crisis in Ukraine with donations, fundraising appeals and offers of employment and accommodation.

Organisations large and small are finding ways to help people affected by the war, which continues to have a devastating effect on the lives of Ukranians.

Today (21 March) Hall & Woodhouse are hosting a fundraiser today to support the Red Cross Ukraine Crisis appeal and pledging to donate 50% of all sales throughout the day to the British Red Cross.

Other member efforts include: Brewhouse & Kitchen donating all revenue from a new seasonal cask beer sold across the weekend (19/20 March) to relief efforts Brewdog selling a new beer United for Ukraine with all revenue to the Disaster Emergency Committee Carlsberg donating €10million to various humanitarian relief organisations Diageo donating £2m to the Red Cross and CARE International Heineken donating €1million to local NGOs whilst Heineken UK have pledged an additional £50,000 to provide help to more Ukrainian refugees and will match-fund any donations made by their UK colleagues McMullens are donating £1 for every £10 raised in their pubs with an additional top up of £1 for every £10 where the fundraising is for the HALO Trust, a landmine clearance charity based in Ukraine

As workers across the UK continue to return to the office after two years of remote work, Square analysed sales across the nation of popular lunchtime meals to understand how much consumers can expect to pay, post-pandemic.

Square’s data has further broken down the new trend of “lunchflation,” pulling out Brits’ favourite lunchtime items that have soared in price: • Soups lead the way, with the average price up 36% year over year as of March 1st 2022 • Salads come in at a close second, up 34% year over year • Bread-based items are also on the up - burgers have increased by 28%, wraps are up 21% and sandwiches are up 20% year over year • Traditional British pies have decreased over the past year but are still 13% above pre-pandemic prices “Restaurants have been among the hardest-hit businesses in the UK and across the world over the past few years,” said Kaushalya Somasundaram, Head of UK Payments Partnerships and Industry

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Arkells, Batemans, Fullers, Greene King, Hogsback, Hydes and Wadworth are also looking into providing homes and employment for Ukranian refugees, with some considering using recently closed premises as potential accommodation. The outpouring of support comes amidst concerns being raised about the impact on supply chain to the hospitality industry.

Emma McClarkin, Chief Executive of the British Beer & Pub Association said: “The atrocities sparked by Russia's invasion of Ukraine are front of mind for everyone in the sector and we are eager to support in whatever way we can.

Our members are finding numerous different ways to help and it is incredibly heartening to see their efforts.

“We are also closely monitoring the impact of supply chain disruption on brewers and pubs, which to date has been limited, but in some cases we are already seeing existing supply chain pressures such as energy and fuel pricing being exacerbated and will continue to work alongside our members and the Government to assess the impact.”

Rising Costs Hit UK Restaurants as they Suffer ‘Lunchflation’, Research Reveals

New data in the UK has revealed a trend of “lunchflation:” lunch item costs are rising fast across the UK, with prices jumping 3% year over year. This analysis has been carried out by Square, the globally trusted software, payments and hardware solution for businesses of all sizes.

Issue 102

Relations at Square. “The increased price of lunch is due to the rising costs faced by restaurants, who’ve seen everything from staff salaries to ingredients become more expensive. To combat these challenges, restaurants can enlist features like online ordering, self-serve ordering through QR codes, and delivery through third-party partners. All of these operational efficiencies will enable businesses to cut costs and pass savings onto customers.”

Nationally, the share of classic lunch items that were ordered in-person hasn’t returned to prepandemic levels, as consumers have had to pivot to placing orders online for delivery and pick-up.

Despite this, a growing share of lunch item orders are being placed in-person this year as of March 1st, 2022 - highlighting the need for businesses to offer customers flexibility in how they order across online and in-person.

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Combatting Labour Shortages in Hospitality 8

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By Tony De Graaf, Hiring Success Director EMEA, SmartRecruiters (www.smartrecruiters.com) Job vacancies in the hospitality sector rose by almost 700% from November 2021 to January 2022 compared with the same period last year.

With current estimates putting the number of empty job roles at 178,000, there is clearly an issue with recruiting and retaining skilled and motivated workers. When businesses struggle to hire and keep staff on, alarm bells begin to ring. Is it company culture? Is the employer not investing in the development of its staff? Or is the recruitment process not optimised for both the candidate and recruiter?

ATTRACTING AND ENGAGING PROSPECTIVE TALENT The fact is that there isn’t a shortage of workers, it’s a shortage of those feeling engaged with the sector. The retail and hospitality industries are renowned for being high turnover sectors, highlighting the need for businesses to rethink their approach to hiring into a process that shows applicants they are valued, and the business is grateful for their application.

This involves an investment of time from the recruiter to provide individual feedback and efficient communication. Unfortunately, due to the time needed to complete this and provide a positive experience to candidates, many processes fail to engage applicants.

Creating an engaging experience early on is key to building relationships with applicants and is more likely to end with employees staying loyal for years after they apply. Nurturing this relationship early on is key and will make your establishment stand out amongst competitors. A good candidate experience will then be shared by an applicant throughout their network – friends, family and even social media. With prospective talent dotted throughout the internet, social media posts about bad encounters will cause the best candidates to avoid hospitality establishments with a reputation for poor hiring processes.

Furthermore, when building a reputation in the hospitality sector, positive employee feedback will feed into potential customers, particularly in local businesses. Investing in a strong and engaging application and recruitment process will ensure positive employee experiences, boosting the level of applications and improving the likelihood of staff retention.

SURFACING THE MOST SUITABLE CANDIDATES Once a relationship with an applicant is started, open and direct communication is a must. Hospitality positions, particularly zero-hour contract positions that generally attract younger workers, are often bombarded

with applications. Due to the sheer volume of candidates, hiring managers don’t always have the time to provide reasons as to why the applicant was or wasn’t hired.

Utilising Artificial Intelligence (AI) in the recruitment process, hiring teams can filter applications and in turn surface only the most suitable candidates for the job with algorithms that flag specific traits and qualifications.

With filtering done at such speed, establishments can begin interviewing as quickly as possible and fill their vacancies at a faster rate. During peak seasons such as summer and Christmas, this increase in efficiency is particularly important.

As well as surfacing the most suitable candidates at the first stages of the application process, AI recruitment can help with future applications. Rather than disregarding previous unsuccessful applicants who were still qualified for the job, organisations can store these profiles, creating a wider talent pool to select from during peak seasons or when company expansion occurs. Recalling these candidates further down the line for new positions saves time for recruiters finding the right talent whilst also keeping candidates engaged.

Demonstrating that their application was taken seriously allows for a relationship to be continued and increases the likelihood they will accept a position in the future.

BOOSTING EMPLOYEE RETENTION RATES The experience doesn’t just stop at accepting a role, though. Employees must continue to feel valued throughout their employment if businesses want to keep their staff. If the engagement from the employer is superficial, employees will see through it and find an establishment that values them and their work.

When an employee can see the value they bring to the business, and investment in their development is shown, they are more likely to stay. Using AI driven software can enable employees to be hired into the jobs that suit them from a skills and company culture level, providing them with the right place to progress. This not only increases confidence in the employee, but also drives productivity levels up due to people enjoying their jobs and the people around them.

ENGAGED EMPLOYEES = BETTER VALUE Job vacancies are riddling the hospitality space, causing business leaders to panic about how to hire the best talent. However, this process shouldn’t be anxiety ridden. Many small hospitality businesses don’t have the manpower to sieve through hundreds of applications and are instead focusing on giving their customers the best experience.

By introducing AI into the recruitment process, those responsible for hiring within the business can balance their focus on the candidate and their customers, keeping both sides engaged. It also haves time, allowing them to focus more on selecting the most suitable talent whilst also providing a rewarding experience for candidates. This will increase employee retention levels with happy and well-placed employees whilst also boosting establishment reputation, leading them to pass on this positive experience to customers.

WSTA Celebrates Mother’s Day with Look at the UK’s Gin Sales The Wine and Spirit Trade Association is toasting Mother’s Day (Sunday 27th March) with a dive into the highs and lows of the gin sector during the pandemic.

Latest figures released today show that gin sales in the UK dropped almost £1 billion in value - from £2.7 billion in 2019 to £1.9billion in 2020 - following a series of punishing lockdowns as pubs and restaurants were shut.

The dip in value for the sector comes despite a record number of bottles of gin being sold in our shops and online in 2020 - with over 78 million bottles sold – compared to 64 million bottles sold in the off trade in 2019.

The losses came from the closure of the hospitality sector which saw volume sales in UK bars and restaurants plummet 61% and value sales went down by 60% in 2020.

At the end of 2021, as restrictions began to lift, sales of gin over the last 12 months in the UK began to recover with £2.1 billion worth of gin sold in the on and off trade, the equivalent of almost 80 million bottles of gin.

Miles Beale Chief Executive of the Wine and Spirit Trade Association said: “Our great British distillers did their best to keep businesses afloat during the challenging lockdowns of the pandemic, many of switched operations to the produce hand sanitiser for their local communities.

These latest figures show the punishing loses faced by distillers across the UK at a time when millions of pounds of private investment and hard work had been poured into the sector.

To support British SME distillers to make up their losses, stop them going under and encourage their recovery, the Government should do three things: extend the hospitality VAT cut, modify the proposed Small Producers Relief scheme by opening it to distillers and tax all alcohol, at the same rate per unit. The last two would allow the Chancellor to meet his own aims of– delivering a fairer taxation system by levelling the playing field.”

UK Gin sales on trade (CGA data) and off trade (Nielsen data) by volume and value: 2018

(12 months up to 29/12/2018) 2019

(12 months up to 28/12/2019) 2020 (12 months up to 26/12/2020) 2021 (12 months up to 01/01/2022) Total UK gin sales (on and off trade) – volume 73 million bottles 83 million bottles 86 million bottles 80 million bottles Total UK gin sales (on and off trade) - value £2.1 billion £2.7 billion £1.9 billion £2.1 billion The UK’s spirit sector is made up of a large number of SME businesses and supports around 230,000 jobs across the supply chain.

Innovative British distillers, up and down the country, now offer a range of personalised gins, gift sets and special edition gins to cater for Mother’s Day presents.

The WSTA is confident that, owing to the continued popularity of gin, the spirit will prove just the tonic to aid in our resilient hospitality’s recovery, and is encouraging drinkers to head out and raise a glass on Mother’s Day.

Scammers Targeting Self Assessment Customers, HMRC Warns HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) is warning Self Assessment customers to be on their guard following the Self Assessment deadline after more than 570,000 scams were reported to HMRC in the last year.

At this time of year, Self Assessment customers are at increased risk of falling victim to scams, even if they don’t mention Self Assessment. They can be taken in by scam texts, emails or calls either offering a ‘refund’ or demanding unpaid tax, thinking that they are genuine HMRC communications referring to their Self Assessment return. In the 12 months to January 2022, nearly 220,000 scams reported to HMRC offered bogus tax rebates.

Criminals target unsuspecting Self Assessment customers to try and steal money or personal information. They use phone calls, texts and emails to try and dupe citizens, and often mimic government messages to make them appear authentic. In January 2022, phone scams rose to 3,995 compared to 425 reported in April 2020.

Myrtle Lloyd, HMRC’s Director General for Customer Services, said: “If someone contacts you saying they’re from HMRC, wanting you to transfer money or give personal information, be on your guard.

“Never let yourself be rushed, and if you’re in any doubt then check our ‘HMRC scams’ advice on GOV.UK.” HMRC gave customers an extra month to submit a completed tax return and if customers filed by 28 February 2022, they would avoid a late filing penalty. More than 11.3 million customers filed their Self

Assessment tax return by 28 February, with more than 1 million of those taking advantage of the extra time by filing in February.

Customers have until 1 April to pay their outstanding tax bill or set up a Time to Pay arrangement to avoid receiving a late payment penalty. Interest has been applied to all outstanding balances since 1 February.

Customers can now make Self Assessment payments quickly and securely through the HMRC app. Customers choosing to make secure Self Assessment payments through the HMRC app can either connect to their bank to make their payments or pay by Direct Debit, personal debit card or corporate/commercial credit/debit card.

A full list of the payment methods customers can use to pay their Self Assessment tax bill is available on GOV.UK. Customers can report suspicious phone calls using a form on GOV.UK. Customers can also forward suspicious emails claiming to be from HMRC to phishing@hmrc.gov.uk and texts to 60599.

HMRC is also reminding Self Assessment customers to double check websites and online forms before using them to complete their 2020/21 tax return. People can be taken in by misleading websites designed to make them pay for help in submitting tax returns or charging to connect them to HMRC phone lines. Customers who are in any doubt about whether a website is genuine should visit GOV.UK for more information about Self Assessment and use the free signposted tax return forms.

Pubs Set for 1 am Three Day Opening to Celebrate Queen’s Jubilee Issue 102

Pubs look set to open until 1am for three days to celebrate Queen’s platinum jubilee, the government has announced.

Under the proposal, venues in England and Wales will be allowed to extend their operating hours from 11pm to 1am on Thursday 2 June, Friday 3 June, and Saturday 4 June.

Home Office minister Kit Malthouse said in a written statement the move to relax licensing hours will “mark the Her Majesty the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee and to celebrate the longest reigning Monarch in the United Kingdom”.

Mr Malthouse said: “The Order being laid before the House today, will apply to premises already licensed until 11pm for the sale of alcohol for consumption on the premises, for the provision of latenight refreshment (only where there is also the sale of alcohol for consumption on the premises), and for the provision of

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regulated entertainment in England and Wales.”

An impact assessment is being prepared and will be published on the government website.

A series of celebrations, including a concert, a Service of Thanksgiving, and nationwide street parties, will be held over the four-day bank holiday to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the monarch’s reign Home secretary, Priti Patel first announced the news of the pub proposal in December, after praising the Queen's "utmost dignity, steadfastness, and resolve throughout her remarkable reign”.

In the past pubs have previously been granted extended hours including the Queen's 90th birthday in 2016 and the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge’s wedding in 2011.

Hospitality Leaders Unite to Launch Lunch4Ukraine to Provide Support for Ukrainian Crisis A collective of hospitality industry representatives have launched Lunch4Ukraine in order to raise £100,000 for people affected by displacement and conflict in Ukraine and highlight the Homes for Ukraine humanitarian visa pathway.

Hosted and organised by JW Marriott Grosvenor House London on 5 April with the support of UKHospitality, The Master Innholders, The Caterer, Gold Key Media, Custard Communications, Hospitality Action and the Institute of Hospitality, Lunch4Ukraine aims to raise £100,000 for the Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC) Ukraine appeal.

Stuart Bowery MI, multi property general manager, JW Marriott Grosvenor House London said: “The resilience of our industry over the past two years has demonstrated what we can achieve when we work together towards assisting a common cause. We wanted to bring our industry together to make a difference to the people of Ukraine facing an uncertain future. UKHospitality is already working with the Government to coordinate offers of support and this lunch will serve as a catalyst to turn

our focus to the ways in which our industry can provide funds, homes and jobs towards our neighbours in Ukraine as they face a time of immense crisis.”

In addition to the lunch an online auction will be held until 8 April 2022 promoting prizes from across the hospitality industry.

All funds raised at Lunch4Ukraine will be donated to the Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC), which are operating in Ukraine and neighbouring countries meeting the needs of all refugees and displaced people. With 4 million people expected to be displaced by the Ukrainian crisis, the money raised will provide direct aid to those who need it most.

Lunch4Ukraine will be taking place in The Great Room at JW Marriott Grosvenor House London on 5 April 2022 at 12:30pm, with a three-course lunch created by chefs Nigel Boschetti and Richard Corrigan to be served at 1pm.

Buy your tickets: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/lunch4ukraine-tickets-293769050137

UK “Staycation” Domestic Market Here to Stay According to Research Issue 102

The attraction of the UK domestic market to leisure travellers has remained firm, according to the latest Hotel Guest Survey from BVA BDRC. The study found that 80% of leisure guests had already booked a domestic stay, or were highly likely to, with city breaks the most popular choice. The cost pressures being felt by the consumer were also a factor, with value for money driving booking decisions.

James Bland, director, BVA BDRC, said:

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The BVA BDRC study found that confidence was growing, with 47% of UK consumers happy to book a domestic trip to be taken in a few months and 32% to go now. As guests have become more comfortable with staying in hotels, they have also started to return to the cities. Looking at future intent for the next 12 months, 47% were planning a city break, while 34% wanted to visit a local area or attraction and 32% were aiming to visit friends or relatives.

David Orr, CEO, Resident Hotels, said:

“Consumers are becoming more comfortable with the idea of booking an international holiday, but while we are seeing those green shoots for outbound travel, nearly twice as many adults booked a UK holiday during January – the highest incidence since the start of tracking.

“Whenever restrictions were loosened during the pandemic, we saw people eager to return to the cities, to meet with friends and family, to reconnect with culture and nights out; looking to rediscover the normality the pandemic and strict lockdowns had denied us all, regardless of age.

“Comfort with the idea of staying in hotels and other types of paid-for accommodation jumped significantly as Omicron-driven fears receded and the accommodation sector is closing in on the pre-pandemic norm in terms of consumer comfort levels.

“We are delighted to see still seeing life return to the cities, recognising that people seeking those lost experiences more than ever cherish and value those moments so even more focus on “reputation” when it comes to booking a hotel. Reputation is a fundamental qualitative test that reaches across feeling safe and secure, knowing that the teams are looked after well and that guests are looked after well. Reputation uniquely informs the decision of a guest as well as a team member to put their trust in you. Cities we all hope are returning quickly to being the most desired and dynamic of destinations, yet reputation and trust underpins all judgement guests will make when considering investing in their experiences. It is the team at The Resident which the reputation of the hotel is built upon and which will see it become a much-loved destination for a lifetime as we move forwards.”

“What remains to be seen is whether this recovery will endure, or whether it is one final hurrah before the cost-of-living crisis starts to bite. As we saw from our survey, value is a driver for consumers and there are further factors heading towards us, including the energy price cap increase and possible economic repercussions of Putin’s war on Ukraine.”

The domestic leisure market has dominated the sector during the pandemic, with an average of 3.8 leisure trips taken over the past two years, against 1.3 domestic business trips. Beach and resort breaks were popular, as more exotic climes were unavailable.

Jane Pendlebury, CEO, HOSPA, said: “The pandemic drove a rise in domestic holidays caused by necessity - we needed a break but we couldn’t leave the country. In the event we rediscovered what we knew before the growth of budget airlines, which was that the UK is full of wonderful destinations with hotels, restaurants and pubs which offer unique and welcoming experiences.

“Many guests have realised that the UK is not a second-choice destination, but somewhere to explore and be inspired by.”

Ben Harper, group managing director, Watergate Bay Hotel, Another Place and Beach Retreats, added: “The domestic market isn't a new one, we had been booming before the pandemic. I’m confident of the short term, but I feel even more confident about the medium to long term. There is such an inconsistent landscape in the UK - and no leading brand - which presents a great opportunity.

“Domestic leisure markets across Europe have seen growth in interest from investors, who are looking to build platforms and brands which will bring them healthy returns, but also keep pace with the demands of the mass-affluent travellers who want exceptional design and memorable experiences. These businesses successfully reduce seasonality and create lifestyle through brand.”

The survey found that having had a good experience in the past was behind many bookings.

Kevin Edwards, Alliants, said: "Experience is one of the drivers behind booking, in this case experiences which people have had in the past.

This is clear proof that, if you want to create those lifelong connections with guests, which will see them return as well as recommend your hotel to friends and family, then you need to focus on experience.

“The hotel sector had become convinced that memorable experiences can only be delivered by a vast team, but the pandemic has persuaded a growing number of hotels that technology can be used intelligently to both free team members to give better service and, with messaging, help create those important bonds. This becomes even more relevant when you see that guests are conscious of value: no-one wants to pay for swarms of staff hovering ‘round reception.”

Bland said: “Many in the sector felt that, once international travel had become more certain, consumers would revert to old patterns and return to their search for summer sun. Instead we can see that the domestic market has outlasted the pandemic and, with the added influence of concerns over price and the impact of travel on climate change, may remain buoyant.

“To continue to attract guests, hotels must appreciate that they no longer have a captive market, but must compete, if not on the weather, then value and experience, as consumers look to make the most of their time and money.”

Why Catering For Customers With Accessibility Needs Is Key In The Hospitality Sector 12

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Issue 102

By Jonathan Hassell, founder and CEO at Hassell Inclusion (www.hassellinclusion.com) Like many sectors, the hospitality industry has seen a huge increase in the use of digital technologies over the past two years. They touch every part of a customer’s journey, from searching for a potential venue, to activating special offers via social media, perusing an online menu, booking a table via a website or ordering via an app or QR code.

This move to digital shows no sign of slowing down. In its latest 2022 trends report, OpenTable found that 43% of the consumers it surveyed said they would even welcome more advanced technologies such as voice ordering, virtual reality and sophisticated chatbots.

However, there is a danger that many businesses could be missing out on a huge number of customers if they haven’t made their digital platforms accessible.

More than one in five potential UK consumers have a disability, and, according to research from The Purple Pound, restaurants, pubs and clubs could be losing up to £163 million a month if they are not addressing accessibility.

Providing a warm welcome to customers is paramount in the hospitality industry, and yet so many of their potential patrons with accessibility requirements are being left out in the cold. So, how can businesses in the sector turn this ‘invisible’ 20% into a loyal 20%? Quite simply, by making sure their digital communications and services are accessible to everyone.

AN END-TO-END ACCESSIBILITY APPROACH Being great at digital accessibility isn’t just about having a good website, it’s about the whole user journey, from your marketing to your digital platforms to your in-venue experience. This requires a strategic approach to ensure that accessibility is ‘baked in’ to your processes rather than having to retro-fix elements of your services that simply don’t cater for those with specific needs.

To be truly accessible, you will need to go beyond Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) compliance. You need to think about accessibility across all your digital channels.

In our experience, there are several potential weak spots in customer-facing industries such as hospitality: 1. Good design is accessible design – Your choice of colours, fonts and imagery could be key to winning or losing customers. For example, people with a range of visual impairments struggle with low contrast text, and those on the autistic spectrum may be put off with too many images, so it’s best to use white space to let things breathe.

Similarly, be careful in your choice of fonts - handwriting fonts may look fantastic but can be difficult for many people to read, so use them for branding not essential information. Another benefit of accessible design is that it can improve your SEO if you use closed captions on videos, and clear and simple headings.

2. Be socially accessible – Social media is a key channel for many in the industry to promote their business and there are several things you can do to make sure your social activity is accessible. For example, hashtags are a great way to get noticed, but make sure you use CamelCase capitalisation in them i.e #HashTags, so screen readers don’t try and read them out as one word. And make sure you include alt-text with your images.

3. Check your third-party providers meet accessibility standards – Many businesses in the sector use thirdparty suppliers to manage online bookings or payments. Even though you don’t control them, you should be aware of whether the suppliers’ services are accessible. For example, if an ‘iframe’ is used to present a date-picker or payment confirmation dialogue without the right coding, a blind person using a screen-reader might not be able to book or pay. So, it’s worth doing an inventory of what can and can’t be controlled, to build a picture of what you can and can’t influence and change supplier to a more accessible one if you can.

4. Don’t overlook PDFs – PDFs are often used for things such as menus, booking confirmations, terms and conditions, coupons and vouchers. To make sure they are accessible, start with using the authoring tool’s accessibility functions (in Word, Google Docs, PowerPoint or InDesign), and then test documents with Adobe Acrobat when they are converted to PDF.

EFFECTING LASTING CHANGE In 2019, we turned our attentions to creating the international standard for digital accessibility – ISO 300711. We did this because we wanted to effect real change and provide a clear framework to help companies ensure their accessibility approach is robust, sustainable and effective.

Since then, we have developed the Digital Accessibility Maturity Scorecard. This free tool provides a review of your organisation around nine key areas of digital accessibility linked to the Standard, helping you identify gaps and providing guidance on where and how to best make improvements.

For those businesses looking to stay ahead of the competition, benchmarking your current performance in digital accessibility is certainly the best place to start to build a loyal following among customers who right now are being overlooked.

‘Farmgate’ Exemption Critical to Cider’s Survival The Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA) has called for the Government to stand firm and continue its strong track record of supporting small cider makers.

Following recent calls on the Government to remove the ‘farmgate’ exemption – which currently supports cider makers who produce less than 70hl of cider a year, or just over 30 pints a day – CAMRA urges policy makers to continue to recognise the unique nature of the cider industry by retaining the exemption.

These producers are typically hobbyists or those who use cider production to diversify farm businesses. While the cider they produce makes up a fraction of the UK’s total output, up to 80% of cider makers fall into this category, making the farmgate exemption crucial for consumer choice and product innovation.

Despite recent comparisons to the beer industry, CAMRA has challenged the idea that beer and cider should be taxed the same way, with CAMRA Real Ale, Cider and Perry Campaigns Director Gillian Hough commenting: “The farmgate exemption is critical for cider makers. It must not be removed. This exemption ensures and supports a varied and competitive market for us as consumers. It recognises that real cider and perry, made seasonally and using local fruit, plays a key part in so many rural economies as well as preserving our culture and heritage. Cider and perry orchards can be hundreds of years old, and the biodiversity they support

has enormous ecological value.

“Any change to the farmgate exemption would have a devastating impact on cider and perry makers, orchards and rural landscapes and as a consequence the market as a whole.”

Ciderologist and cider campaigner, Gabe Cook, adds: “Whilst you may be able to draw similarities between beer and cider by looking at the final product, making cider and brewing beer are two fundamentally different processes, creating entirely different drinks.

Traditional cider can only be made once a year, using locally sourced ingredients, as opposed to beer being brewing on demand from a raft of globally sourced ingredients. As a result, cider incurs considerably greater production costs.

“We are talking about an agricultural drink, rooted into the culture of many rural parts of the UK, positively contributing to the local economy. These small traditional makers are key to providing viability for British orchards – one of the most sustainable landscapes that be found on our shores. Any changes that adversely affect small farmyard producers would be devastating to the industry and to consumer choice.”

The Government had previously defended cider makers from EU demands for the UK to scrap the farmgate exemption in 2015, when CAMRA hand delivered a petition calling for the exemption to be upheld with over 26,000 consumer signatures to Downing Street.

The consumer group has called for small producers of both beer and cider to work together to champion independent business, which is increasingly under threat from the market dominance of global brands in the UK on trade.

Lakeland Dairies’ Reimagine Colcannon Chef Competition, Offers Winner £1000 Amazon Gift Card Prize Steeped in Irish heritage, Lakeland Dairies is a 100% farmer-owned and managed Irish Dairy Co-Operative. Each year March has become the month of Lakeland Dairies’ annual Celebrate Green campaign.

Gold Double for a deliciously creamy finish.

Jean Cattanach, marketing Controller at Lakeland Dairies says: “March is such an exciting time for Lakeland Dairies, it’s the month of Celebrate Green when we shine a spotlight on our farming excellence and Irish provenance.”

The campaign embraces the Irish Co-Operative’s excellence in dairy farming, the lush green grass and high-quality milk from its family farms, alongside a heritage in creating professional dairy products, all carefully designed to deliver extraordinary taste and fantastic functional performance.

To celebrate, they are inspiring the whole industry, from hotel to hospital chefs, to celebrate their Irish Dairy, by entering their Colcannon Competition. Judged by Lakeland Dairies and the Craft Guild of Chefs, the competition encourages chefs to create a modern twist on Colcannon. One lucky chef will win an amazing £1000 amazon gift card.

“We can’t wait to see the amazing Colcannon dishes the fantastically skilled chefs across the country will create.”

With a proud heritage of excellence in dairy farming, Lakeland Dairies is a 100% farmer-owned and managed Irish dairy co-operative, whose products are made from high-quality milk from the lush green pastures of its 3,200 family farms. made with fluffy mashed potato, deliciously creamy Irish butter and cream, with fresh cabbage.

The competition runs through the month of March when chefs can submit their entry including a photograph and description of the dish via Lakeland Dairies’ website for a chance to win. Entries will be judged for their creativity and visual appearance.

To support the competition, Lakeland Dairies have created an inspiring ‘Reimagining Colcannon’ Guide which presents many exciting and innovative ideas alongside lots of fresh approaches to the dish.

75% of chefs* said they usually make a special dinner to celebrate St Patrick’s day, and in the same survey, voted Colcannon as chef’s favourite Irish dish*. Colcannon is traditionally an Irish potato-based side dish,

To make a modern twist on the dish, chefs are being encouraged to explore Lakeland Dairies range of high-quality professional products; Lakeland Dairies Real Dairy Whipping Cream, Pure Irish Butter or Millac

Claim your free Reimaging Colcannon Guide and enter here: https://bit.ly/3uBbShR Website:

www.lakelanddairies.com/foodservice

Facebook: @lakelanddairiesfoodservice Twitter:

@lakelandFS *Survey of 1200 chefs, 2021

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Issue 102

How to Prepare for new UK Calorie Labelling Regulations Coming into Effect this April

By Janez Sodja, Director of Field Sales, EMEA, Loftware (www.loftware.com) In recent years, the food and beverage sector, already heavily regulated, has seen a raft of regulatory changes across the globe. A few key examples include the EU Regulation 1169/2011, the FDA Nutrition Facts and FSMA requirements, and Mexico’s NOM-051SCFI/SSA1-2010. These aim to ensure that food labels offer consistency and traceability whilst also, and most importantly, informing consumers about the contents of the food and drinks they are consuming.

Manufacturers and distributors of all sizes must grapple with this challenging and ever-evolving regulatory landscape – not only the requirements that already exist, but also those that have just or will imminently come into effect. One such emerging regulation is the Calories Labelling Regulation, due to come into force in April 2022, which will legislate that any out-of-home food business with 250 or more employees must implement mandatory calorie labelling.

This regulation has caused quite a stir. Some industry hospitality groups are lobbying for a delay in the regulations’ implementation, arguing that the additional costs required to comply will threaten to derail several businesses. Coming after two years of COVID-19 lockdowns and adverse circumstances, the current timeframe for the regulation could pose issues for a sector that would like to focus on recovering from the pandemic.

And yet, abiding by regulations is of vital importance, particularly within the food and beverage sector. Just one misstep in labelling can have disastrous consequences, such as allergy fatalities. “Natasha’s Law”, which came into effect in October 2021 after its namesake Natasha died tragically due to a severe allergic reaction after consuming a baguette that was packaged without listing specific allergen information, is just one of the many food labelling regulations aimed at strengthening standards around allergens and food safety.

Another important point to note is that failing to adhere to labelling regulations has significant financial repercussions, negatively impacting a business’ bottom line. As noted in a recent report from VDC Research, eight in ten large enterprises experience at least one major labelling error per year, costing them upwards of $2M. These costs are driven by scrapping the entire production batch affected by inaccurate labelling, regulatory penalties and fines for non-compliance, and costly product recalls/restocking.

Ensuring compliance with new rules requires effective label and Artwork Management processes across all markets where goods are manufactured, distributed and sold. Unfortunately, many companies in the food and beverage space still rely on patchwork labelling systems and are therefore ill-equipped to meet growing labelling needs. These systems cause data errors (thereby increasing the risk of mislabelling or non-compliance) and give manufacturers little visibility into their Enterprise Labelling approaches (thereby increasing maintenance and remediation costs). These problems, though concerning to all, can be particularly onerous for

small companies that want to scale up and expand into new geographies.

So, how can companies simplify compliance? The answer lies in the cloud. Companies using cloud-based labelling solutions have the agility to make the quick pivots needed to keep up with ever-evolving customer and regulatory requirements.

HOW DOES THE CLOUD HELP? 1. INTEGRATES WITH SOURCES OF TRUTH – Data needs to be a priority. Disparate data sources add complexity to labelling and open the door to labelling errors. Given the growing importance of traceability within the food and beverage sector, data is only going to become more crucial in the coming years. Companies must streamline their processes and ensure their label data is consistent and reliable. A cloud-based solution removes the need to hardcode labels and eliminates costs associated with creating and updating labels to deal with changing label requirements.

2. AUTOMATES AND FACILITATES REVIEWS AND APPROVALS – The cloud enables companies to eliminate manual processes, increasing transparency and accountability, while improving accuracy and reducing time to market. It gives suppliers and co-packers controlled access to labelling and packaging artwork, ensuring they include the information needed in the format required to eliminate the risk of re-labelling.

3. MANAGES MULTIPLE VARIATIONS– With so many goods in production, companies need to optimise labelling and artwork processes to easily make changes, while reducing time to market and ensuring their business can cope with an increasing number of stock-keeping units (SKUs). A cloud-based labelling solution enables business users to make quick label changes, ensuring companies are not delayed by or reliant on scarce IT resources to make the necessary edits when a prompt reaction is needed.

4. EFFECTIVELY MANAGES RECALLS – If a company needs to recall a product, they must act fast. Cloud-based labelling and packaging processes support traceability and allow companies to react quickly to identify those product lines impacted.

5. OFFERS FLEXIBILITY TO SCALE – Many food and beverage companies distribute and sell products across several geographies where allergen and other labelling requirements can vary. A cloud-based solution that allows them to extend compliant labelling and packaging to other sites and third parties will help ensure requirements are met as their business scales.

To avoid potential penalties and fines resulting from food labelling errors , companies of all sizes should consider adopting cloud-based labelling and Artwork Management solutions to manage current regulatory requirements, prepare for changes that are in the pipeline, and future-proof their operations.

Microsave - Every Commercial Microwave Should Have It! In most hospitality businesses the commercial microwave oven has become a useful tool.

In most kitchens the interior (cavity) of microwaves can suffer from splashes and spills which means that food particles can be left on the ceiling plate, base plate, sides, back, base and lens light cover which, unfortunately, if not cleaned off can start to deteriorate the cavity causing burning and damage which intern can cause break downs of parts not included in the manufacturer’s warranty.

This is where the invention by Regale Microwave Ovens in Hampshire comes in! The directors of the company saw the problems and spent over two years

researching and developing the now sought after Microsave® Cavity Liner. The Microsave protects the entire of the microwave’s oven cavity – the ceiling plate – the base plate and lens light cover! All the operator has to do is take the Microsave Liner out, wash quickly in the pot wash, dry and replace and that is the microwave oven interior clean, hygienic and protecting the parts in the matter of two or three minutes – saving hundreds of pounds in repairs yet costing less than one engineer service call!

For special offers see the advert on page 31 or visit Regale on Stand P344 at HRC.

Cornwall Scale & Equipment Ltd Visit us on Stand F20

Tel : 0333 577 0108 Mobile : 07770677123 Email : info@cornwallscalesltd.co.uk www.cornwallcashregisters.co.uk

S E E U S S TA N D G 2 2

Business Picking Up for Bristol Hotels 18

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The recent removal of lockdown restrictions has resulted in a welcome boost to business for many Bristol hotels.

“We are hoping that many companies will be looking to push the boat out this Christmas, too, and after the deep disappointment of missing out in Christmas 2021, we are optimistic that business will be very strong this Christmas.

For months hoteliers have been hoping to see confidence increase enough to encourage companies to start booking conferences and large events, a vital source of income for hospitality businesses.

“The past two years have been extremely difficult because of the impact of the pandemic, which has hit the hospitality industry particularly hard.

The Bristol Hoteliers Association (BHA) says bookings are now picking up for large corporate events, leading to cautious optimism that its members may finally be able to put the pandemic behind them and look to a brighter future.

BHA Chair Raphael Herzog said: “Bookings are picking up in regards to large corporate events, which is very encouraging.

“We are hoping that many more companies will now want to play catch up, as they have not been able to host events or gatherings for the past two years.

“While many companies have changed the way they work as a result of the pandemic, with some still working from home and others adopting hybrid working practices, there is no substitute for getting together with your colleagues face-to-face.

“And there is no better place to do it than one of the BHA hotels, which have all made significant investments in creating Covid-safe environments.

“The increase in corporate event bookings has been the vote of confidence we have been waiting for, and once people see that conferences and other large gatherings can happen safely, more businesses will follow suit.”

It’s not just bookings for events at their hotels which have given BHA members cause for optimism.

News that the world-famous Bristol Balloon Fiesta is returning in 2022 and that Ashton Gate is hosting what has been billed as the “greatest extreme sport spectacular of the decade” on 4 June are expected to draw thousands of visitors to the city from far and wide, many of whom will want somewhere to stay.

Mr Herzog said: “The return of corporate bookings as well as confirmation of some very large events for the city which will bring many visitors and tourists suggest that the future really is looking brighter for our businesses.

“There are still many challenges to overcome. VAT returns to 20% in April and we are still struggling to recruit all the staff we need. There are also increasing fuel and food costs, all of which cause us difficulties.

“But the return of big events, both to our hotels and the city as a whole, is cause for optimism.

“The people of the UK can also help by booking short breaks and opting for summer staycations rather than foreign travel.

“Bristol and the surrounding area has so much to offer and so many wonders to explore that people will want to stay on home shores, make many magical memories and help our businesses recover from the pandemic too.

“Hopefully, 2022 will be a brighter and better year for everyone.”

WTTB – Print Ordering Made Easy…

To take liberties with a popular phrase, “no business is an island.”

To succeed there are so many other factors to take into consideration, which is why it’s important to ensure that you have reliable, cost effective and professional suppliers in your corner.

WTTB is one such ally, so much so that we don’t see ourselves as service to your business but rather an extension of it.

Our print on demand and up-to-the-minute technology means that we can provide everything you need for your offline marketing – from banners to flyers to signage and all points in between.

Through our state-of-the-art site you can manage your print requirements

seamlessly and easily, with a fast turn around time. And although we’re a digital service, we’re there every step of the way to give you our support or answer any queries.

Our products are suitable for an endless range of sectors and particularly for hospitality.

From information packs to menus, from promotional materials to vouchers and loyalty cards – we’re about producing everything your business needs to keep your existing customers happy and to help you win new ones.

We have a long and strong track record in helping boost our customers’ bottom line with endless solutions to help you get your business noticed and keep it front of mind.

Print is an essential tool for any successful business so find out what we can do for you by visiting www.wherethetradebuys.co.uk

Devastating Energy Cost Increases and Soaring Inflation Threaten Survival of UK Pubs 20

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The British Institute of Innkeeping (BII) has again written to the Chancellor and the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) making the case for critical ongoing support to safeguard the future of UK pubs. Its members are facing extraordinary levels of cost inflation with energy costs for many, more than doubling. This comes at a time where pubs are only just starting their recovery whilst tackling pandemic specific debts, minimal cash reserves and ongoing resourcing issues.

Steven Alton, CEO of the BII commented: “Our members are already facing extraordinary levels of cost inflation in their businesses with more significant rises expected in the coming months. They are unable to simply pass all these costs through to increasingly cash strapped consumers as they fear this will only further reduce levels of trade.

“Many will have to trade ahead of pre-pandemic levels to simply break-even. They need ongoing support to give them the time to rebuild their businesses, provide certainty to allow them to invest in their businesses and also rebuild their teams. This support is an investment in a sector that has the capacity to be at the heart of the economic recovery and safeguard their essential role at the heart of every community.”

Your recognition of the economic, employment and social value of our nations’ pubs has been greatly appreciated throughout the pandemic with the support packages that you have provided. Our 10,000 individual members who independently operate pubs in every community across the country now fear for their survival as their costs rapidly escalate, with energy costs more than doubling for the majority.

strapped consumers. Our members businesses must now attempt to significantly over trade their 2019 revenues to break-even with the increased costs they are tackling. Significantly increasing consumer prices at this time will simply compound issues leading to reduced trade with consumers turning away.

We are seeking an interim package of support over the next 12 months to safeguard these essential businesses. Essential to the economic recovery, essential to providing vital local employment & skills, essential to the rebuilding of high streets & communities and essential in providing accessible places for all to reconnect in their communities.

To safeguard our nations’ pubs we are asking the following: – Continuation of VAT at 12.5% for hospitality for the full year 2022/2023 – Suspension of business rates for the full year 2022/2023 accessible to all businesses irrespective of scale – An immediate and increased duty cut for draught products served in pubs, an increased duty cut of 20% to apply to container sizes of 20 litres and above – Energy cost caps for pub businesses, recognising that many pubs incorporate homes within the pub premises These measures will allow our hospitality businesses to start their recovery, enable them to confidently invest in their businesses and provide stability on which they can rebuild their teams with the talent needed, as they move into growth once again.

The need for an interim package of support is now critical to allow our sector to play its part at the heart of the economic recovery. We are committed to providing accessible and skilled jobs in all communities across the UK. We also remain steadfast in our commitment to leading the way with world-class apprenticeships and development programmes, enabling rapid career development.

We are very appreciative of the support packages that you have delivered so far which are an investment in a sector that can be at the heart of the economic recovery. Your acknowledgement of the disproportionate levels of taxation that our sector pays and your specific recognition of the need to help our pubs with a duty reduction on draught products is also greatly appreciated. We look forward to collaborating on its implementation to ensure that it is impactful in supporting pubs to thrive.

After nearly two years of closure and severe trading restrictions our recovery is being stalled by both soaring inflation and ongoing resourcing challenges. Many hospitality businesses are tackling these challenges with no cash reserves, crippling pandemic specific debts and subdued demand resulting from increasingly cash-

As always, we would welcome any further engagement with you and your officials to ensure the investment proposals above are implemented to the benefit of the individual businesses, the wider economy, and society as a whole who value the key role our pubs play in every community.

The Most Intelligent Wine Event In The World bodies; Esoterica will return to the gallery level, with around 100 boutique importers expected to take part; Drinks Britannia will be a celebration of British Drinks, spanning wines, spirits, beers and ciders; Wines Unearthed will feature wineries looking to export to the UK for the first time; and The Discovery Zone will host products and services championing innovation within the drinks industry at large. Non-alcoholic and low alcohol products will be given a dedicated platform for the first time, to reflect the burgeoning Low and No sector.

The 2022 hybrid edition of the London Wine Fair will celebrate both the return to Olympia after a two-year hiatus, as well as The Fair’s 40th live show - a significant milestone for what is the UK’s longest running annual drinks trade event. The live event will take place on 7th to 9th June, with the digital event running over 20th and 21st June.

The London Wine Fair is set to be the most intelligent wine event in the world. Taking place both digitally and in person, the 2022 Fair will give exhibitors access to a larger trade audience and will allow visitors unable to travel to either London or the UK, access to the exhibitors, their wines, and the show’s content. The digital element will also extend the reach of the show beyond the three physical days as access to digital stands and content will also be available for three months.

Content will be a key part of the 2022 hybrid event, with both the digital and live elements both hosting a programme of seminars, masterclasses and industry briefings.

Visit the London Wine Fair website to find out more: www.londonwinefair.com

The live London Wine Fair will comprise the familiar, key elements of the show; the Trading Floor will host UK agents, international brands and generic

Beat the Blues by Bringing in the Jazz!

Whether you own a pub, bar, café or restaurant it’s important your business reflects the positive atmosphere you want your customers to experience.

That’s why playing music, particularly upbeat songs and other well-known tracks, could help to create an upbeat, happy environment and potentially relieve stress for your staff. It could help to provide an added burst of energy throughout the day and improve concentration and focus, especially during long hours and repetitive tasks.

Playing music that suits a style or a certain occasion, in your venue, could help to create the right feel, whilst distinguishing your brand and helping to make it stand out. It could also help to promote customer loyalty and ensure the experience is both unique and memorable for customers.

You may want to create a lively environment during the evenings as opposed

to perhaps a more relaxed and calming space during the day, or how you might want to reflect a certain theme at events or other occasions. Whatever the situation, the right music can help to create a unique and appealing space and can even influence consumer behaviour.

Music can be an important part of day-to-day life for many people, particularly during their leisure time, which is why something could seem lacking without it in a hospitality environment.

For more information on the benefits of music and TheMusicLicence contact us today on 0800 0868 803 | pplprs.co.uk/get-themusiclicence/

Skyrocketing Energy Costs Force Hospitality Businesses to Raise Prices and Cut Opening Hours 22

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Issue 102

open late or close early, with the subsequent loss in wages to staff. It’s truly punishing.

Soaring energy costs are forcing some hospitality businesses to raise their prices and cut trading hours, according to a new survey by four leading trade bodies.

“It is imperative that Government takes action to support the sector – by extending the reduced rate of VAT beyond April 2022 and working with the sector to ensure that supply is guaranteed and that cost pressures are mitigated.”

The joint poll by trade organisations UKHospitality, the British Institute of Innkeeping (BII), the British Beer and Pub Association (BBPA) and Hospitality Ulster revealed that 76% of businesses are mitigating skyrocketing energy costs by reducing their gas and electricity usage and raising prices, while 38% have cut their trading hours.

The poll received just over 300 responses from businesses operating 6,000 venues, and which are members of the four organisations. Of the businesses that responded, 79% had three or fewer sites.

Average energy price increases of 95% are the latest hurdle the hospitality sector must negotiate as it struggles to recover from the devastating effects of Covid. The others are impending business rate rises, rent increases, chronic staff shortages, rising raw goods costs, plus the prospect of a return in April to 20% VAT for the industry.

Reacting to the findings, UKHospitality, the BII, the BBPA and Hospitality Ulster said: “These astonishing energy price increases are a cruel blow to the thousands of hospitality businesses across the UK desperately trying to rebuild and recover some of the losses they suffered during the pandemic.

“That they should strike just as operators could see light at the end of the tunnel will be particularly painful – imagine having to hike your prices while trying to tempt customers back to your venue and being forced to

Other survey findings showed that one in ten hospitality businesses are seeing staggering energy increases of more than 200%. Those that have seen little change (12%) are likely to be on fixed contracts.

Of those businesses that attempted to renegotiate their contract, over half (55%) had been refused. A third had not tied to recontract. More than a quarter (26%) said they were unable to get a quote or a reasonable quote from an alternative supplier, nearly a third saying the energy company was not supplying to the hospitality sector.

Almost half of respondents (47%) said they were offered a contract, but that the rate was too high; while close to a third who failed to get a reasonable quote were told it was due to them being in the hospitality sector.

Just a Few Days Left to Pay your Self Assessment Tax Bill Self Assessment customers have just one week left to pay their tax bill or set up a payment plan to avoid incurring a penalty, HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) has urged.

and we want to support them. There is still time to set up a payment plan – to see if you’re eligible go to GOV.UK and search ‘pay my Self Assessment’.”

Customers have until 1 April to pay all tax due from their 2020/21 tax return and not receive a late payment penalty. If they are unable to pay in full, there is still time to set up an online payment plan to spread the cost of their bill into manageable monthly instalments.

The Self Assessment deadline was 31 January but, this year, HMRC gave customers extra time to file and pay their 2020/21 tax return and not face penalties.

The online Time to Pay service is available for businesses and individuals who have filed their Self Assessment tax return and owe up to £30,000. They can set up a payment plan online at GOV.UK without speaking to HMRC. If customers owe more than £30,000, or need longer to pay, they can call the Self Assessment payment helpline on 0300 200 3822.

Myrtle Lloyd, HMRC’s Director General for Customer Services, said: “We understand some customers might be worrying about paying their Self Assessment bill this year,

More than 11.3 million customers filed by 28 February, with one million of those taking advantage of the extra time by filing their tax return in February.

HMRC urges everyone to be alert if they are contacted out of the blue by someone asking for money or personal information. Customers should always type in the full online address www.gov.uk/hmrc to get the correct link for filing their Self Assessment return online securely and free of charge. HMRC sees high numbers of fraudsters emailing, calling or texting people claiming to be from the department. If customers are in doubt, do not reply directly to anything suspicious, but contact HMRC straight away and search GOV.UK for ‘HMRC scams’.

Celebrity Chefs Raise over £70k for the DEC’s Ukraine Humanitarian Six of the UK’s most well respected and recognisable chefs have raised over £70k through a charity dinner and auction in aid of the DEC’s Ukraine Humanitarian Appeal.

The money we raised on the night will support refugees fleeing from Ukraine who are facing unimaginable hardship, and will go towards providing much needed food, water and medical assistance.”

The event ‘Five for Ukraine’ saw the award-winning chefs joining forces lay on a sumptuous five-course banquet at Barboun, Shoreditch. The money raised from ticket sales, alongside funds raised via an online auction, will go towards providing critical food, water and medical assistance to refugees fleeing the crisis.

Alongside the fundraising dinner, an online auction offered a range of prizes including: a two night stay at Nathan Outlaw’s new guesthouse, including meals at both of his restaurants; two tickets to Robin Gill’s critically acclaimed Bloodshot Supper Club; overnight stay for four plus dinner at the 5* Limewood Hotel; membership for two at Quo Vadis private members club; dinner and stay at the 5* Stafford Hotel.

Taking part in the one-off special event were Nieves Barragan (Sabor), Lisa Allen (Northcote), Tom Kerridge (Kerridge’s Bar & Grill), Angela Hartnett OBE (Murano), Neil Borthwick (The French House), and Ed Wilson (Brawn) -bios in notes to editors.

Commenting on why she decided to take part, Angela Hartnett said: “It is impossible to witness the harrowing images on TV and not be moved to want to do try and do something. It has been incredibly heart-warming to see how the British public have rallied in support of Ukraine, and, like a lot of people, we just wanted to do our bit.

“I think it is fair to say that one thing chefs do very well is cook, and because many of us have been fundraising with Action Against Hunger for many years, we know that we can apply these skills to help raise much needed funds.

Another well-known restaurant which is getting behind the DEC appeal is Hawksmoor. Will Beckett and Huw Gott, the founders of the restaurant chain, have been long term supporters of Action Against Hunger, a DEC member agency, and have raised more than £1.5 million for the charity to date.

In order to support the DEC’s Ukraine Humanitarian appeal, Hawksmoor donated a percentage from the sales of their incredibly popular ambassador dessert and their Shaky Pete’s Ginger Brew cocktail. All the money raised through purchases of these items was then match funded by the restaurant. Alongside this ongoing fundraising effort, the restaurant has also donated £10,000 to the appeal.

The Dark Destroyer Shaun Wallace is the New Voice for Stonegate’s “We Love Quiz” Stonegate Group has announced Shaun Wallace, ‘The Dark Destroyer’ from ITV’s The Chase, as the new online host of its hugely popular ‘We Love Quiz’ app quiznights.

Taking place every Thursday and Sunday night at 8pm, across hundreds of Stonegate Managed pubs around the country, ‘We Love Quiz’ sees thousands of quiz-lovers downloading the app and competing to win £1,500 in a national jackpot every week.

Shaun Wallace will now be a quiz master and will be leading quizzers through rounds of mind-boggling questions.

Helen Charlesworth, Managing Director of the Stonegate Group, said: “This is a great partnership for ‘We Love Quiz’. Shaun Wallace is a fantastic TV personality and is renowned for his quiz prowess. I love taking part in these quizzes and I know with Shaun at the helm, they are going to get better and better.”

To date, over 80,000 teams have taken part in “We Love Quiz” and a national prize of £120,000 has been won by all the winners since June 2020.

Shaun Wallace said: “Really looking forward to hosting ‘We Love Quiz’ at Stonegate’s amazing pubs and bars and can’t wait to give away lots of money to the weekly winners throughout the UK. Good luck everybody.”

Shaun Wallace’s voice will be added to the “We Love Quiz” platform on Thursday 31 March.

To find out more about “We Love Quiz” nights in Stonegate pubs, follow the pages below: https://welovequiz.co.uk https://www.greatukpubs.co.uk/events/how-you-quizzin

24

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VAT Considerations For Catering And Hospitality Operators Seeking To Terminate Leases Early

By Adam Cutler, director in Crowe’s VAT and Customs Duty Services team (www.crowe.co.uk)

Changes to the way we live and work have meant some commercial premises are no longer viable locations for catering and hospitality operators. Terminating leases early can result in various payments and HMRC’s views on the VAT treatment of these has been unclear.

Crowe’s Adam Cutler welcomes HMRC’s recent confirmations in this complex area.

Even with the introduction of the temporary VAT rate for the hospitality sector, the food and accommodation business has been one of

the hardest hit by the pandemic. While the remaining COVID-19 restrictions are finally easing across the UK, it is clear that the impact of the last two years is leading many businesses to reconsider their operating locations. Where these are now no longer viable, operators may be looking to terminate their leases early and this brings some potential complexity in relation to VAT. In September 2020, HMRC revised its policy in respect of the VAT treatment of early termination payments. Following representations, these changes were withdrawn and reconsidered, leading to a period of unwelcome uncertainty. In February 2022, HMRC confirmed its new approach, which must be applied from April 2022.

For most tenants, early termination of a lease will involve making a ‘surrender’ payment to the landlord, or if the landlord wishes to terminate the lease early they may pay the tenant a ‘reverse surrender’. As payments for supplies of interest in land, these are exempt from VAT unless the party being paid has opted to tax the property.

HMRC now views nearly all payments for early termination as further consideration for services for VAT purposes, even if the payment is described as damages or compensation. So, if you are also terminating equipment leases at the same time, VAT will be due on these charges.

HMRC now accepts that dilapidations (a payment the tenant agrees to pay if the property is not returned in the same condition as it was provided to them at the end of a property lease) will normally be outside the scope of VAT as it is in effect a damages or compensation charge.

Alternatively, a lease may be assigned to another party or the property sub-let. These have different VAT treatments, so it is important to consider the implications of both.

Assignment: 1. a.

A payment to a new tenant to take on the lease is not considered a supply of land and will be standard rated.

A payment from the new tenant to the existing tenant is a b. supply of land by the existing tenant and will be exempt from VAT unless an option to tax is in place.

Subletting: the rent will be exempt for VAT unless an option 2. to tax is in place. If opted, the rent will be subject to VAT at the standard rate.

The payment to the landlord to assign or sub-let is a supply of land by the landlord, so will be subject to the standard rate of VAT if the landlord has opted to tax the building.

Operators receiving a payment to surrender, assign or sub-let their lease will find themselves providing VAT-exempt services if they do not opt to tax the property. While this may be welcome by the other party, it may restrict the operator’s VAT recovery.

While there may be an understandable desire for landlords and operators to terminate leases quickly, in our experience VAT is not often considered; or, if it is, it is only done so when it is too late. These transactions are often high value and typically businesses are not familiar with the complex VAT property rules, so taking advice early can avoid expensive and unexpected issues arising later on.

Wetherspoon Reports “Return to Normal Trading” Pub group JD Wetherspoon has reported that trading has almost returned to pre-Covid levels and revealed the hit from the rapid spread of the Omicron variant before the crucial Christmas trading period.

Alongside interim results Wetherspoon reported that in the past three weeks sales were only 2.6 per cent below the equivalent period in 2019.

It said that cash sales per week during this three-week period have been approximately 10% above the depressed levels of December 2021, its busiest month of the year, indicating an improving trend.

Cash sales per week during this three-week period have been around 10% above the depressed levels of December 2021, indicating an improving trend.

Total sales in the half-year period fell 13.5% compared to two years earlier to £807.4mln.

The unaudited pre-IFRS16 loss before tax and exceptional items was £21.3mln (2020: £57.9mln profit); this included property losses of £1.8mln (2020: £0.2mln).

As at 23 January 2022, the company’s total net debt, excluding derivatives, was £920.4 (2020: £804.5m), an increase of £115.9m.

The company opened four pubs during the first six months and sold or closed six, resulting in a trading estate of 859 pubs at the half year end. As at 23 January 2022, as a result of investment in freehold reversions (relating to pubs where the company was previously a tenant) and freehold pub openings, its freehold/leasehold split was 67.8%/32.2%. As at 23 January 2022, the net book value of the property, plant and equipment of the company was £1.4bn, including £1.1bn of freehold and long-leasehold property.

Total capital investment was £64.7m (2020: £128.5m). £26.6m was invested in new pubs and pub extensions (2020: £23.7m), £18.9m in existing pubs and IT (2020: £34.1m) and £19.2m in freehold reversions of properties where Wetherspoon was the tenant (2020: £70.7m).

Although debt has increased by £116m since H1 2020, trade creditors have reduced by £72m and £109m has been invested in new pubs and freehold reversions. The company has an agreement with its lenders, who have they say, been extremely supportive throughout the pandemic, that waives its debt covenants until October 2022 and replaces them with a minimum liquidity requirement of £75m. At the half-year-end liquidity was £159.1m.

Inflationary pressures in the economy have been widely publicised. Nearly 70% of the company’s properties are freehold, with interest rates fixed for the next decade. Most of the company’s leasehold pubs have rent reviews which are fixed at levels below the current level of inflation. There is pressure on input costs from food, drink and energy suppliers, mitigated to an extent, by a number of long-term contracts. Overall, the company expects the increase in input prices to be slightly less than the level of inflation,” said chairman Tim Martin.

“Draconian restrictions, which amount to a lockdown-by-stealth, are, of course, kryptonite for hospitality, travel, leisure and many other businesses. The company is confident of a strong future if restrictions are avoided. The readiness of the leaders of all the UK’s main political parties to resort to lockdowns, and extreme restrictions, which were not contemplated in the UK’s 2019 plans for pandemics, is the main threat to the future of the hospitality industry, but also to the economy,” Martin added Most of the company’s leasehold pubs have rent reviews which are fixed at levels below the current level of inflation. There is pressure on input costs from food, drink and energy suppliers, mitigated to an extent, by a number of long-term contracts. Overall, the company expects the increase in input prices to be slightly less than the level of inflation. The government is reported to have spent over £400bn on covid measures, around nine times the annual defence budget. The expenditure has been financed by the creation of ‘new money’ by the Bank of England, which has led to significant inflation and higher taxes.”eum fugiat quo voluptas nulla pariatur?

Hospitality & Leisure Sales Increase Two Years on from First Lockdown Data from Barclaycard Payments, has revealed that over the weekend (18-20 March 2022) transaction volumes increased in for a number of businesses, including: Pubs and Bars: • 83.2 per cent up, compared to the same weekend in 2019* • 476.1 per cent up, compared to the same weekend in 2020** (the last weekend before the first COVID-19 lockdown) Amusement Parks: • 144.7 per cent up, compared to the same weekend in 2019* • 1094.2 per cent up, compared to the same weekend in 2020** Restaurants: • 19.6 per cent up, compared to the same weekend in 2019* • 142.2 per cent up, compared to the same weekend in 2020** Rob Cameron, CEO, Barclaycard Payments said:

“Two years on since the first national lockdown, businesses, particularly those in the Leisure, Hospitality and Entertainment sectors have gradually seen a welcome return to trade. With Spring now in the air, consumers are spending more time out of the house, and our data is showing that sectors hardest hit by Covid-19 are promisingly enjoying transaction volumes which exceed pre-pandemic levels.

“It is great to see friends and families enjoying the sunshine and showing their support for UK businesses, despite wider concerns about the cost of living. As many Brits look forward to celebrating Mother’s Day this weekend and with warm weather also on the cards, businesses will be hopeful that this positive uplift continues.”

Lowering fuel duty and increasing the employment allowance is a welcome start for small business owners, but the fact is many are at breaking point – feeling the crippling pressure of rising costs, staff shortages and supply chain issues.

“With inflation surging to 6.2% – a 30-year high – business owners needed a bold and decisive budget to help them navigate a uniquely challenging phase. Instead, the National Insurance hike and scheduled VAT and business rates rise will significantly hit the pockets of small business owners at a crucial point in their road to recovery.

Alan Thomas, UK CEO at Simply Business, one of the UK’s largest providers of small business insurance, comments on the 2022 Spring Statement:

“This comes at a time when small business owners continue to recover from the effects of the pandemic. Our latest report found that, two years on, the eye-watering cost of Covid-19 to small businesses sits at £109.6 billion. Alarmingly, one in six believe they will never recover financially.

“Today’s budget announcement was a missed opportunity for Chancellor Rishi Sunak to put small businesses at the heart of our collective recovery and demonstrate his full support for the UK’s selfemployed.

“Put simply, the government must act. For the sake of six million UK small businesses, it’s essential that they ease the pressure on struggling self-employed people, in turn helping our communities – and the economy at large – bounce back.”

Uncertainty Surrounds Unpaid Rent Arbitration Scheme, says Royds Withy King 26

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Landlords and their tenants face a new and uncertain arbitration scheme when looking to recover unpaid rent debts which relate to periods of forced closure during the pandemic. Some may choose to avoid the arbitration scheme entirely, says property lawyers Royds Withy King.

The general restrictions on landlords seeking to recover unpaid rents are expected to lift after 25 March 2022 in relation to so-called ‘unprotected rent debts’, allowing commercial landlords to take enforcement action. From 1 April 2022, they will once again be able to issue statutory demands and winding-up orders against tenants in relation to them.

The Commercial Rent (Coronavirus) Bill is currently making its way through parliament and is set to be passed into law on 25 March 2022. The Bill introduces the new concept of ’protected rent debt’ which if an agreement cannot be reached, can be resolved via a newly set up arbitration scheme.

Ian McEwan and Paula Green, Partners in the Property Disputes team at Royds Withy King explain that the arbitration scheme is a potential cause for concern with both landlords and tenants given the uncertainty in how the scheme will work.

“Protected rents are those that fall into the period of forced closure, broadly between March 2020 and July 2021, and can only be recovered by mutual agreement between the parties or through the arbitration scheme. It is the lack of clear guidance on how the scheme will work that may make some landlords and tenants hesitant to use it.

“Draft guidance on how arbitrators should exercise their powers under the scheme has now been produced, but questions remain over the information that parties should submit in support of their positions, and how consistent the arbitrators’ awards will be.

“In reaching a decision arbitrators will have to consider the proposals put forward by each party on how much of the protected rent debt they consider should be paid, together with any evidence provided in support of the proposal.”

Arbitrators will need to apply the “principles” set out in the Act, namely that: • The award should be aimed at preserving or restoring and preserving the viability of the business of the tenant so far as that is consistent with preserving the landlord’s solvency; and • The tenant should, so far as it is consistent with the first principle, be required to meet its obligations as regards the payment of protected rent in full and without delay.

“The arbitrator is required to make an award based on the proposal that is most consistent with these principles. If they consider that neither proposal is consistent with the principles then the arbitrator may make whatever award they consider appropriate applying these principles,” explains Ian McEwan and Paula Green.

“The guidance suggests putting forward a variety of financial, and potentially sensitive information in support of a party’s proposal, but some parties may not wish to share much of this or to spend the not inconsiderable time required to compile it all.

“Landlords and tenants are also concerned about the consistency of decisions, particularly as different awards may be handed down in different parts of the country by different arbitrators where the facts are essentially the same. Arbitrators have, for example, the ability to completely wipe the rent debt away or agree a repayment schedule over a period of up to 24 months.

“It is unclear how long the process will take. The window for referral to the scheme is initially open for a period of six months, with estimates on arbitrations taking between three and twelve months to complete not including any time for appeals.

“In general, it is expected that the parties will share the costs of the Arbitrator’s appointment and the costs of any hearing.

“An assessment will need to be made as to whether the arbitration scheme is appropriate in each case.

Issues such as the value of the debt, the parties’ conduct, record keeping, and their plans for the future will be relevant considerations in deciding whether to make a referral to the scheme. But for many landlords and tenants reaching a negotiated settlement, over which they will have greater control and certainty, may be preferable.

Ukraine Crisis is A Long Term Threat to Food Prices, Warns Lynx Purchasing The Russian invasion of Ukraine will have an ongoing impact on hospitality food prices, and is likely to end any hopes that spiralling food inflation is just a blip, warns Lynx Purchasing.

"We've all witnessed the horrifying events in Ukraine, and hospitality operators and their customers understand the tragic human cost driving the need for sanctions," says Lynx Purchasing managing director Rachel Dobson, "but it's also important that they plan for the impact of the invasion, and the measures to oppose it, on their businesses."

The warning comes as Lynx publishes the Spring 2022 edition of its regular Market Forecast, to support customers as they plan for a peak trading season which includes Easter, the May Bank Holiday, and the Platinum Jubilee celebrations.

Dobson adds: "There is now further pressure on hospitality and catering operators, who were already seeing unprecedented levels of food and drink inflation, driven by a combination of spikes in commodity prices, increased transportation and import costs, and higher labour costs.

"All of this has to be factored into the prices suppliers charge to customers. The latest inflation figures from the ONS show that restaurant prices were up 6.4% year-on-year in February."

Examples of the impact of the Ukraine crisis on the hospitality sector include: • Poultry: The cost of feed is one of the biggest factors in the price of poultry, and so the loss of grain from both

Ukraine and Russia will have a significant impact on prices. In addition, both Ukraine, and neighbouring countries such as Poland which are facing disruption due to the invasion, are major processors of poultry, producing products for the catering market.

• Vegetable Oil: Ukraine supplies 60% of the world's sunflower oil, and the loss of this will inevitably lead to cost increases. Oil prices on the global commodities markets were already reported to have reached an all-time high in January, mainly due to global weather challenges, including drought in South America. With vegetable oils used in the production of many staple foods, operators can expect to see the impact on food bills in the months ahead.

• Fuel: Higher fuel costs driven by spikes in the price of oil significantly increase production and distribution costs, which suppliers will factor into increased prices charged to operators.

• Utilities: Energy prices were already increasing sharply, and gas and electricity suppliers are currently only likely to offer new fixed price contracts at very high rates.

Dobson adds: "While we all hope that the immediate crisis can be resolved quickly, the impact of both the war itself, and sanctions, mean that operators will now have to budget for high prices for some time to come; at the very least for the rest of this year.

"The best advice to operators is to plan for costs that can't be controlled, and focus on those that can one of which is purchasing. Best practice includes planning menus well in advance, and consolidating orders to meet free delivery and minimum value thresholds. Our advice is to order early, keep speaking to suppliers about availability, and to keep menu descriptions flexible to allow for changes if needed."

Registration Now Open For Europe’s Leading Natural And Organic Business Event Natural & Organic Products Europe has announced that visitor registration is now open for 2022. After a two year wait, Europe’s leading trade show for natural, organic and sustainable products will reunite the industry once again on 3-4 April at ExCeL London.

For over 25 years, Natural & Organic Products has played an integral part in making the natural and organic sector what is it today. Due to unprecedented times, the show has had to close its doors to many visiting buyers, who say it’s “the place” they source new contacts for their businesses. The return edition is perfectly timed because it will feature new and exciting ‘start-ups’ – some that have emerged through the pandemic, plus new innovations from established brands who have been adapting and evolving. The show will also provide expert insights about current challenges and future opportunities for the industry.

The show brings together 700 exhibitors across five exciting sections: • Natural Food • Natural Health • Natural Beauty & Spa

• Natural Living • Vegan “If you own a health store or work in the industry, this is the essential show to attend. It is the only place that you can meet your suppliers, other retailers and trade associations and find out about new products and trends in one place over two days. It can be hard taking time out of your business, but you will save time in the long run by dedicating time to the show. You will have fun, try lots of new foods and end up exhausted but it is all very much worth it,” says Joanne Hill, founder of Amaranth Wellbeing.

VISITOR REGISTRATION NOW OPEN Natural & Organic Products Europe will return to ExCeL London on Sunday 3rd and Monday the 4th of April 2022. To register for a free trade ticket, please visit www.naturalproducts.co.uk or see the advert on the back cover.

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CLH DIGITAL

Products and Services

Issue 102

South West Labels

South West Labels are a supplier of labelling guns, thermal label printers & labels.

We’re here for retail, industrial and manufacturing businesses.

We’re independent, which means impartial recommendations combined with over 30 years experience in supplying these products.

Monster Mesh Monster Mesh is a leading events and construction branding company, specialising in supplying large format printed products.

We specialise in large format full colour and dye sublimation printing for weather resistance, strength and durability. Our top-quality products match the service you should expect, and we supply direct to brand owners, event management, construction, and signage companies.

We can provide a range of custom designed and printed products for HERAS fence covers, PVC and

The labelling gun market can be complicated. Many products are known by different names depending on their use. Labelling guns, price guns, pricing guns, label guns, coding guns and batch guns. Our range of products can meet all needs: Simple low use models, durable machines for industry. A wide variety of specialist features including auto-incrementing guns for batch codes.

All equipment is supplied with a one year factory warranty and are designed to give years of reliable and effective service.

Visit www.southwestlabels.co.uk ACM Hoarding panels, PVC and mesh banners, and large scale scaffold wraps. We have been in operation for 4 years now, continually growing year on year thanks to both new and return clients.

At Monster Mesh we agree that your brand needs to generate the right impact. Getting an eye-catching design is the most important when displaying your banner amongst others, so at Monster Mesh we offer a complete in-house design service. Most of the time this is a free service where our team of designers will take your logo and a brief sample of text to create your individual design. Throughout our years of experience in large format design, we have learnt several ways to produce the impression you desire.

We take pride in our leading customer service, one of our Biggest selling points. Each client is given a direct contact to liaise with and we also offer a free design service to all our customers regardless of their size.

We work with large and small construction companies across the UK and into Europe, many UK councils and government bodies as well as directly and indirectly with events and events management companies.

The majority of our products include free delivery and typical lead times are just 7 working days, with some products available through our 5-day express service.

To find out more, please visit www.monster-mesh.co.uk.

Cornwall Scale & Equipment Ltd

Established in 1975, Cornwall Scale & Equipment Ltd are now one of the largest Suppliers of Cash Registers and Electronic Scales in the South West Of England, as well as shipping world-wide.

models including Sam4s, Casio, Pi Electronique, Aster and much more.

Whether you are looking for a basic low cost Cash Register or a fully integrated, EPOS solution for retail or hospitality environments, we are always happy to help.

• • • • •

Supplying and maintaining cash registers and scales throughout the south west of England. All makes and

Duchy Cash Systems Supplying Cornwall and Devon, Duchy Cash Systems is a provider of premium EPOS solutions for the hospitality sector - pubs, restaurants, hotels and nightclubs. Each system is tailored to suit the customer's needs, focussing on speed/ease of use and durability. Our touchscreen EPOS terminals offer a host of time and labour saving features, helping your staff work more effi-

Full training and support on any make and model of Cash register, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

Cash Register Rolls and Ink Rollers/Ribbons Pricing guns and labels • Money Counting Scales Money Sorters • Forge Note Detectors Monitor lines • Stock control Software Paging Systems Visit www.cornwallcashregisters.co.uk

ciently.

Optional back office, stock control software features total stock management, enhanced security features, time and cost saving tools.

Duchy Cash Systems provide the comprehensive after sales package that only a local company can really offer: 24 hour telephone support, remote diagnostics & assistance, and a fast callout response.

Chadds Foodsmiths Visit www.duchycashsystems.com

for great food and great service. From the big brand products to working with local artisan suppliers we have something for everyone. Why not join us on 5 April for our Food Expo at the Royal Cornwall Showground and come and meet our suppliers.

Chadds Foodsmiths, the leading Cornish foodservice wholesaler distributes all your catering requirements.

Whether you're a restaurant, hotel, pub, cafe, coffee shop, take-away, farm shop, visitor attraction, care home, school or anyone else that procures food - we are the company for you.

We offer an extensive range of food categories from frozen, ice cream, dairy, meats, fruit and vegetables to grocery, drinks, non foods and janitorial supplies - ‘the one stop shop for caterers’.

Our range will appeal to all those who have a passion

Chadds Foodsmiths are members of the Sterling Supergroup, this allows us to benefit from the group purchasing power when negotiating deals with suppliers; we can then pass these savings on to our customers. It also enables Sterling own label produce to be available. The own label range has significantly developed over recent years and continues to help us offer a good value product to our customers.

For more details call our telesales 01288 353964 for a representative to visit www.chaddsfoodsmiths.co.uk

Food Waste Dryer Slashes Waste Disposal Costs The Eco-Smart Food Waste Dryer is taking the country by storm, saving catering and hospitality owners up to 80% in food waste disposal costs. With macerators and disposal units banned in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, it’s only a matter of time before they’re illegal in England too. And putting smelly food waste in wheelie bins is a health hazard attracting vermin and pests, particularly in warm weather.

The Eco-Smart Food Waste Dryer is already in hotels, hospitals and restaurants solving these problems. Each unit extracts the water from food waste overnight, leaving a dry powder, only 20% of it’s former weight and volume. The result is an 80% saving in disposal costs, no smelly wheelie

bins and no blocked drains.

There are seven models from 20kg to 350kg daily capacity so even small premises can benefit from the technology as the smallest unit is about the size of a small fridge. It is a ‘plug and play’ solution: you just need a power socket and a nearby sink drain for the extracted water to drain off. “This really is the future of food waste disposal. The dry powder is collected for recycling so no food waste goes to landfill. Not to mention the substantial savings from disposal” said David Boyd from Eco-Smart.

For more information and a brochure go to www.foodwastedryer.co.uk or call 01522 692888

Raise the Bar of Your In-Venue Entertainment with NSM's Hottest Jukeboxes Leeds Based Jukebox Manufacturer NSM Music has a rich heritage of pioneering jukeboxes using the state of the art technologies for over 70 years, for customers across 5 continents.

Whether it’s licensed music content, Video’s or the latest technological hardware, NSM Music prides itself as a one stop shop music solution with fantastic technical support and after sales.

• Tell us more about your interactive digital jukeboxes.

How do they affect customer experience?

It’s no fluke that NSM has been manufacturing jukeboxes for over 70 years. All NSM products have been developed off the back of customer and operator feedback, We believe we have something for everyone, for example;

• All our jukeboxes have the option to be an audio or audio/video jukebox and can be changed at a press of a button.

• On Screen Visual Advertising • Contactless payments.

• Online connection gives customers the use of both NSM Apps, daily music updates, the Official Big Top 40 and access to our entire music library.

A key area when developing our jukeboxes user interface is to make it simple and easy to use, this way the customer doesn’t get frustrated and walk away and instead feels comfortable and takes pleasure from interacting with the jukebox.

• How has ‘NSMMusic App’ affected business? Any increase in attendance and/or footfall?

Customers just love jukeboxes, many of times Licensee tell us how the jukebox keeps their customers in their venue longer which increases wet sales.

The app has been an amazing addition to our jukeboxes. NSM’S Alex Kirby explains, the “NSMMusic” App is for customers to browse the jukebox, buy credits and make selections, all without having to leave their seat, It’s certainly a great facility for shy customers.

Customer simply download the app from the Google or App Store, create an account, then your all set. Once logged in you can buy credits via Google Pay, Apple Pay, PayPal, Debit Card or Credit Card.

We have also a second app called “Co-Pilot”, Co-Pilot is an app which

was developed so operators can manage their jukeboxes remotely, for example; Operators or location staff can use Co-Pilot on their phones to pause, reject, change the volume up and down or even reboot the jukebox.

They can also use the app to create and schedule adverts by choosing from one thousands of our predefined templates and adding their own text, they can even create ads by using their own photos from their phone.

Other Co-Pilot uses are as follows; • Check Jukebox Internet Connections – know which devices are in an error state, haven’t connected to the NSM network recently, or need to be tended to immediately • Access Location Details and Controls – view and manage all jukeboxes including money collections.

• Receive Jukebox Notifications – get alerts for power downs, overheating & door opens Over the next few years we will continue to develop this powerful tool and add many new exciting features including Back Ground Music Control. www.nsmmusic.com Tel: +44 0113 2713 708 Email: info@nsmmusic.com

SPECIAL CLH OFFER GET 10% OFF LIST PRICE DURING MARCH 2022

BY QUOTING ‘CLH10’ Telephone 01329 285518 for full details

Products and Services Old Jamaica, The UK’s Number One Ginger Beer Brand

Old Jamaica, the UK’s number one ginger beer brand, has the perfect range of soft drinks to appeal to all those who like to mix it up. All of our drinks pair perfectly with gin, vodka, rum and whisky; in fact almost any spirit you can think of, there’s an Old Jamaica product that can pair perfectly with it!

From Old Jamaica Ginger Beer – with Regular, Light and Extra Fiery to choose from – through to our recent launch of our Ginger Ale, as well as a Rhubarb & Ginger Ale, we are the OG’s of ginger beer and the only brand that uses authentic Jamaican root ginger across our range.

In addition to ginger beers, Old Jamaica has a range of Sodas too. Our Tropical Soda joined the family in 2021, with Grape Soda, Cream Soda and Pineapple Soda continuing to delight consumer tastebuds across the country!

All of the products in the Old Jamaica portfolio deliver a bold and unique flavour, meeting the increasing needs of UK consumers, as one in four consumers already mix Old Jamaica with alcohol.

Terri Cooper, senior commercial manager at Old Jamaica, said: “We’re excited to see Old Jamaica continue to be the UK’s no.1 ginger beer brand and consistently tap into consumers' growing demand for quality, versatile, flavoursome mixers that pair perfectly with a variety of spirits and are suitable for all occasions.”

A wide-ranging communications strategy will support the brand throughout 2022 and aims to broaden Old Jamaica’s brand appeal, increase awareness, and position the brand as the authentic alternative to the ‘norm’ within the soft drinks category.

Visit www.refresco.com or www.oldjamaicagingerbeer.com for details.

Isn’t It Time You Stocked One of Robert’s Dorset - Handmade in Britain the FASTEST GROWING Rums?

We are a family business based in Bath serving the UK, we make Award Winning drinks using quality Caribbean Rum with traditional techniques and only the best natural ingredients.

Caramel, Coconut, 40% Black Pearl Spiced, Golden Rum, Pineapple Spiced Rum

In 2021 over 65,000 bottles of Beckford’s Rum were sold to consumers across the UK, this year we will be attending over 100 consumer events.

Isn’t it time you stocked one of the UKs best selling rums?

We sell to pubs, hotels, cocktail bars & farm shops Order your taste samples today sales@craftywolf.com or 07961471474 or visit www.craftywolf.co.uk for further information or see the advert on page 9.

Is TEAPY T-4-1 The Future Of Tea Service?

Perfect brewing conditions, a proven 40% saving in staff time compared to teapot service, and a unique “aroma burst”, make TEAPY T-4-1 an obvious choice for any foodservice operation. Mosaic Hospitality have over five years experience of TEAPY T-4-1 used with tea bags at The Stables Kitchen, Bramall Hall. According to director Kirsten Inverarity, “I immediately saw its advantages for busy operations like ours.” Not far away, at MarJoe’s speciality tea and coffee shop, tea aficionado Lawrence Turner serves only loose leaf teas, offering a choice between TEAPY T-4-1 and teapot service. “The majority of our customers choose TEAPY T-4-1 and we prefer serving with it, providing the best possible tea with the least possible effort”.

TEAPY T-4-1 is the clear preference of serving staff, a complete tea service safely carried in one hand, or more servings

on one tray, fewer pieces to dishwash, and easy to store ready for the next use, saving up to 70% shelf space.

The latest TEAPY designs include no less than three inventions, two already patented and one patent-pending, that enable these breakthrough benefits in serving and enjoying tea and other infusions. TEAPY T-4-1 is also used for hot chocolate, mulled wine and coffee bags.

Serial inventor Roland Hill’s one-way vision inventions are used on bus and retail window advertisements worldwide, including Pret, Eat, Costa and Starbucks. They have won three Queen’s Awards for Enterprise, two for Innovation and one for International Trade. He believes TEAPY T-4-1 will be just as successful, “All TEAPYs are made in the UK, of either Eastman Tritan copolyester or bone china, each providing the perfect tea experience.”

Visit www.teapy.co.uk, www.contravision.com or see the advert on page 6.

Robert’s Dorset is a family owned and operated company and we know the value of our stockist.

All orders are made to order giving you the freshest product available.

One area we differ from everyone else is each box we send out. We don’t insist on each box being a single flavour. We tailor every box to exactly what you require.

We offer 11 flavours of Proper Pork Crackling so if you only want 8, that’s exactly what we will send you.

Our minimum order is just 1 box with carriage or £150 with carriage paid.

We specialise in 3 core products, Pork Crackling, Nuts and fudge but we offer both reusable and recyclable

packaging in both.

In today's market place we try to tick as many boxes as possible to make us a one stop for the snack requirements.

Allegan Free, Keto, Vegan, Gluten Free, Low Carbohydrate, No Cholesterol, High Protein.

All of our products are British sourced with the exception of our nuts but hopefully in time, who knows.

For own online catalogue with visuals & prices please email trade@sct-sct.com or give one of the team a call 01202875280.

If you have an online store we are happy to send you visuals to ad to your website. Those with store we will provide full POS free of Charge.

Isle of Wight Distillery - Free Your Spirit Rooted in the natural landscape of a unique island, we are the Isle of Wight’s first and only distillery. Our founders Xavier and Conrad and our small team distil spirits shaped by our stunning surroundings and the unique character of our island. Doing things differently, minimising waste, using ethically sourced and often local, foraged ingredients to craft a range of smooth, complex spirits.

Our signature spirit Mermaid Gin delivers a smooth yet complex blend of fresh organic lemon zest and peppery grains of paradise, with a hint of sea air from locally foraged, fragrant rock samphire - a refreshing and invigorating serve. Mermaid’s name was inspired by

its lead botanical rock samphire, known locally as ‘mermaid’s kiss’. This aromatic succulent clings to the cliffs surrounding the island and marks the high tide line on its majestic beaches.

Alongside Mermaid Gin, we produce subtly sweet, naturally flavoured Mermaid Pink Gin, infused with fresh Island strawberries grown in the rich and fertile microclimate of the Arreton valley and Mermaid Salt Vodka (a favourite with mixologists), using salt harvested from the flood tide off the island’s southern coast.

Mermaid is naturally vegan and gluten-free.

Our spirit range also includes HMS Victory-branded Navy Strength Barrel-aged Gin and Rum, which incorporates real oak from the famous warship,.

We blend traditional methods with contemporary techniques, hand-crafting our spirits in small batches and slow distilling before cutting with local spring water and bottling on the island. The result is an awardwinning range of spirits with a contemporary style, layered complexity and signature smooth delivery.

Contact: +44 (0)1983 613653 or Web: www.isleofwightdistillery.com

We Promise To Make Coffee Keeping Food Hot? We Have All The Answers Moments Unforgettable First of all, you will want one of our world beating Kanga boxes and a Carbon Heater. You can then keep food hot indefinitely and fully comply with HACCP regulations.

Sounds too good to be true?

Well we only supply premium German manufactured products from stock at incredibly low prices. The insulated box manufactured from top quality expanded polypropylene is a dense closed cell insulation material but incredibly light to handle when empty for example the GN insulted box with a 117 mm internal depth only weighs just over a kilo and yet holds a massive 21 lts capacity. Now combine the Kanga box with a Carbon Heater and the magic begins, hot food all the time!

Our range of Carbon heaters offers two voltage options 12 volts for car operation using the cigarette lighter socket or 230 volt mains voltage for internal or external mains use. The big advantage of the Carbon Heaters they are absolutely fool proof just insert them in the bottom of the box turn on and forget, there are no consumer controls the temperature is pre-set at the factory at 75 deg C. The Carbon Heater is very light at only 700 grammes and does not take up much room only being 10mm thick. Dishes can be place on the Carbon Heater straight out of the oven up to 120deg C. Finally quick and easy to clean just wipe over with a damp cloth.

Contact Catering Equipment Limited on Tel: 0121 773 2228 or visit www.clickonstore.net or www.kangaboxuk.com

Your customers choose you because they want to create great memories. Whether enjoyed first thing in the morning or last thing after supper, Artisan Coffee will transport your customers somewhere truly magical - and all they need to do to get there is to walk through your doors.

Our indulgent blends have been created and perfected by some of the best in the biz. From a Michelin twostarred chef to a team of the world’s best Q graders (the coffee industry’s equivalent to a sommelier), the leading minds - and palates - in the industry are behind our original and characterful blends.

This is no ordinary coffee. When it comes to flavour, we’re changing the game. We use cutting-edge science and innovative technology to stay ahead of the flavourtrain. Our six distinctive characterful blends have been crafted to thrill everyone from the casual caffeine con-

sumer to the consummate coffee connoisseur. Who knew coffee could taste so good?

We didn’t start with a mission to change the way you drink coffee; we started with a mission to greatly improve it. From giving you the power to choose how you brew - our coffee is available as pods, whole bean, coffee bags or ground so you can tailor it to suit your needs - to ensuring that flavour and freshness are maintained cup after cup. Our unique packaging keeps your coffee at its flavourful best.

No subtle note is lost, just cup after cup of perfection.

With us, you’re in good company. Like the coffees we craft, we’re constantly evolving, improving and seeking perfection. The only challenge your customers will face is how to stop at just one cup.

Visit www.artisancoffeeco.com or contact sales@artisancoffeeco.com for more information.

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CLH DIGITAL

Issue 102

Chefs' Buyer's Guide

Invest Northern Ireland as Great Taste, the Quality Food Awards and most recently the Scottish Retail Food and Drink Awards. Key to this success is our unique blend of tradition and innovation. Invest NI’s Pure, Natural, Quality strapline summarises the goodness of Northern Ireland’s produce, which emanates from our rich pastures and sustainably managed farms. High quality local ingredients ensure guaranteed provenance and short supply chains, giving full confidence in food security and traceability.

Northern Ireland is well known for the quality of its beef, dairy and bakery products. In each of these sectors, suppliers are melding established production techniques with the latest technology, enabling them to access opportunities in the growing plant-based and free-from sectors.

Finnebrogue is at once a leading supplier of sausages, nitrate-free bacon and plantbased meat alternatives, operating from several discrete production facilities. In the bakery sector, traditional craft soda farls and wheaten breads sit alongside glutenfree and vegan options from Stone Bakery and Graham’s.

Food and drink is a vital and growing industry in Northern Ireland. In terms of turnover, employment and cultural significance, this £5bn sector continues to extend its reach in GB and in international markets. Whilst 50% of turnover comes from our top 10 companies, family-owned businesses remain prominent, resulting in an industry that is flexible, authentic and straightforward in its dealings.

A diverse range of food and drink brands from producers of all shapes and sizes brings warmth and personality to the sector. Northern Ireland’s produce has proven award-winning status, the result of many years of success in schemes such

Invest NI’s dedicated food business development team supports local companies to develop their business with customers in GB and beyond. Visit our website or contact us directly to learn how our worldclass food and drink can help grow your business. www.buynifood.com

HOTMIXPRO EASY : The EASY way to MIX and BLEND, HOT or COLD. Having introduced the Thermal Mixing concept to the UK many years ago, the Barbel brand has been recognised and highly regarded throughout the professional kitchen world ever since.

Before being added to the Barbel range every product will have been thoroughly ‘tried & tested’ and approved.

HotMixPro Easy is manufactured by Vitaeco S.r.l., the world-famous manufacturer of many high-quality products such as the unrivalled HotMixPro thermal blender range, Sanozone, Giaz

and more.

HotMixPro Easy fits into every professional kitchen and is also particularly suitable for hospitals and care home areas, where absolute hygiene and self-sterilisation is mandatory, The Barbel team always provide prompt professional advice and reliable back up service.

For full details, see the advert adjacent and visit www.barbel.net

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CLH DIGITAL

Issue 102

Chefs' Buyer's Guide

Fly the Flag this June to Celebrate the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee, Urges Chevler

Chevler, the UK’s leading manufacturer of baking cases and a major player in the bespoke printed greaseproof sheet market, is urging bakers, coffee shops, retailers, and foodservice operators not to miss out on the opportunities offered by what it is describing as a truly momentous event and unprecedented anniversary – the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee.

“As the country is now rapidly coming out covid of restrictions and with the four-day bank holiday in early June in order to celebrate Her Majesty’s 70th year on the throne approaching we hope that bakers, cake makers, coffee shop owners and retailers will get into the spirit of the event and seize the opportunities the fourday bank holiday offers,” explained Chevler’s director of sales and marketing Garry Parker.

“That’s why we have we have been forced by popular demand to reintroduce two of our specially designed baking cases which feature the Union flag. This means it is not too late for cupcake makers to take advantage of the growing excitement and build on the red, white and blue theme I know many are planning.”

The cases are available in the ever-popular 51mm x 38mm size and in quantities as low as 360 giving every

business, whatever its size, the chance to participate.

Chevler is unique in that its printing and converting is carried out in-house. “We do not rely on stock shipped from abroad or depend on outside printers or converters, explained Mr. Parker. “This means it is a truly British manufactured product. And we only use water-based, odour-less food safe inks. We have responded to our customers’ requests in order that they can be as innovative as they like this summer and take full advantage of the opportunities the snack cake market will offer.”

To also help tap into the excitement the company is offering a food-safe, printed natural greaseproof sheet featuring the Union flag marketed under the company’s Gourmet Food Wrap brand.

The 255mm x 406mm sheet with its rich luxurious feel has numerous potential uses and applications in the retailing, presentation and serving of both cold and, because of its excellent thermal properties, hot food.

These range from a simple sandwich, panini or burger wrap to, a liner for wire baskets and stainless-steel buckets, a place mat, or it can be simply put on a wooden board or slate on which sizzling or cold food can be placed.

Mr Parker stressed: “It is very important to remember that we print on natural greaseproof paper which does not have any chemical treatments or coatings. It acquires its greaseproof properties during the pulping process. Its fibres become so tightly entwined that the spaces between them are smaller than a grease molecule. It is therefore recyclable and a sustainable option for your business.”

They are available in individual packs of 500 sheets within boxes of 2000.

For further information visit www.chevler.co.uk or call 01844 344231.

Katana Saya is the Universal Knife Brand of our Times, Encompassing the Very Best of our Different Cultures and Traditions The Katana was the prized sword of the Samurai with its extra sharp blade fashioned from folded steel. The blades of our knives are similarly crafted from 67 layers of Japanese VG-10 Damascus Steel.

The comprehensive collection evolves from its Eastern traditions to Western culinary classics.

Comprised of 16 essential knives and additional accessories including whetstones, sharpening steels & carving sets, Katana Saya offers all that any chef could need.

For Japanese traditionalists, we present the traditional Japanese style knives with traditional Wooden Saya, to match the knife handles. For those of a more Westernised nature, we have adapted the series to represent all the popular Western style blades and provide a more modern and practical storage and safety solution, with a real leather sheath.

Furthermore, each of our Katana Saya Knives comes complete with a durable wooden presentation case. Whilst offering additional protection, the case provides the perfect gift for someone in your life who loves to cook!

The handles of our Katana Saya knives offer a further choice. They are all crafted from the finest wooden material in the traditional chestnut shape to give a safe grip and perfect balance. You may choose either the traditional dark Pakkawood handles, or the light Olive Wood handle alternative.

So… Old, New, East, West, you choose whatever’s best for You! Our knives are available through selected stockists.

For more information, and to view the complete collection you can visit our partner Knives From Japan at their website www.knivesfromjapan.co.uk or pay a visit to our showroom, SANTOKU at 100 Great Portland Street, London.

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Issue 102

Chefs' Buyer's Guide

It's Time To Get Real

LittlePod’s responsibly-sourced product range includes our innovative, easy-to-use natural vanilla paste Are you squeezed for time? Why not try our quality and organic vanilla Vanilla Bean Paste in a tube. pods, as well as our It has been specially created to provide top-quality extracts of vanilla, vanilla in an easy and versatile form, with no wastage and coffee and chocoless flavour bake-off. Each tube has a two-year shelf life late. These ingrediand contains the equivalent of 20 pods, seeds and all. ents not only Put it in coffee, porridge, smoothies and ice cream, rub support each other in the rainforest, but it into meats like duck and pork, use it in your cakes and bakes, or as a marinade for fish! Sweet and savoury are also perfect alike, LittlePod products are gluten free, suitable for veg- flavour partners in the kitchen. ans and kosher certified.

Visit www.littlepod.co.uk

GLOBAL Knives Need Little Introduction in the Culinary World

The Komin Yamada design has become a true icon. Hand crafted in Japan for over 35 years using the best raw materials available.

Like the samurai swords before them, each knife is carefully weighted to ensure perfect feel and balance in the hand.

In 2021 Global knives was awarded The Icon Award at the prestigious Excellence in Housewares Awards, solidifying Global’s truly iconic status.

It is this iconic status along with unfailing quality that has drawn the attention and trust of some of the world’s most renowned and exceptional chefs. Global have established a long-standing relationship with the legendary Roux family as a key supporter of the prestigious Roux Scholarship since its inception in 1984.

Please mention the Caterer, Licensee & Hotelier News when replying to advertising

Michel Roux Jr’s signature range has been popular amongst professional chefs and keen amateur cooks

alike. Personally curated from the GLOBAL classic collection and stamped with the Michel Roux Jr signature, emblemizing the relationship between Roux and Global.

Here we offer a selection of three carefully selected knife sets ideal for chefs. Whether you choose the 3 Piece, 6 Piece or 9 Piece there really is the perfect tool for any kitchen task.

This tremendous offer is only available for a limited time, so do not hesitate in taking the chance to own one of these fabulous knife sets.

This offer is available online exclusively through our partner website, Knives From Japan - www.knivesfromjapan.co.uk but you can also visit us in our London showroom, SANTOKU at 100 Great Portland Street.

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Lancashire Supplier Brings Edible Print to the Food Service Market Food Service from Eat My Logo Launches Established UK based bakery business Eat My Logo has set its sights on the UK foodservice industry after high demand for their products in 2021. The company specialises in bespoke fully finished cake, biscuit and chocolate products, all printed with company branding or themed images.

The award-winning business has supplied bespoke products to UK businesses big and small since 2014. Work has now been carried out with some key catering and hospitality businesses to bring new and exciting options to market.

There has been demand for bakery treats decorated with a company logo or themed image for several years, with catering businesses looking to offer their clients unique products for celebrations, staff engagement, awareness days, and events.

The businesses core range includes frosted cupcakes, biscuits, brownies along with more unique options such as cake jars and cake pops. Also available is a range of printed toppers, for use by chefs on their own creations. As part of their launch, the business has developed a website and brochures for industry professionals from chefs to buyers and business owners.

Business Development Manager Daniel Clarke commented that ‘having spoken to dozens of catering and

Total Produce

Total Produce has become one of the UK's largest and most accomplished fresh produce providers, with an extensive network of depot operations throughout the UK, reaching from Cornwall to Edinburgh.

Total Produce sources and distributes an extensive range of fresh produce across all major categories including fruits, vegetables and salad - extending from the more familiar to the truly exotic. Total Produce also supply an extensive range of dry goods and dairy.

Serving the retail, wholesale and food service sectors, Total Produce UK is a complete fresh produce solution provider, offering a comprehen-

hospitality businesses we know that time, staff and resources can be a limitation at times, so we’re offering an easy way to provide themed or logo branded solutions at the right price for end-clients. Offering themed or branded solutions can make all the difference to your client’s event, awareness day, celebration or reward’, and could enhance your proposition and generate additional revenues.’

Eat My Logo is an innovative supplier of sweet treats, decorated with a themed image or company Logos.

Established in 2014, we work with catering and hospitality businesses to offer their clients unique products for celebrations, staff engagement, events and conferences. We specialise in irresistible cakes, biscuits and chocolates.

Contact: Eat My Logo Limited Phone: 01772 273137 Email: catering@eatmylogo.co.uk Website: www.eatmylogo.catering

sive menu of services to our customers, ranging from simple service provision to an independent grocer to complete category management for major multiples.

Continually striving to offer the highest quality fresh produce along with the best possible service, Total Produce offers national distribution through our fleet of 200 temperature controlled vehicles. Through our unrivalled infrastructure of depots nationwide, we are uniquely positioned to deliver value to both national and independent customers - supplying both locally grown and globally sourced produce from the finest producers across Total Produce's extensive supply base.

A strong, vibrant and accomplished business, Total Produce UK is part of the worldwide Total Produce group.

Telephone: (01208) 77911 Fax: (01208) 261400 Answerphone: (01208) 261407 Email: bodminsales@totalproduce.com Website: www.totalproduce.com

Wholesale Fruit & Vegetable Importers

2-5 Callywith Gate Industrial Estate Launceston Road, Bodmin, Cornwall, PL31 2RQ Suppliers of quality fresh produce and dry goods to the wholesale, retail and catering trade throughout Devon & Cornwall.

DAILY DELIVERIES LARGEST RANGE OF EXOTIC FRUITS IN THE SOUTHWEST 24 HOUR ANSWERPHONE SERVICE QUALITY PRODUCE ON THE MOVE WHEN YOU NEED IT, WHERE YOU NEED IT!

Telephone: (01208) 77911 Fax: (01208) 261400 Answerphone: (01208) 261407 Email: bodminsales@totalproduce.com Website: www.totalproduce.com

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Issue 102

Hygiene and Infection Control

Pioneering Axiene Hygienic Door Handles Glana Ltd has developed the Axiene VH01 Clean Touch system to improve hygiene when multiple people touch the same surface. Axiene provides continuous active disinfection on the touch surface to reduce infection transmission risk.

The pioneering level of hygiene protection continually kills more than 99.999% of bacteria, including coronavirus, norovirus, MRSA and E-coli.

Unlike shot-per-use dispensers, the innovative design means that Axiene disinfectant lasts longer and so, in addition to improved protection, Axiene also reduces costs.

hand hygiene and infection risk reduction.

Broad spectrum protection is provided by the bespoke and certified Axiene fluid, a formulation approved by the WHO for hand sanitation in the fight against coronavirus. Being water-based, Axiene fluid safely provides ongoing active disinfection on the handle surface and a lingering disinfection on the hands.

Axiene VH01 is based on a standard pull-handle size, is straightforward to fit, can replace existing pull handles and as Axiene requires only simple maintenance, can easily be looked after by existing staff.

Independent lab results from trials at a university, an office complex, a primary school and several care homes consistently demonstrated that Axiene significantly surpasses international food & healthcare sector legislation for surface cleanliness. Results show that normal manual cleaning of a door handle can lead to bacteria growth of 24,000 times that found on the Axiene handle.

As Axiene fluid lasts longer than existing gel dispensers this offers a more sustainable hygiene solution with reduced waste and reduced fluid use and so Axiene makes good hygiene, economic and environmental sense for businesses looking to protect their staff or customers.

Continual protection and very low surface contamination makes Axiene a world leading product in offering user protection, improved

For further information and contact details please see www.axiene.com or email info@axiene.com

Infection Control - Why Rotowash?

Rotowash, one of the pioneers in the design and production of compact floor cleaning machines, was established in 1981 to distribute high quality industrial floor cleaning equipment, manufactured to BSI and similar International Standards by the Rotowash factory. We have a significant presence in both the private and public sectors with many businesses entrusting their cleaning regimes to Rotowash equipment.

In some establishments just the “appearance” of cleanliness can be sufficient, but cleaning is paramount and needs to be consistent and effective to ensure the possibility of infection is eradicated, or at least significantly reduced. The Rotowash system works exceptionally well on textured surfaces, such as safety flooring, tiles and carpets, and carries many endorsements from leading flooring manufacturers. The small footprint allows easy storage and the requirement to have only one machine to efficiently clean both hard flooring and carpeted floors reduces costs to labour, downtime, training, mainte-

nance and of course machine investment. Recognising the importance of infection control, we are also able to provide a full range of colour coded brushes that helps eliminate any fears of cross-contamination, enabling you to safely use the same machine throughout your facilities.

All our machines are extremely portable, easy to operate and clean after use and use up to 90% less water and chemical than other.

On-site training is available free for the life of the machine, and our own service engineers are available to carry out on-site maintenance across the UK. 020 884 74545 cleanfloors@rotowash.com www.rotowash.com

• • • • •

Infection Control Why Rotowash?

Cleans both carpets and hard floors Lightweight and dries as it cleans Easy to use with free operator training National support with on-site service Colour coded brushes helping to reduce cross contamination • Uses up to 90% less water & chemical • Made in Austria • 3 year warranty 020 884 74545

cleanfloors@rotowash.com ROTOWASH LTD

The Wireless Factory | Fleming Way | Isleworth | Middlesex | TW7 6DB

www.rotowash.com

Hygiene and Infection Control

Issue 102

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OptiClean Rapidly Reduces Levels of Virus-sized Airborne Particles Carrier's OptiClean™ air cleaner for hotels, restaurants and pubs is proven to rapidly reduce levels of ultra-fine, virus-sized particles in the air.

OptiClean uses a highly effective High Efficiency Particulate Air (HEPA) filter, which operates with an efficiency rating of up to 99.995% at the most penetrating particle size.

Research carried out by the Building Research Establishment (BRE) demonstrated that OptiClean cuts levels of airborne particles in the critical size range (up to 1 m diameter), covering viruses and virus-containing droplets, by around two thirds in just 30 minutes.

To broaden protection, OptiClean comes with optional internal UV-C lamps to target pathogens on surfaces within the unit and activated charcoal filters to reduce odours and absorb Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs).

The results also show OptiClean is as effective when located in the corner of a room as at the centre.

The unit is easy and quick to deploy, with smooth-running castors enabling it to be moved rapidly to areas requiring treatment.

Matthew Maleki, the company’s air quality specialist, said: "These independent findings demonstrate that OptiClean effectively targets ultrafine virus-sized airborne particles and can be installed in hospitality settings as part of a risk reduction strategy.”

OptiClean is part of Carrier's Healthy Buildings Programme, a suite of advanced solutions to help deliver healthy, safe, efficient and productive indoor environments.

In the US, where OptiClean was introduced first, the device was named one of TIME Magazine’s 100 Best Inventions of 2020. In the UK it was selected as Air Conditioning Innovation of the Year in the Cooling Industry Awards.

Matthew Maleki said: “Good air quality is as important as safe drinking water. With people now returning to pubs and restaurants, OptiClean offers owners and managers a practical and visible means of reassuring customers and staff and supporting premises."

For more details: www.carrier.com/commercial/en/uk/products/air-treatment/air-scrubber/39uv/ OptiClean can be used in hotels, pubs, restaurants, offices and classrooms to reduce risks from airborne pathogens. Pictured is an OptiClean unit protecting players and staff in the changing rooms of Sale Sharks Rugby Club.

Hospital-Grade Air Purification Made Portable Rensair is a specialist in portable air purification, protecting and enhancing lives

through clean air.

Our patented technology, which combines H13 HEPA filtration with germicidal UVC light, was originally developed to meet the strict standards of Scandinavian hospitals and is now trusted across all sectors. It is independently validated by scientific research laboratories, including Eurofins, Norconsult, and Oslo University Hospital.

Rensair air purification units destroy a minimum of 99.97% of airborne viruses, including coronavirus, and meet all the standards recommended by the UK SAGE committee. A powerful fan ensures effective air circulation, cleaning up to 560m3 of air per hour.

In a test to determine Rensair’s performance in reducing the concentration of MS2 bioaerosols as a proxy for SARS-CoV-2, a particle reduction rate of 99.99% was recorded in 30 minutes (Danish Technological Institute, March 2021).

We collaborate with clients to develop the optimum indoor air quality for meeting

building requirements, as well as government recommendations for mitigating the risks of Covid transmission. We take into account floor plans, existing HVAC systems, occupancy rates and noise tolerance, before recommending a tailor-made solution based on our portable, modular units.

Rensair has been included in Newsweek’s list of Best Infection Prevention Products 2021. To make the list, a selection committee evaluated the product against several criteria: effectiveness; safety; successful real-world implementation; the quality of research studies demonstrating the product's effectiveness; and the stability of the company (to support future implementations).

Rensair’s mission is to provide clean air for every space and to help the hospitality industry get back on its feet after the pandemic. contact@rensair.com +44 (0)20 3973 8927 www.rensair.com

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Hygiene and Infection Control

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FarUVC Could Really be the Magic Bullet in the Hospitality Industry Far-UV is a new and innovative light technology that kills all viruses, bacteria and moulds in seconds, including Coronavirus. Far-UV actively decontaminates occupied areas while people are present and going about their day, reducing the ongoing viral load. The technology protects against future variants, deactivating all viruses and bacteria.

By Nick Falco, Product and Technical Director at Mechline Developments:

The Far-UVC 222nm wavelength is harmless to humans, but lethal to bacteria and viruses.

FAR-UV comes as a safe alternative to other wavelengths of UV light, as it has now been proven that it can be used in indoor, occupied spaces safely, with no damage to human skin or eyes. Far-UV solutions are proven to be lethal to bacteria and viruses within seconds of the lamp activation.

The technology is by far the most advanced pandemic management technology on the market, and is beginning to be used on a global scale as standard. Far-UVC provides the equivalent of three thousand air changes an hour and is far more effective than air filtration devices and fogging.

Our products have now been used by a wellknown UK coffee chain, dental practices, retail stores, and across various healthcare environments.

Wherever there is demand for a bacteria and

pathogen free environments Far-UVC is the most effective solution.

Rebecca Elliot, Marketing Manager of Scoffs Group said “One of the great features of this technology is that after it’s installed, unlike other covid related precautions such as mask wearing and sanitisation, there's no further action required. It’s just discreetly doing it’s job.”

Systems are quickly deployable, and are installed as light fittings or as portable devices such as a hand held Wand (light saver) or walk through gateway.

Or contact us: 01225 825997 Email: Philip.emsley@uec-energy.co.uk www.far-uvc-systems.com

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Mechline - Covering All Your Clean Air Needs

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In the colder winter months, hospitality operators face the challenge of controlling the spread of Coronavirus, improving indoor air quality and maintaining hygiene standards especially as leaving doors and windows open to facilitate the flow of fresh air is not always feasible or desirable when it comes to customer comfort and sustainability.

The good news for operators is that a recent independent laboratory trial conducted by Campden BRI confirmed that HyGenikx, the wall-mounted air and surface sanitisation system from Mechline is effective at removing airborne Coronaviruses, including SARSCoV-2 which causes Covid-19. The results of the trials proved that HyGenikx removed up to 99.99% of an airborne Covid-19 surrogate. * These results back up the real-life experience of our customers including Cyrus Todiwala OBE DL, owner of Café Spice Namasté who said: “HyGenikx has proven what it can do for us – keeping the air and surfaces clean, pure and fresh and controlling odours. I would not hesitate to recommend HyGenikx to other foodservice or hospitality businesses.”

James Wilson, Managing Director at healthy fast food and casual dining chain, Kauai UK commented: “In our Edinburgh restaurant we have four HyGenikx units front of house, two in the kitchen and one in

each toilet, to help protect all areas, staff and customers, and so far, our staff have reported no viral illnesses. Our air is permanently cleansed, and, without question, HyGenikx has helped us maintain a healthy work environment.”

The HyGenikx range quietly and efficiently eradicates bacteria, viruses and microbes on contact — providing 24/7 hygiene and safety protection.

HyGenikx also neutralises odours and is proven to extend the shelf-life of perishable food on average by 58%, and up to 150% for certain produce. ** There are Hygenikx models to suit every business from restaurants to bars, hotels, care homes and offices - with specialised units available for food preparation areas, cold rooms, washrooms and refuse areas. *For more information on the HyGenikx testing at Campden BRI visit: https://info.mechline.com/hygenikx-testing **For more information on the ALS fresh food shelf life study visit: https://www.mechline.com/wpcontent/uploads/2020/03/HyGenikx-Success-Story_-Testing_-SHELF-LIFE.pdf

For further information visit: www.mechline.com/hgx or see the advert on page 42

Hospitality Technology Run A Leaner, More The Next Generation Hotel Booking Platform Turn Lookers Efficient Finance System into Bookers with Style 42

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Issue 102

Organisations within the hospitality sector, from conference venues to independent restaurant chains, all share the same challenge of consolidating financial data.

With complex revenue streams and often disparate systems, it can be difficult to see where your business is heading.

Travel during the pandemic has changed, with guests now increasingly likely to directly book via a hotel’s website. Consequently, an advanced booking engine that boasts seamless integration with your hotel website is key to boosting direct bookings.

We understand that changing financial systems can often fill teams with fear, but that need not be that case. Xledger is here to streamline, digitise and automate your finances, helping you run a leaner more efficient business.

Xledger is a leading provider of cloud-based finance software, empowering more than 10,000 businesses across 60 countries worldwide. As a true cloud solution, you have access to financial data anywhere on any device – all you need is an internet connection.

With one, live version of your data across all entities, Xledger’s powerful system allows you to drill-down into your finances and cross-check reports, enabling indepth insight and a 360-degree overview at the click of a button.

Effortless configuration allows custom integrations with your existing systems, giving you more time to focus on value-added activity for your business.

Next generation hotel booking engines are more than just the source of direct reservations. They act as a comprehensive and easy-to-use platform that’s tailored to fit hoteliers' needs, helping properties to stand out within a highly competitive market by delivering a brand experience that guests will remember.

Xledger automates more functions than any other provider. With built-in OCR, costly and risky data entry errors are eliminated. Consolidated reports can be created in seconds rather than weeks. Plus, a host of other benefits from on-the-go expenses to GL posting, and fully automated digital workflows and purchase-to-pay process.

If your organisation is facing any of these issues, don’t hesitate to contact Xledger’s Business Development Manager, Phil Chalmers on: phil.chalmers@xledger.co.uk or call 07425 638 718.

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It’s all about results - supercharge your direct bookings and stand out online If you run a premium leisure hotel or resort, you will need a premium booking solution that’s been designed for your unique needs. The right solution will help you know your guests better thanks to powerful, data-driven insights, which enable you to provide the best possible online guest journey.

For guests, it’s all about clear navigation and easy access to relevant information in a minimum number of steps. A powerful booking platform maximises the potential of (up)selling offers, enabling hoteliers to achieve the greatest possible increase in sales per room.

To help defend against third-party online providers, the right booking platform will allow you to offer unique incentives to book directly, such as tailored packages. Advanced database segmentation lets you create personalised communications, tailored offers, newsletters and/or campaigns that are aligned to individual guest’s preferences. By creating specific landing pages that can use sophisticated offers or

upsell ‘experiences’ or even suggest more flexible payment plans, hoteliers can offer a value-added experience to those booking directly, helping to foster long-term relationships.

Premium booking platforms such as Profitroom’s Booking Engine 360 deliver real added value for both hoteliers and their guests by offering vouchers, alternative suggestions for dates in case of no availability and attractive discounts for direct bookers. Ultimately, it’s about tangible results, which is why Profitroom’s award-winning Customer Success team works with our clients every day to use all the data that’s coming in to drive conversions, improve performance and boost revenue.

The Profitroom Booking Engine 360 is a prime example of a solution that offers all these advanced features, having been developed exclusively with leisure hotels and resorts in mind.

For more information visit www.profitroom.com or scan our QR code for a personal consultancy.

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Hospitality Technology

Leading Restaurant Technology Provider See 20% Uplift in Business A leading restaurant technology company has paid tribute to the resilience of the UK hospitality industry as it records a 20% uplift in business.

NFS Technology, suppliers of the popular Aloha and Cloud POS restaurant management systems, say the restaurant sector led the way in innovative thinking and creativity when dealing with the challenges of 2021.

CEO Luis De Souza said: “The restaurant industry has proved itself to be incredibly resourceful, and we were delighted to see many longstanding NFS clients not only weathering the storm, but also opening new branches and expanding their business.

“They include Brewdog, who continue their rapid growth, Dishoom, who were recently ranked the best hospitality company to work for, and Big Easy, which has grown to five restaurants across London. Other existing clients such as Hawksmoor, Gaucho and Tomahawk expanded their operations. Among the new NFS clients is the fast-growing brand Doner Shack, with locations from Leeds to Glasgow.”

“We saw many prestigious new brands coming on board with NFS during this time,” said Luis. “We feel this is a testament to the forwardthinking nature of restaurateurs, who fully grasp the benefits of restaurant management technology and understand how it can help them gain a competitive advantage.”

As restaurant groups and standalone businesses sought all options to make their operations more efficient, NFS Technology saw demand for restaurant management technology grew across all sectors – quick service, casual and fine dining – with quick service growing fastest.

In the competitive conditions of 2022 and beyond, Luis De Souza says operators are strongly focused on providing an enhanced, more convenient customer experience. They are also seeking to provide better working conditions that support staff wellbeing and promote talent retention.

“We’ve seen a step change in consumer behaviour and requirements, and both operators and technology providers are responding well,” he said. “I believe the future is very bright.”

Video https://www.nfs-hospitality.com/videos/ discover-the-restaurant-management-technologytoolkit-you-need-to-succeed/ www.nfs-hospitality.com

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New Labour Scheduling Tool To Juggle Student’s Working Hours Across the country, many towns or cities depend on a level of student labour across a number of sectors, particularly hospitality. As operators gear up to welcome new and returning student employees in September, workforce management specialists Bizimply are launching new features designed to help businesses make the most of these valuable team members.

Most operators recruit students for their flexibility, enabling them to fill the gaps in their staff rotas.

Juggling students’ availability around their lectures can be a challenge for whoever has to create the staff rota. This is why Bizimply’s ‘Unavailability’ and ‘Deactivate/Reactivate’ features are being welcomed by their customers.

Bizimply CEO Conor Shaw said: “So many of our

HOP Software

As experienced hoteliers, we have hands-on experience in the hospitality industry. We understand the daily challenges and the pain points. That's why we created Hop and continue to develop the intuitive tools you require to free yourself of the daily hassles, which allows you to get on with what you do best.

You look after your guests, we’ll do the rest.

Our cloud-based and responsive all-in-one Property Management System and range of contactless tools including a commission free booking engine and range of contactless tools empowers hoteliers to manage their properties, teams, and daily operations more efficiently and cost-effectively.

Our experienced UK-based customer service and technical teams are here to support you 24/7 for total peace of mind.

Our sole mission is to support

hospitality customers rely to some extent on students and it’s a relationship that brings benefits to employer and employees. Managing a team where some members are unavailable for certain shifts and not able to work for months at a time, was clearly making staff rota creation more time-consuming than it needed to be.

The Unavailability feature allows managers – or the team members themselves, via their employee portal – to mark students as unavailable for work around their weekly lectures, eg every Monday and Thursday mornings. A second Deactivate/Reactivate feature makes it easier for operators to manage students’ longer-terms unavailability, eg returning home for the holidays.

Visit Bizimply at www.bizimply.com our clients by developing technology that frees management and staff from daily hassles. All we want is to make your life easier.

We strive to simplify your problems and believe our clients deserve an easier life. We achieve this by delivering a straightforward and affordable all-in-one service that covers all the bases.

With a team full of knowledge and hospitality expertise, we are experienced, skilled and passionate about creating solutions at affordable prices. We are reliable and honest, when we say we'll deliver, we will.

We are proud to say that Hop now operates globally, is trusted by hoteliers around the world and that we are an integral part of our clients' day-to-day business.

Whether you are a B&B, guest house, an independent hotel or a group, if you sell rooms, Hop has a solution to run your property more cost-effectively whilst delivering an enriched guest experience.

Book a free and no-obligation demo at www.hopsoftware.com

Energy Solutions

Carbon Savings with Adveco FUSION Hybrid Hot Water Systems Commercial hot water specialist, Adveco, introduces the FUSION FPH-S range of low carbon, all-electric, packaged hybrid hot water systems. Designed to meet the daily needs of restaurants, cafés, public houses and other small to medium sized business, FUSION harnesses Adveco’s FPi32 air source heat pump (ASHP), a high-pressure ATSH calorifier with electric immersion, controls, and metering. Packaged together this provides a reliable, high-temperature, sustainable and cost-effective system for new build and refurbishment projects.

“For organisations with small to medium basin and sink led hot water demands and a desire to embrace a more sustainable business model, the FUSION FPH-S range provides a single, easy to accommodate, highly effective response,” says Bill Sinclair, technical director, Adveco. “By choosing one of these packaged hybrid water

systems you gain optimum efficiencies, lower your carbon emissions and can be assured building regulations are being met for your commercial project.”

FUSION is available in 16 pre-specified variants with 6 or 10 kW preheat and 9 or 12 kW electric top-up which support continuous capacity hot water demands from 257-377 litres/hour. The physical design, dedicated controls, and integrated metering ensure the ASHP preheat, and immersion work seamlessly to deliver the highest operational efficiencies. This enables FUSION’s heat pump to supply 50°C for system preheat and offset much of the electric immersion top-up in the calorifier to deliver up to 53% carbon emission savings when compared to an identical direct electric only system. When compared to an equivalent gas-only system carbon savings of 50% can be demonstrated. www.adveco.co

AHTIDAIKIN Heat Recovery Solutions • ENERGY PRICING IS AT HISTORICALLY HIGH LEVELS • CHOOSE AHT/DAIKIN AS YOUR STRATEGIC PARTNER • PREPARE FOR THE CHANGING COST OF ENERGY AHT/DAIKIN have leading edge energy saving solutions including fully heat recovered technology.

AHT/DAIKIN provide low GWP, high efficiency products.

The lowest GWP in the market (R290).

Our refrigeration systems can be used to power instore heating.

AHT Cooling Systems (UK) Ltd

Drastically reducing energy usage and providing up to 95% of all heating.

Email - info@aht.at

Phone - +44 1280 826 600

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Outdoor Spaces

Issue 102

Play Facilities Attract Customers and Encourage Repeat Visitors HAGS offer the opportunity for children to explore and be imaginative through the world of play. With a huge range of playground equipment, the creative opportunities are unlimited and provide play areas for children of all ages and abilities. HAGS playground equipment can keep children entertained for hours with a variety of inclusive features. Each playground HAGS makes is designed specifically to suit the needs of each individual client and to suit the needs of your customers.

By installing a play area in your restaurant, customers will stay longer and spend more as they enjoy spending time with each other. Play areas allow everyone to be happy, as the kids can go and interact with each other, and adults can relax whilst knowing that their children are entertaining themselves through play and exercise in a safe space. Relaxed families will spend hours at your restaurants, especially knowing that their kids are enjoying themselves and having a good time.

er, as well as have time for themselves. Having a playground area set up on your business allows the kids to have some fun whilst the adults enjoy the scenery and ambience of your restaurant. After having a wonderful and relaxed experience at your business, a HAGS playground is guaranteed to keep those customers coming back!

As we approach the Easter holidays, most families will be looking to set off on a mini holiday or go out to family dinners where they can spend time togeth-

For further information Tel: 0845 2601655, E-mail: sales@hags.co.uk or visit www.hags.co.uk or see the advert on the facing page.

Stylish Luxury Gazebos From White Pavilion Hi, I'm Tim Burdekin, and I've designed and built the White Pavilion Garden Gazebo to be your perfect, all-weather gazebo for all the seasons.

I designed the White Pavilion Garden Gazebo range to be combined with a variety of lighting, heating, coloured canopies and side screen options to help create the perfect gazebo for your outdoor space, garden, patio or hot tub area. They're 100% waterproof and designed to withstand the very worst the British weather can throw at them. And they're guaranteed to survive 100 Mph Winds - see 100 Mph Windproof.

Our stylish hospitality gazebos Generate More Income from your outdoor space. Keeping your customers comfortable outdoors, the more time they will spend with you…. which means more money they will spend with you.

A White Pavilion Gazebo gives 100% Waterproof Protection...100 Mph Windproof Guaranteed...100% Sun Protection......and comes with a 5 Year

Guarantee - Your gazebo choice doesn't get better than this.

If you have any questions at all, feel free to get in touch. Give our team a call - 01653 695 285 or visit www.whitepaviliongazebos.co.uk We're here to help you get the very best from your outdoors.

Country Benches - High Quality Benches Country Benches is run by a vastly experienced and time served tradesman who has been serving in the trade for over 25 years. The business was started 15 years ago and we have provided our services independently ever since. In this time he has developed the business into being family run, amassed a loyal customer base and welcomes new customers on a regular basis.

Country Benches creates high quality benches, picnic benches and garden furniture. We only work with the best quality of wood to bring you the highest standards of benches and garden furniture. Country Benches can create benches to exact specifications as well as offering a large variety of standard design garden furniture. Call Country Benches to see what we can do for you.

SPECIAL OFFER Buy 11 get 1 FREE!

Although based in Bedfordshire we cover the whole of the United Kingdom on trade offers. Country Benches is also pleased to be able to offer you a delivery service for smaller orders with a delivery cost. In addition to this, Country Benches can offer you these prices much cheaper than our competitors.

Our services are great value for money and are of the absolute best quality.

All our products are built to order and delivered within seven days and we also operate a "payment on delivery" basis. So contact us today so that we can build your order to your exact specifications.

For details call 07446 101657 or email countrybenchesltd@aol.com

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Swinging With The Sausage Man Bavarian style swing grills are really hot right now. A practical way of cooking large quantities of sausage and steak quickly, it’s no wonder that these awesome grills have fast become Christmas Market and event favourites the world over.

SCHWENKER GRILLS It’s rumoured that this distinctive fire pit style grill originated in South America, before being popularised in Southern Germany – where the worder “Schwenker” originates – and then spreading around the world. The person grilling on a Schwenker grill may also be referred to as a Schwenker, or a Schwenkermeister.

COMMERCIAL CHOICE Mark Coles, Key Account Manager with The Sausage Man, spent some time visiting Xmas events across the UK this winter and reports: “Bavarian Swing Grills are fast becoming the weapon of choice for our commercial customers. They’re open sided, so the people get a great look at the products and cooking process. The cooking smell circulates fantastically across the site, so it’s great at attracting people to your stall. The firepit also keeps your cooking team nice and warm in the winter weather,

which is always welcome in temperatures like we’ve been having lately!”

VERSATILE GERMAN SAUSAGE FOR EVERY OCCASION No matter what type of cooking method you use in your outdoor space, The Sausage Man has the products for you. You don’t need a Swinging Schwenker Grill to prepare Sausage Man products, but you can certainly use one.

Jorg Braese, Managing Director of The Sausage Man, had this to say: “Our sausages are extremely versatile.

We’ve cooked them in pans, microwaves, ovens, grills, hot dog machines, hot water, deep fryers, barbeques and steamers. Each preparation adds and highlights different flavours. There’s no wrong answer, as the results are always great!”

Find out more and set up your Commercial account now with The Sausage Man. You can also save 10% on your first order over £125 when you set up your account online at wholesale.sausageman.co.uk. Be sure to enter code CATER10 at checkout to secure your saving before the end of March 2022.

Utilise Your Outdoor Spaces with Indigo Awnings

At Indigo Awnings, the UK’s market leader in external shading, we offer we offer commercial grade shading products and provide expert advice, unrivalled customer and after-sales service.

With today’s trend in alfresco socialising and dining, we can offer you made to measure shading that will enhance the beauty, and accessibility, of your business – with the added bonus of instant leasing options and monthly payments to suit you Custom branded products by Indigo Awnings provide efficient weather protection, create extra outdoor space, and drive revenue by making it easier for customers to find your business.

We have a wide range of commercial grade retractable awnings, giant parasols and fixed roof structures that will enhance any outdoor area and thus the comfort of your guests.

Crafted from the highest-quality materials, all our

products are fully customisable and built to your required specification. Frames can be powder coated in a range of RAL colours, with a huge selection of fabric shades and patterns to choose from, all of which can be printed with your branding.

With the addition of quality infra-red heating and LED lighting you can create a whole new dining experience for customers to enjoy all year round, consequently, a healthy return on investment – simply creating “money from fresh air”, regardless of the weather!

Backed up by a national capability and support network, all installations are completed by our highly experienced fitting teams, ensuring continuity with only one point of contact for our customers to have the best experience possible.

Contact our friendly Indigo Awnings team on 01352 740164 or at www.indigoawnings.co.uk

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LeisureBench are Expanding Their Range for 2022 LeisureBench Limited, one of the UK’s leading suppliers and installers of commercial quality outdoor furniture has announced exciting new additions that will be available soon to their already extensive range, for 2022.

The Company has built its reputation on outdoor products offering excellent value for money, with many years experience in meeting the needs of the hotel, pub and hospitality sectors and are heavily investing in manufacturing and finishes.

OUTDOOR FURNITURE Wooden round and A Frame picnic tables, in a number of styles and sizes, brings style, comfort and practicality to your outside space, as do their teak and pine range of benches.

The classy collection of Rattan dining sets, chairs and sofas will add a touch of luxury, comfort and elegance.

Teak, Hardwood, metal furniture, table tops and bases, gazebos, outdoor buildings, parasols and planters etc. can all be viewed in a range of styles on the LeisureBench website.

The list is endless. The Company is also able to offer a bespoke service, including planters, to create furniture to match your own specifications.

INDOOR FURNITURE LeisureBench are expanding their range of indoor specific tables and chairs for the commercial sector in 2022. Look out for new ranges that will be available soon.

RECYCLED PLASTIC FURNITURE LeisureBench has put in place a substantial ongoing investment to manufacture their own environmentally friendly furniture in their own factory, using 100% UK recycled plastic materials, that will be available in late Spring 2022.

The range will include benches and a wide variety of picnic tables in both ‘A’ Frame and 8- seat square designs in a choice of colours. They will all be hardwearing, easy to maintain, and a strong powder coated underframe will guarantee them for a minimum of 15 years.

There will also be stylish recycled plastic planters available. Register your interest now.

LeisureBench are also increasing their stockholding of all products for 2022 to enable a fast delivery from their 50,000 sq.ft. of on-site warehousing space. Bulk discounts are available.

Website:www.leisurebench.co.uk E: sales@leisurebench.co.uk Tel: 01949 862920

Café Culture - Pavement Profit

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We are an independent supplier serving the outdoor restaurant trade with supplies for outdoor seating areas. We have some large clients including Gondola group along with many smaller cafe bars, restaurants and public houses.

We design and manufacturer our own windbreaks and use the best materials available. For anyone looking long term that saves you money as you won’t be replacing cheap internet imports next season. It’s one area where it doesn’t pay to buy budget as the continual bumps and scrapes

outdoor goods receive combined with the harsh British climate really needs something tough enough for the job.

We also supply Markilux awning which are some of the best made in the industry and Uhlmann parasols another top rated German brand.

Bespoke goods are also a speciality with custom made menu holders, waiter stations and planters all to you requirement. If we can help you do drop a line to sales@cafeculture.biz

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Commercial Kitchen Fit-Out See us at

HRC 21 - 2 3 M arch ExCeL Lo nd o n

Space Saving Solutions Without Compromising On Performance

By Tim Charlton, managing director of Euro Catering Equipment, UK distributor for Giorik.

What are the latest and greatest features chefs should look out for when it comes to this equipment?

Space is one of the biggest limitations in any pub kitchen, as operators try to strike the right balance between maximising space for paying customers whilst providing enough room back of house to serve them.

Whether it’s a historic building or a new-build, ask any pub chef and they’ll tell you they’d like more space in the kitchen.

Of course, space constraints don’t just pose logistical challenges for staff, they also impact what equipment can be installed. That’s why slimline ovens are proving increasingly popular and manufacturers are working incredibly hard to deliver the same performance from a T smaller footprint.

Giorik offers a number of slimline models across its Kore and Movair combi oven ranges, including a choice of ten countertop Kore ovens (6 or 10 x 1/1gn) which

EAIS - The Ideal Solution EAIS are your one stop solution for all of your storage and handling needs. Our vastly experienced and award winning team are on hand to support our distributors and to help them overcome any challenge that they may face.

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are just 520mm wide and can be stacked two high to get the most capacity from the smallest footprint.

Unique to Giorik, a gas slimline model is also available in both 6 and 10 x 1/1gn format, as well as models with an internal boiler.

Or for complete flexibility, the Movair MTE523W from Giorik is a 13amp countertop 5 x 2/3gn model universally popular in pub kitchens because it can be plugged in anywhere. And still just 637mm wide.

The most important thing with any slimline model is that they don’t compromise on performance or functionality. All of Giorik’s slimline combi ovens are fitted with touchscreen programmable controls, an automatic wash system, multi-level shelf timers and a core probe – for maximum performance from a minimum footprint in smaller kitchen spaces.

Visit www.euro-catering.co.uk/shop/brands/giorik or www.giorik.com/en/home.html

Follow this up with a huge range of trolleys and transportation system you will find all that’s needed to support all types of commercial catering applications. We are proud of our ability to hold vast stocks of racking and trolleys, allowing us to accommodate urgent next day delivery requests if required.

In addition to standard products one of our strengths is our flexibility. Our on-site in-house manufacturing facility allows us to offer bespoke items to our customers. Therefore if our standard product doesn’t quite tick your box our engineers and designers will work closely with a client to ensure the correct bespoke solution is offered.

We offer 16 different As well as supply only we can also offer an efficient types of racking to choose and economical installation service with our highly from including chrome, nylon, stainless steel solid, per- experienced and qualified teams of fitters. forated & wire as well as lift-out systems. All of these For more information visitInstallation our websiteSystems – East please Anglian Ltd are available in wide range of sizes which will helpEAIS to Ltd @EAISUK www.eais.co maximise every area of a busy commercial kitchen.

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FFD - Commercial Refrigeration & Catering Equipment The FFD Group are the UK's premier suppliers of commercial refrigeration, commercial catering equipment and grease management solutions for the hospitality and foodservice industry. Comprising of FFD Commercial Refrigeration, FFD Catering Equipment and FFD Grease Management Solutions we have successfully helped businesses the length and breadth of the country to find the perfect piece of commercial equipment to take their operations forward.

Also offering equipment to educational, health and correctional facilities, the wide product range, competitive prices and excellent customer service guarantees total customer satisfaction.

With comprehensive product knowledge and years of experience in the industry, the team are trained to listen to individual business requirements and pair customers with the most suitable solution. Offering a wide range of equipment from leading commercial manufacturers including Foster, True, Adande, Lincat, Blue Seal and Rational, there are plenty of choices.

New Premises, New Websites…

Fry More For Less with OilChef The foodservice and hospitality industry have suffered greatly since the shutdowns started in 2019.

Since then, there have been gradual re-openings of hotels, bars, restaurants, and takeaways.

However, the cost of food has risen greatly.

One food group – cooking oil – has more than doubled in price and is set to rise even further. Some of the reasons are weather related which has reduced crop yield and other reasons are economic. Supply chains have been hit with rising costs of fuel, distribution, and labour. In addition to this, farmers are being offered a higher price for their crop seeds to make biofuel instead of edible oil and this impacts supply.

How can the food service and hospitality industry protect against these risings costs? One way is to make the cooking oil last longer. In fact, the awardwinning accessory for deep fryers, is doing just that.

The OiLChef device is a catalytic convertor for deep fryers!

The FFD Group have recently relocated to new premises with increased office space and warehousing facilities to ensure that they are well placed to expand in the future. With a trio of new websites having also launched complete with a new design, improved navigation and a 3 in 1 approach, customers can access commercial refrigeration, commercial catering equipment and grease management all from a single place. Providing a fully rounded, one stop shop for the foodservice and hospitality sector, convenience is guaranteed alongside quality products and exceptional customer service.

Whether looking for commercial bottle coolers, catering refrigeration, multidecks, serve overs, prep counters or cold rooms plus much more, FFD Commercial Refrigeration can meet and exceed all demands. For a full range of catering equipment including commercial combination ovens, commercial fryers, oven ranges, sous vide machines, glass washers, commercial dishwashers and all of the essential cooking equipment and utensils, FFD Catering Equipment have also got you covered.

Tel: 01455 815200 or www.fridgefreezerdirect.co.uk; 01455 815215 or www.247cateringsupplies.co.uk or email: sales@ffdgroup.co.uk

It keeps the cooking oil in a fresher condition, by slowing down oxidation, stopping polymerizations of the oil molecules and by retarding the buildup of free fatty acids, peroxides, total polar materials and most importantly of all the carcinogenic acrylamides in frying oil.

The OiLChef device is not a filter, it is not a chemical, it adds nothing to the oil, it takes nothing out of the oil, it is an inorganic device that helps you keep your oil alive for longer.

A simple 3 second self-installation which is virtually maintenance free, and only needs replacing every 3 years. OiLChef is a dream come true for professional kitchens that operate deep fryers. OiLChef is in thousands of deep fryers around the World and comes with a full 3-year warranty and saves you up to 50% on oil purchases every month. Check them out at www.OiLChef.com Contact their CEO direct: sean.farry@oilchef.com

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Commercial Kitchen Fit-Out

Cemco (The Catering Equipment Maintenance Company) Cemco (The Catering Equipment Maintenance Company) first opened for business in 1990, and have been serving Dorset, Wiltshire, Somerset, Bath, and the rest of the South and Southwest, ever since.

We offer a full range of services, including servicing and repairs for all commercial catering appliances, ranging from small local projects to major national work, and everything in between. Specialising in commercial Glasswasher and Dishwasher repairs sales and service our reputation is second to none.

We can offer you a no obligation quote now, so contact us for more information.

CEMCO also carry out repairs to commercial catering equipment Dishwashers, Glasswashers, Ovens Grills Bournemouth, Poole, Dorset and The Southwest. We undertake

repairs and servicing to ALL, types, makes and models of commercial catering equipment.

A repair is often far cheaper then a replacement! 30 Years in this Industry gives us the edge over our competitors, with time served Commercial Catering Equipment Engineers our clients have found we save them the cost of purchasing new equipment time after time…why buy new when a guaranteed repair is often all your Catering Equipment requires…

We are based in Bournemouth & Poole, covering the whole of Dorset, as well as Somerset, Hampshire and Wiltshire.

Call 01202 377205 now, to arrange a site visit www.cemcoltd.co.uk

Temporary Catering Facilities For Events NEW DrainMinor C (Combi Oven Pump) from Pump Technology Ltd. Launched at HRC & Kitchen Refurbishments The standard specification of our smallest Production Kitchen unit includes a six burner oven range, salamander grill, twin basket fryer, upright fridge, hot cupboard, single bowl sink unit with integral

Mobile Kitchens Ltd specialises in the hire or sale of temporary catering facilities and foodservice equipment.

Ideal for events or to provide temporary catering facilities during your kitchen refurbishment, our versatile units and equipment offer an efficient and economic solution to the caterers’ needs.

Production Kitchens, Preparation Kitchens, Warewashing Units, Dry Store Units, Cold Rooms and Restaurant Units are available as individual units in their own right or they can be linked together on site to form a complete complex.

Alternatively, we can offer modular, open-plan facilities, usually for larger, longer-term hires.

We offer a free design service, and project management from concept through to delivery and installation on site, plus full technical support throughout the hire period.

hand wash basin, plus ample power points to plug in Microwaves, Food Processors, Toasters etc. Internal equipment can be interchanged and clients can effectively specify their preferred layout.

We have many tried and tested design layouts and would be pleased to put forward our recommendations for your project.

So if you’re planning a refurbishment or need to cater for an event then why not give us a call and we’ll be happy to provide advice and put forward a competitive proposal.

For further information or to arrange a site visit, email: sales@mk-hire.co.uk or call us on 0345 812 0800, or visit our website: www.mk-hire.co.uk

The DrainMinor C Combi oven waste pump can be seen in operation at the Hotel Restaurant Catering, HRC Exhibition 21-23 March 2022 ExCel London on Stand P621 which we are sharing with Combi Oven servicing experts R-Tec Services & Innovation Ltd, (previously known as Rational Technical services UK Ltd.)

Combi Oven cleaning cycles require hot wastewater to be pumped away if gravity drainage is not available.

The New DrainMinor C Combi Oven waste water drainage Pump has been developed specifically for this demanding application and offers users excellent reliability and ease of operation.

The compact wastewater collecting tank with low level inlet height, which can be decided onsite to suit the discharge run from the Combi Oven, is fitted with a Specialist Submersible pump. It features a rigid external float arm with large triangular float. This robust design ensures accurate and reliable automatic stop/start of the pump even when the hot wastewater is greasy. It can also cope with food debris or

turbulence within the collecting tank.

A Silicon Carbide mechanical shaft seal, oil chamber and inboard shaft seal ring protects the motor within the submersible pump. This arrangement is an engineered solution for leak and ingress protection of the motor windings when pumping hot wastewater with diluted cleaning chemicals and food waste debris. It ensures considerably longer product life and operating reliability over submersible pumps fitted with standard diaphragm shaft seals.

Pump Technology Ltd., established 1992, is a specialist wastewater pump and pumping system provider.

The company’s DrainMinor, DrainMajor and DrainKing wastewater pump systems are renowned as robust and reliable commercial kitchen drainage solutions. For all kitchen wastewater pumping requirements call the technical team to discuss an application. They will be able to select a proven wastewater pumping system for you.

Specialists in Servicing, Repairs and Maintenance of all Commercial Catering Equipment

Cemco undertake Service and Repairs to ALL Commercial Dishwasher and Glasswasher Manufacturers Including Hobart, Electrolux, Meiko, Winterhalter to name a few.

CEMCO carry out repairs, servicing and routine maintenance to all makes and models of commercial catering equipment, including dishwashers and glasswashers.

We can also supply you with a new or used dishwasher …simply Contact Us for details of available Used Stock

We are based in Bournemouth & Poole and cover the whole of Dorset, along with the neighbouring counties of Somerset, Devon, Hampshire and Wiltshire.

Trust CEMCO for commercial catering dishwasher servicing!

Call us now, on 01202 377205 for a free quote to repair your dishwasher

www.cemcoltd.co.uk

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Commercial Kitchen Design Advice from Alliance Online

Designing a kitchen for your home is stressful enough so scale that up to a commercial size then the task can seem over facing. Between the associated costs and need to get the design and execution of installation right it can appear very daunting, so allow Alliance Online to offer a few tips to help make the process a little easier:

1. Opt for Professional Help: If you a redesigning a commercial kitchen whether it be a restaurant, school, care home or elsewhere always consult a commercial kitchen specialist. A professional will already be aware of common issues that arise and also design with HACCP regulations compliance in mind.

2. Efficiency and Flow: As much as professionals will consider industry standard design, you know how you and your staff occupy your current workspace. In a commercial kitchen you want to minimise the distance your staff have to travel whilst carrying food so ensuring your kitchen is designed with a flow that follows the natural cooking order is best practice.

3. Know Your Regulations: Your designer of choice should be fully aware of all industry rules and regulations but make sure you read up on them yourselves.

The HACCP rules are not the only ones you need to consider, an emergency eye wash station should be in situ along with walk-way widths being wide enough to allow for paramedic access. Also check where all your utility inlets are as these will influence your placement options.

At Alliance Online we have over 20 years of supplying the hospitality, healthcare and public sectors with non-food catering equipment which includes capital equipment and commercial kitchen design. Our capital equipment specialists have superior industry knowledge and understanding and are more than happy to answer your queries.

To discuss your commercial kitchen whether it be a new design, or upgrading your equipment please contact Alliance on 01270 252 333 or email us at hello@allianceonline.co.uk

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A Fresh Take on Grease Filters

In a busy food operation, you probably don’t even think about your grease filters, they’re just there building up dirt, fat, oil and grease; but when was the last time you had your kitchen grease filters cleaned? Not only are they the first part of your extraction system, they are also a legal requirement in the prevention of fire and compliance with health and safety. There are many other benefits to having clean filters, such as improved kitchen cleanliness and reduced levels of carbon dioxide, to ensure top air quality for your staff.

You may not be surprised to hear that 57% of kitchen fires in restaurants result from issues with cooking equip-

ment; that’s why it’s important to identify the exclusions of your insurance policy because many insurers demand regular deep cleaning of filters which, let’s face it, is inconvenient and time-consuming. If you do suffer a kitchen fire and can’t evidence that you’ve been having your filters correctly and thoroughly cleaned on a regular basis, your insurer may reject your claim.

The answer? Our professional cleaning service means your dirty filters are exchanged with clean ones in minutes, as part of our package we provide a free set of standard sized filters for your kitchen, prolonging the life of your own. Our service also evidences due diligence to your insurer and fire safety officer, as we provide an online client portal where you can download full service history and certification.

We do Just Filters, so let us keep your kitchen running and compliant.

01279 420289 | justfilters.co.uk | info@justfilters.co.uk

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Design and Refit

Barton Reed & Co Barton Reed & Co is the leading supplier of quality furniture to hotels, restaurants, public houses and leisure facilities in the South West. We can supply beautiful leather sofas, stylish high bar stools, comfy tub seats, elegant restaurant tables and chairs, and relaxing beds.

From laid back, seaside charm to cutting-edge design our extensive product range will suit your style and give your business the look that you want to achieve.

We have a huge choice of colours, fabrics and finishes and all our furniture comes with a two-year warranty.

Barton Reed & Co is a family-run business and we have been involved in the furniture industry since 1945. Over the years we have forged strong relationships with our suppli-

ers to give you the best furniture available with a service that goes above and beyond our customers’ expectations.

Seven reasons why you should choose Barton Reed & Co to supply your contract furniture: • Wide range of styles • Easy ordering and re-ordering • Single point of contact • Short lead times • Direct delivery • After sales service • Two-year warranty on every item Get in touch to discuss your furniture requirements or to order our new brochure – we’re here to help.

Call us on 01409 271189, visit www.bartonreed.co.uk or email info@bartonreed.co.uk

Increase Profit with CardsSafe The CardsSafe system is specifically designed to securely retain customer credit, debit and ID cards while the cardholder runs a tab.

CardsSafe works with the hospitality industry to assist with bar tabs which undoubtedly help to increase profits.

Young’s pubs, Hilton Hotels, and many independent and chain restaurants and pubs have been using CardsSafe for many years. The system helps them increase the bottom line by reducing charge backs and walkouts, while fighting card fraud at the same time.

Many businesses are relying on CardsSafe to create the opportunity to upsell by retaining cards and encouraging their customers to order more. As Phil Dixon, a former advisor to the BII, explains, “If you want to increase spend, you must retain cards.” A simple solution, and one that could be a quick and easy win.

Increasing profit and reducing walk-outs, CardsSafe

Southern Contracts is one of the UK’s leading suppliers of industrial laundry, catering and commercial cleaning equipment.

Working with care homes, hotels, restaurants, holiday parks, cruise lines, marine companies and local authorities, the NHS, the MoD as well as schools and colleges, we are a third generation family run business, founded in 1964.

Today we are proud to boast global clients to whom we deliver and maintain the very latest products and service, being ever mindful of sustainability and keeping our carbon footprints down.

We understand the importance of minimal disruption to our clients and cover all aspects of installation to customer training and ongoing maintenance service and repair.

For more information regarding our services for : • Laundry equipment • Kitchen appliances • Commercial cleaning equipment

Contact us now on 03301 222888 www.southerncontracts.co.uk Follow us on : Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn

offers a multitude of benefits to its customers. No wonder that over 5000 major brands and independents in the UK trust CardsSafe.

“Average spend is up and chargeback has virtually disappeared after we installed CardsSafe, which really puts our customers’ minds at rest.”

Timothy, Young’s Bar manager CardsSafe is affordable and pays for itself. Each unit, which contains ten card drawers, can be hired for just £9.99 per month. Each hire comes with customer service troubleshooting and free replacement keys.

Additional units can be added at any time. The question is, can you afford not to consider CardsSafe as a part of your business?

Sign up to CardsSafe here https://cardssafe.com/account/create-account Or call 0845 500 1040

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Caterquip Ventilation – For All Your Commercial Catering Ventilation Needs Caterquip Ventilation Ltd is proud to be celebrating their 22nd Anniversary this year.

This Warwick based company offers nationwide coverage for all your commercial catering needs: free site surveys, quotations and designs (CAD), quality bespoke and standard fabrications, specialist knowledge of catering ventilation systems including input air, odour reduction (carbon filtration and ESP) and sound attenuation. Affiliated members of Constructionline, CHAS and B&ES, Caterquip Ventilation have a strong hold in the marketplace often advising industry professionals on ventilation systems to a DW172 specification & BSEN:6173.

They have strong relationships with all leading kitchen equipment suppliers, and they offer a kitchen design service to help you build your ideal kitchen.

Projects undertaken have included Olympic Villages, Basildon Hospital, The Mitre Hotel at Hampton Court, The Truck Stop at Anglesey, The Lodge at Old Hunstanton, Colleges, Schools, Hotels, Restaurants and Public Houses. They ensure their systems are compliant with the current guidelines whilst maintaining an efficient and dynamic facility.

With extensive knowledge of manufacturing and installing ventilation systems, they can help you design the best kitchen within the space available.

Call: 01926 887167, visit: www.caterquipventilation.co.uk, email: info@caterquipventilation.co.uk

Give Yourself a Fresh New Look with Mayfair Furniture

Mayfair Furniture will be celebrating 10 years this year of providing the UK’s fastest and affordable commercial furniture. Supplying all kinds of establishments from high end hotel chains to small local takeaways.

We keep in stock a huge variety of items ready for immediate dispatch, and can fulfil a wide range of bespoke orders. We deliver to all areas of the UK, Ireland & Europe.

We are not just a supplier; we understand that from time to time hospitality and leisure establishments like

to give themselves a fresh new look. That's why not only do we supply contract furniture, but when it's time for your establishment to go through a refurbishment we also offer a complete clearance service. We'll organise everything from a suitable time and date, professional clearance staff to remove contract furniture whether fitted or unfitted.

01733 310115 sales@mayfairfurniture.co.uk www.mayfairfurniture.co.uk

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Just Artificial - Plants • Trees • Flowers Established in 2004, Just Artificial have many years’ experience as one of the UK’s leading suppliers of high quality artificial plants, trees, silk flowers and related accessories, which we offer at competitive prices.

Artificial Plants & Trees for Businesses

At Just Artificial, we work with interior designers, decorators, set dressers, architects and more to set your premises apart from the rest. Our artificial plants, flowers, and trees are highly realistic to look and touch, as well as being durable and attractive.

We have a range of fantastic options which will set your space apart from the rest, allowing you to create an indoor Eden. Our products are highly realistic, durable, and designed with particular care and attention by our master craftsmen, all of whom are experts in their field.

Our range is always growing, supporting current modern trends as well as traditional needs, for indoor and outdoor use, tailored to complement any business.

We offer a complete product range including silk flowers, floral

arrangements, artificial plants, trees (even palm trees), topiary, exotics, plant and tree displays, hedges, fruit, hanging baskets, ivy garlands and other foliage, synthetic lawn grass and astroturf, planters, pot pourri, organza ribbon, decorative butterflies, essential oils, oasis foam, metal wall art, and Christmas supplies.

Whatever your choice, we have the design experience and the tools to make your space stand out.

Whatever the case, we have the perfect solution for your décor – one which will transform your space into something extraordinary.

Contact (01524) 858888, sales@justartificial.co.uk or visit www.justartificial.co.uk

Hybrid Heating For The Modern Property Our master craftsmen construct our hand made bespoke Artifical Trees with painstaking care and attention to detail, to create an exceptionally 'real' Artificial Tree. We can offer bespoke solutions to suit the needs of your space, business and tastes.

UV Outdoor and Fire Retardant ranges available.

(01524) 858888 sales@justartificial.co.uk www.justartificial.co.uk

Please mention the Caterer, Licensee & Hotelier News when replying to advertising

EHC offer a comprehensive Range of Electric Products that are all controlled by the well-established DSR Technology Control System.

It enables you to select a Hybrid Heating Solution from the range for the various rooms within your property to suit your design style and budget – the choice is yours.

All DSR Controlled Heaters are manually operated using the “easy to use” Controller located on the Heater. They also have WiFi capability that can be activated when you purchase the optional DSR Smart Gateway which will allow you to control your Heaters Anytime, Anywhere 24/7 up to a maximum of 30 Heaters per gateway using our free bespoke APP. The DSR Control APP has many features designed to enhance your comfort levels and provide essential

information regarding your heating system. There is also an optional Power Meter Clamp available for Load Shedding Control.

The DSR range of heaters are ideal for the likes of Bars, Restaurants or Hotels as the DSR control system allows for each heater to be controlled remotely from a smart phone or controlled centrally from a PC at a hotel reception. This level of control helps keep running costs to a minimum and removes the inconvenience of staff members going from room to room to adjust heating temperature when customers check in or out.

For further information or a free Brochure contact 01698 820533 or visit www.electric-heatingcompany.co.uk

Design and Refit Fast and Fresh Facelift Options for Hotels, Pubs & Restaurants Create a new look and feel to your dining space without the expense of a full refurb In the wake of the pandemic, budgets are tight and the idea of a full refit and refurbishment could be one expense too far for many restaurateurs.

However there are a number of ways to give any premises a facelift by creating a more luxurious and fresh feel to the restaurant space, and enhancing the allround customer experience, without breaking the bank.

The simplest and quickest way to do this is of course to add tablecloths to a dining room. Raj Ruia, Director at Richard Haworth explains: “Tablecloths create an instantly more classic look, and can hide old, tired-looking tables in a matter of seconds.

“The tablecloth look is synonymous with the expectation of a luxurious dining experience, and can absolutely make an impactful first-impression. This can be a dealbreaker when it comes to attracting walk-in customers who may not have a reservation, but have spotted that glimpse of finery through the window.

“However, if tablecloths are too much of a conventional choice for your restaurant, small touches such as linen napkins, can be enough of a change to freshen things up.

They can inject a splash of colour to restaurant interiors, whilst communicating that sustainability is something you care about as a restaurant-operator.”

Richard Haworth’s popular Amalfi table linen range is regularly used in high profile restaurants across the country, including P&O Cruises, The Goring and The Clove Club. Available in 27 colourways to suit every season and interior style, the Richard Haworth

Amalfi range is made from revolutionary cotton soft fabrics to ensure ultimate durability, providing a more sustainable solution to paper towels and other one-use options.

Raj explained: “Today’s customers are extremely savvy and educated when it comes to understanding the impact that one-use products can have on the environment. Diners are increasingly making considered choices in all aspects of their lives and that includes where and how they dine out.

Whether that’s understanding where their food has been sourced and the carbon footprint of the furniture and interiors inside the restaurants they frequent, they want to know they are supporting businesses with ethics.

“Our stain-release fabric technology means lower temperature washes, with less rinsing and chemicals required, resulting in a more environmentally-friendly and durable product for you and your guests.”

Personalisation of table linens and staff uniforms is another way to create a new, professional look in a restaurant, and this is a truly cost-effective way to elevate your all round interior appeal. Front and back of house staff with matching aprons instantly feel more ready for a busy service and look in-keeping with the restaurant, especially when selecting a colour that compliments the restaurant’s overall interior design scheme.

“Chefwear becomes truly unique when embroidered with staff names or a restaurant logo. This gives customers a fantastic impression, since your apparel is an extension of the work you do in the kitchen,” added Raj. For further information call 0845 337 7732 or visit www.richardhaworth.co.uk

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Issue 102

Design and Refit

MST Auctioneers

MST AUCTIONEERS Ltd specialise in handling & auctioning a wide variety of goods.

We act for Insolvency Practitioners, Receivers, Bailiffs and Solicitors as well as large PLCs. We are members of The National Association of Auctioneers and Valuers (NAVA).

For the past 25 years, we've provided a unique disposal service tailored to suit, liquidators, banks, receivers as

well as private and corporate vendors. We carry out probate valuations and conduct complete house and commercial clearances.

We have the largest Auction venue in the South of England. Our regular monthly Auctions occupy 45,000 sq.ft. of undercover space, selling over 2500 lots from 3 rostrums over two days.

We have storage and removal facilities. In addition we have forklifts for machinery up to 5 tons.

We also hold regular Auctions ”On Site” and "On Line" See the advert on this page for further details.

Upgrade Your Chairs with Trent Furniture’s New Reupholstery Service If the metal or wooden chairs in your hospitality setting are looking tatty but the frames are still robust, there’s no need to throw them away. You can easily extend their lifespan and have them looking as good as new again with Trent’s new reupholstery service.

of the amount needed to buy new chairs, prolonging the life of the chairs you Trent’s team of expert upholsterers, who already own is a more eco-conscious choice work on many of the new chairs we supply, too. What’s more, the process couldn’t be are now able to provide that service for simpler – all you need to do is email a photo older chairs that require a facelift or need to of the chair stating how many you need be recovered to fit in with a new décor reupholstered for a competitive quote. scheme. With a choice of hundreds of conTo find out more about how Trent’s tract-grade fabrics to choose from, you are reupholstery service can give your chairs a sure to find the perfect choice for your new lease of life in 2022, please call us on venue.

0116 2864 911 or fill in our contact form at Not only does reupholstery cost a fraction www.trentfurniture.co.uk

Please mention the Caterer, Licensee & Hotelier News when replying to advertising

Design and Refit

Issue 102

CLH DIGITAL

Having Successfully Launched the ILF Chairs New Comprehensive Website, ILF Have Now Added Further Stock Product Colours www.ilfchairs.com

email: terry.kirk@ilfchairs.com

Their new online website offers both indoor and outdoor seating and table solutions.

Divided into Contemporary seating, Barstools, Lounge Seating, Period Seating, Outdoor seating and tables plus Indoor Dining & Coffee height tables, offering a great selection of products to view at your leisure. They have also now added a range of stock chairs and barstools.

Most indoor seating and indoor wooden table bases and tops can be finished to any customer specification.

Outdoor items offer a variety of colours within the same product style.

Also included is a link to priced chairs and table bases plus a selection of priced made to order seating in a selection of Faux Leather upholstery colours and wood frame colours. These products can also be sup-

plied to customer specification, just ask for details.

Enquiries can be sent to them directly from the website and they will reply within 24 hours. They hope you will enjoy the experience of viewing their easy to navigate website and they look forward to helping clients get the best products for their hospitality site.

Craftsigns - Signmakers and Signwriters Craftsigns Ltd has been established for over 40 years and specialise in signage for the brewing industry as well as national food chains and retail in general.

We offer a nationwide survey & installation service alongside design & consultation for any requirement.

All our signage is manufactured in-house by our experienced, skilled workforce who pride themselves on innovation & quality.

We endeavour to bring to our design & manufacture a fresh approach to achieve maximum impact combining modern & traditional methods to enhance and optimise your visual presence.

Craftsigns Ltd offer a range of disciplines from tradi-

tional signwriting direct to brickwork, pictorial swing signs, traditional signwriting & gilding to glass along with the latest CNC technology to produce modern signage. From three dimensional lettering to large totem signs all fitted with various options of LED illumination in material ranging from aluminium to stainless steel and also copper, brass and bronze with a choice of aged and patination finishes.

We also manufacture menu cases to order in freestanding, wall mounted & lectern formats in various finishes to accompany your signage & display installation. We also manufacture, to your bespoke design planters & barrier systems, awnings and point of sale terminals.

Visit www.craftsigns.co.uk

Please mention the Caterer, Licensee & Hotelier News when replying to advertising

Craftsigns Ltd has been established for over 40 years and specialise in signage for the brewing industry as well as national food chains and retail in general.

We offer a nationwide survey & installation service alongside design & consultation for any requirement.

All our signage is manufactured in-house by our experienced, skilled workforce who pride themselves on innovation & quality.

We endeavour to bring to our design & manufacture a fresh approach to achieve maximum impact combining modern & traditional methods to enhance and optimise your visual presence.

WWW.CRAFTSIGNS.CO.UK

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Property and Professional

Issue 102

What to Consider When Facing Insolvency

By John Bell, Director of licensed Insolvency Practitioners Clarke Bell, which he founded in 1994. (www.clarkebell.com) The food and beverage service sector is going through a turbulent time due to a combination of factors including staff shortages, increasing costs of supplies and the restrictions which were caused by Covid-19 and drastically reduced their customer numbers.

A lot of companies will have been supported by the government schemes, such as furlough and Bounce Back Loans, but with those withdrawn some companies are struggling.

Many businesses are now experiencing cashflow and debt problems to the extent that they are now insolvent – and unable to pay staff wages and other bills. For an owner of a company in that situation, they should now review their options…and doing nothing should not be the option to take.

John Bell is founder and senior partner at licensed insolvency practitioners Clarke Bell and here he considers the options for a company faced with insolvency and spells out the steps to take next.

LIQUIDATING AN INSOLVENT COMPANY A company is insolvent if it is no longer sustainable and can’t cover its daily costs, bills or debts.

There are two tests to determine whether a company in insolvent: • The balance sheet test: this measures whether a company’s liabilities are greater than its assets. If this is the case, the company can be classified as insol-

vent. be sold in order to pay back creditors. The court will • The cash-flow test: this looks at whether a company appoint a licensed Insolvency Practitioner to liquidate the can pay its bills and debts when they are owed. Again, company.

Following a liquidation, an Insolvency Practitioner will if your company cannot, it can be deemed insolvent. conduct an investigation into the company to decide WHAT IS LIQUIDATION? whether directors were guilty of wrongful or fraudulent Liquidating a company refers to the process under trading. which a company is closed. This is a procedure that must WHAT OPTIONS DO YOU HAVE? be carried out by a licensed Insolvency Practitioner.

If you fail to act quickly, the winding-up petition will go There are two paths open to an insolvent company ahead and your company will be forced to close via comgoing into liquidation, compulsory liquidation and pulsory liquidation, the most serious of form of insolvent Creditors’ Voluntary Liquidation. liquidation.

COMPULSORY LIQUIDATION If you act quickly there are ways to stop the winding-up One form of insolvent liquidation is compulsory liquida- petition. tion. This is when a company is forced to close by its One of these options is a Creditors’ Voluntary creditors who are unable to recover the debts they are Liquidation (CVL), another type of insolvent liquidation in owed. the UK. In this case, the creditors can issue a statutory payment Creditors’ Voluntary Liquidation demand notice, giving a company 21 days to pay back the Although a CVL occurs when a company is insolvent, amount.

Alternatively, creditors can go directly to the courts to unlike compulsory liquidation it is a completely voluntary form of liquidation. issue a winding-up petition by using a pre-winding up So, why choose voluntary liquidation? demand letter (as opposed to a formal statutory demand) to evidence inability to pay, and then proceed There are many benefits for both directors and crediwith the petition if the debt is not disputed. tors using a CVL. WHAT IS A WINDING-UP PETITION? This is a good option for businesses that believe they A winding-up petition asks for a company to be closed, no longer have a sustainable future and the best option meaning its assets will be sold to raise the funds to cover will be to close their doors. This is a way for company debts. directors to take control of the situation and act before Once the winding-up petition has been issued, the com- things get any worse. pany’s bank account may be frozen. Any other creditors By opting for Creditors’ Voluntary Liquidation, a busiwill also have the opportunity to join in on the windingness can avoid being forced into compulsory liquidation. up petition.

As it is a voluntary process, directors who want to put It then usually takes about one month after the windtheir company into Creditors’ Voluntary Liquidation are ing-up petition has been issued for the court to decide free to choose which Insolvency Practitioner they whether the company should be wound up. appoint.

If it is decided that your company will be forced to With this option, the director can close the company close, it will enter into liquidation, meaning its assets will

and always has the option to open another business in the future if they wish. What’s more, their personal finances won’t be impacted.

In a CVL, the Insolvency Practitioner will still conduct an investigation into the company to ensure that the directors were not guilty of wrongful or fraudulent trading.

Company Voluntary Agreement Another option available to a company which is insolvent is a Company Voluntary Agreement (CVA). This is a procedure which enables the company to continue to trade and pay back its creditors through a formal proposal over a period of time - typically five years.

A CVA needs to be approved by 75% (by debt value) of the company’s creditors who cast a vote in the process.

Once agreed, a schedule of payments will be arranged with your insolvency practitioner setting out the timetable and amounts for the debts to be re-paid.

According to the statistics provided by The Insolvency Service, CVAs are entered into far less frequently than CVLs. In 2021 there were 115 CVAs compared to 12,668 CVLs. CVAs tend to be popular with companies who have a lot of leasehold premises – as they can lead to a reduced rent. However, they are often seen as merely delaying the inevitable and just providing some breathing space. This has been demonstrated by the number of companies who have entered into a CVA and then went on to go into administration or liquidation.

PICKING THE BEST OPTION FOR YOUR COMPANY Covid-19 has wreaked havoc on the economy, but those directors who take steps to face up to their financial difficulties and seek professional advice can avoid sleepless nights and make plans for the future.

The hospitality sector is likely to enjoy a revival as the restrictions caused by Covid eventually get lifted and life returns to normal. However, a lot of companies will be stuck with historic debts that will hold back their recovery.

An Insolvency Practitioner will be able to work with you and your accountant (if applicable) to determine the best option for you to take – including the options for re-starting your business.

We’re Here To Support Your Hospitality Business W! NE

PRICE: £495,000

W! NE

PRICE: £620,000

• Quintessential 17th Century Village Inn in the Heart of Bridford • Substantial Open Plan Character Main Bar/Dining Room, Full Equipped Commercial Kitchen & Extensive Back of House Space • Village Shop, Landscaped Outside Trading Areas & Large Car Park • Attractive Three Bedroom Owners Accommodation • Turnover in the Region of £300,00 ex VAT Per Annum with Strong Net Profit

BRIDFORD, DEVON

FREEHOLD

REF: 4156

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REF: 4184

• Well Established & Successful Restaurant in the Heart of Dartmouth • Dining Area with Spectacular Panoramic Window with Harbour & Estuary Views • 3/4 Bedroom Apartment – Could be Used for Holiday Letting/Staff/Owners • Highly Profitable Business, Ideal for ‘Owner Operator’ Couple • Must be Seen to be Appreciated – Retirement Sale

DARTMOUTH, DEVON

PRICE: £150,000

W! NE

PRICE: £795,000

TORQUAY, DEVON

PRICE: £18,000

LEASEHOLD

REF: 4008

• Beautifully Renovated & Refurbished Seafront Holiday Letting Property • Designed to be used as a Large Holiday Letting House/Airbnb/ Private Guest House • Sea Views and Less than a Minute's Walk to Preston & Paignton Beaches • 10 Superior En-Suite Letting Rooms including Disabled Room with Wet Room • Gross Internal Area 3,401 sq ft (316 sq m)

PAIGNTON, DEVON

FREEHOLD

REF: 4165

LEASEHOLD

REF: 4050

BOVEY TRACEY, DEVON

HATCH BEAUCHAMP, SOMERSET

• A Substantial, Completely Refurbished 18th Century Coaching Inn • 2 Spacious, Character Trading Areas (54+ covers) • 5 Superior En-Suite Letting Rooms & Very Well Presented 3 Bed Private Accommodation • Outside Courtyard Trading Area, Car Park & Skittle Alley • Stunning Property and Business, Must be Seen

• Fish & Chip Takeaway in Prominent Location • Within Residential & Commercial Area of Torre • Well Equipped Plus Ancillary Areas • Currently Closed - Huge Potential to Grow & Develop Business • 10 Year Lease From September 2020 with Repairing & Insuring Obligations – Rent £10,000 PA

PRICE: £695,000

W! NE

• Superb Café/Restaurant Located at the ‘Gateway to Dartmoor’ • Benefitting from Spacious Residential Accommodation • Well Maintained Garden Seating Area & Large Customer Car Park • Operated Under Management with Owners Overseeing • Internal Seating for 85, External Seating for 80+

FREEHOLD

REF: 4078

• Stunning Country Inn Situated on the Edge of Dartmoor National Park • Situated in the Affluent & Pretty Village of Chardstock • Main Bar, Locals Bar, Snug and Games Room • Restaurant, Commercial Kitchen, Trade Gardens and Car Park • 4 En-Suite Letting Rooms in Separate Detached Annexe & 3 Bed Owners Accommodation

CHARDSTOCK, DEVON

PRICE: GUIDE RENT OF £35,000 PA (FREE OF TIE) - NIL PREMIUM REF: 2435

W! NE

• Stunning Seafront Property with Views Over the Coastline • Spacious First Floor Glazed Trading Space (up to circa 70 covers) • Lower Ground Floor with Potential to be Reconfigured • Possibility to Add Outside Trading Areas (By way of Separate Negotiation) • Proposals to be Submitted by 2pm, Wednesday 16th March 2022

TEIGNMOUTH, DEVON

PRICE: TO LET BY INFORMAL TENDER

REF: 4163

For almost 15 years, Capify has worked closely with the hospitality sector, providing them with much-needed funding when some of the more traditional routes for financing have been closed to them. Now is no different as we have a £40m fund to help your business recover as the economy opens up again.

A Capify business loan is easy to apply for and can be approved and paid out in as little as 24 hours. Our business loan's flexibility means that you can use it for any business purpose, such as; • managing short-term cash flow issues • purchasing extra food and drink • hiring additional staff • purchasing new catering equipment Capify's lending criteria will consider the challenges of the past year. Our flexibility means we will try and look beyond your credit history when assessing your application and instead, we will consider whether your busi-

ness has the potential to deliver solid and sustained growth.

If you'd like to find out how much finance you qualify for to help you continue your post-Covid recovery, visit www.capify.co.uk/hospitality-fund. You'll be taken to Capify's website, where you can get a no-obligation quote within minutes. You'll also be able to find out more information about the business loan and the unique and straightforward repayments.

To find out more see the advert on page 10, visit www.capify.co.uk/hospitality-fund or call us on 0800 151 0980 to speak to one of our specialist finance sale team.

Are You Struggling to RUN PROFITABLY Your Business?

If so, our bespoke Hospitality Mentoring & Consultancy service can help. Our Managing Consultant, David Hunter, has been a recognised Management Consultant specialising in the Hospitality sector for over 30 years.

David’s mission is to provide practical advice, knowledge and expertise that will help your business to reach its full FINANCIAL POTENTIAL. Our bespoke Mentoring & Consultancy service focuses on the key areas of your business, such as PROFITABILITY, MANAGING PEOPLE, MARKETING and OPERATIONAL STRATEGY. As part of his Mentoring-driven service, David has always provided ‘’free-of-extra-charge’’ key weekly figures, analysis & reporting so that your finger is always on the pulse of your business’s finances and performance.

The GOOD NEWS is that David has now made this service even more accessible, with a lower ‘’entry level’’ ongoing Mentoring arrangement that is ‘’strapped on to’’ our providing those vital weekly figures to you.

So … instead of just getting our own well-established, tried and tested and very popular, weekly figures reporting system, you can now access David’s KNOWLEDGE, EXPERIENCE and EXPERTISE via INCLUSIVE, and AT NO EXTRA COST, four half-day on-site Mentoring & Consultancy visits every year (or two full days, depending on your location).

You get even more than that … David is always available to you at the end of the phone or via Email, and always on-hand when you need advice or guidance.

There is MORE. You would also get access to “tried and tested” experts through our Bowden Group Alliance, where our fully approved colleagues are ALSO at your disposal for advice on areas such as legal advice, saving money on Utility bills, Marketing and more. OUR BOWDEN GROUP ALLIANCE MARKETING COLLEAGUE MATTHEW WILL EVEN GIVE YOU A MARKETING REVIEW … COMPLETELY F.O.C. … to help you to get your business going.

Without cost or obligation, David will also take a look at your figures and discuss what could be ACHIEVED … again COMPLETELY F.O.C. …

If your business is struggling with financial or operational challenges, then get in touch today.

MAXIMISE YOUR FULL POTENTIAL by calling David Hunter confidentially on 07831 407984 or 01628 487613, or message us via our website at: www.bowdengroup.co.uk

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Straight Forward Insolvency Advice from Oury Clark We know that the last couple of years have been tough, especially in the hospitality sector. Not to worry, our Insolvency Practitioners are here to help advise and guide you if your business is struggling.

Oury Clark has been helping people since 1935 and our Insolvency Practitioners have over 20 years of experience in both Personal and Corporate Insolvency. We are a family run professional firm that provides the highest professional standards to all our clients.

If your business is in financial difficulty it is important to take advice well in advance to avoid any wrong doing as a director. At Oury Clark we will hold your hand from

the beginning to the end of the Insolvency process, whether it’s you or your company. We will explain clearly the best insolvency scenario/option that’s applicable to you depending on your circumstances. We will ease your stress and deal with your creditors directly on your behalf. We will not load you with jargon, but will explain matters in plain language.

Insolvency could be the right thing to do if your business is struggling. You can bury your old debts and make a new start.

So, don’t lose sleep over threatening creditors. At Oury Clark we are more than happy to assist and make your life simpler.

If you require advice and support on any sort of formal insolvency procedure we are only a telephone call away. Please ring us on 01753 551111 and ask to speak to Kalani or anyone in the Oury Clark Insolvency team.

Kalani.Gunawardana@ouryclark.com

Help Is At Hand For Businesses Devastated by the Covid–19 Virus

The Government is backing a new lending scheme that is aimed at getting funds out to struggling businesses that have seen profits impacted by coronavirus and whilst hotels, restaurants and public houses along with B&B’s and other hospitality businesses all struggled through the lockdowns we are pleased to let you know help is at hand.

Repayments will be anything up to a 25 year profile, meaning repayments will be low and give the best chance for business recovery.

Loans will normally be secured against the freehold, or long leasehold value, but can be used for any purpose including refinance, debt consolidation, providing additional working capital and even purchasing of another business.

Professional brokers, Global, have 31 years’ experience in introducing business owners to helpful and competitively priced banks, often not on the High St. but based in The City, with regional offices and a fresh modern way of working and providing business loans nationally.

Global will help you with the funding options and chat to the lenders to obtain the best terms before presenting them too you. Once you choose a loan option, Global will work to obtain an approval from the lender prior to any business valuation, so you know the bank is supportive and wants to take the process forward towards a loan pay out.

Email mvhwiddows@aol.com

T H E W E S T C O U N T RY S P E C I A L I S T S

EAST DEVON COAST

DARTMOOR VILLAGE

CORNISH COASTAL TOWN

Desirable 10 Bedroom Guest House

Stunning & Renowned Quintessential Village Inn 5 Letting Bedrooms Stylish Character Bar & Dining Areas (92+) Attractive Beer Gardens (60+) Sought After Idyllic Dartmoor Village

Character Licensed Cafe & Bistro 36 Seats Inside and 48 Seats Outside

FH £1,200,000

LH £135,000

2 Bed Chalet & Owner’s Accom.

Prominent & Visible Trading Position Trading On a Bed & Breakfast Only Basis Impressive Levels of Trade

LH £95,000

6011

4812

Trading 7 Months Of The Year Only Strong Profits With Low Overheads Potential to Increase Trade Levels

2134

SOMERSET VILLAGE

SOMERSET VILLAGE

DEVON COASTAL TOWN

Exceptional High Turnover Free of Tie Inn

Substantial & Deceptively Spacious Inn

Quality Delicatessen & Coffee Shop

Bar & Dining Areas (140)

Main Bar (35+), Restaurants (50)

Equipped To Extremely High Standards

Trade Gardens & Patio Ares (64)

4 Quality Ensuite Letting Bedrooms

Prominent Town Centre Trading Position

6 Double Bed (2 Ensuite) Owners Accom.

3 Bed Owner’s Accom. & Sep. Flat

Unique & Profitable Business

Sought After Free of Tie Leasehold

Strong Trade & Profits

Alfresco Seating For 24 Customers

LH £150,000

4815

FH £597,000

4811

LH £89,950

2131

DARTMOOR DEVON

DEVON VILLAGE

EAST DEVON COAST

Day Time Only Café & Restaurant

Character Detached Village Inn

Award-Winning Tearoom & Restaurant

Excellent Reputation With Potential

Interconnecting Bar & Dining Areas (66+)

38 Covers & Commercial Kitchens

30 Covers & Commercial Kitchen

3 Letting Bedrooms (2 With Hot Tubs)

3 Bed Owner's Accom. & Roof Terrace

2 Bedroom Owner's Accommodation

2/3 Double Bedroom Owner’s Accomm.

Sought After East Devon Coastal Town

Quality Business In Sought After Town

Completely Refurbished

Garage, Parking & Close To Beach

LH £89,950

2133

FH £395,000

PLUS VAT

THINKING OF SELLING? CALL FOR A FREE VALUATION

4816

LH £89,950

2129

01392 201262 www.stonesmith.co.uk