Coffee - an opportunity to grow your reputation

covering the brands Nespresso, Dolce Gusto and Tassimo. Many suppliers now provide recycling collection bags with their orders as part of the Podback scheme and there are now suppliers like Grind who have created home recyclable pods (the decompose in 26 weeks).

However the most common tea/coffee making facilities in Scottish hotel rooms, as you all know, remains the kettle, tea bags and instant coffee (mosty in sachets) with milk (often in mini-pots) and sugar/sweeteners. The use of single use plastic will eventually put a stop to mini-pots of milk, and already milk suppliers are providing their milk in dinky wee bottles – and of course glass can be recycled.

While single serve coffee pods may be fashionable particularly amongst millennials (aged 16 – 34) instant coffee is still the most popular coffee in the country and this is where we differ from our European counterparts.

Did you know that the top instant coffee brands reach far more consumers than their fresh ground counterparts – this is throwback to the World War II, when it was introduced by U.S. military personnel. The product took hold and has been popular ever since. The most popular is Nescafe which generated more than £42 million in 2022.

Another sight which is becoming more common is the introduction of coffee stations at various points throughout hotesl, no doubt introduced to help with staffing shortages, where guests can help themselves. State-of-the-art equipment is essential if this is to work. You want equipment that ensures consistent quality. By installing an easy to use speciality coffee machine, you will be giving quick access to perfectly made coffee. Whether you have this for staff to use or as a self-serve option, it will help to increase customer satisfaction and save the staff time. However it perhaps negates the opportunity to up sell – which staff have when serving a customer, although it is often a rarity. I could count on one hand – maybe even one finger, how often a person serving me coffee has suggested a biscuit or a scone. I always think this is missed opportunity.

But before I sign off what should you consider if you are going down the sustainable coffee route and are looking for a supplier... check out

Certifications: Ensure that the supplier’s coffee beans are certified by credible organizations such as Fair Trade, Rainforest Alliance, UTZ Certified, or Organic. This guarantees that the coffee meets specific environmental, social, and economic standards (6).

Traceability and Transparency: A reputable supplier should be able to provide information about the origins of their coffee, the farmers they work with, and their commitment to sustainability. This demonstrates accountability and trustworthiness.

Local and Direct Trade: Whenever possible, opt for suppliers who source their beans directly from farmers or cooperatives. This can lead to higher quality coffee, better prices for farmers, and a more personal connection to the coffee’s origin.

Quality and Taste: Sample the coffee to ensure it meets your guests’ expectations. The best sustainable coffee should not only be ethically sourced but also taste delicious. Now you know.

HAZEL GALLOWAY runs out of Glasgow’s biggest hotels - the new Clayton Hotel in the former Custom House Building. SUSAN YOUNG caught up with her to find out more.

The new Clayton Hotel is a tardis. Its very modest frontage does not belie the scale of the operation behind the listed facade. Indeed, this new hotel is an architectural feat which marries the old with the new. For Hazel Galloway, who is the custodian of the hotel, it is the first hotel that she has opened from the ground up.

She joined Dalata Hotels from Jury’s Inn Hotels just as the pandemic was breaking and although her natural inclination may have been to stay with her former employer due to the uncertainty around the pandemic, the resounding reassurance from the Emma Dalton, Dalata’s UK Group General Manager, gave her the confidence to make the move. She was brought into the Dalata Group and her first opening was in fact the group’s Maldron Hotel in Glasgow which opened in August 2021.

Although Hazel has 10 years under her belt in hospitality management, she admits that she rather fell into her career having trained to be a music teacher at Aberdeen University.

She explains, “I loved the music, but not so much teaching in a school. Then I got a part-time bar job in Jury’s Inn Aberdeen which had just opened, and I really took to it. Luckily for me the General Manager there saw something in me, and took me on full-time.

“The next four years saw me work my way up into a management role – I started in F&B then became Front of Office Manager before becoming Revenue Manager. It was a great time to be working in Aberdeen and I just loved Jury’s and the team there – we all had fun, we didn’t just work well together, we were all friends out of work too. I’m still friendly with many of them today.

From there, after four years, Hazel joined Ardoe House, as Rooms Sales Manager. She explains, “I didn’t have any experience of working in a country hotel, and I didn’t have real banqueting experience, and I wanted to further my revenue experience – it made sense to me because I am a visual learner – it was also great to work with Peter Sangster who was GM at the time.”

She stayed there for a year before moving on to work for Malmaison in Aberdeen who were looking for an Operations Manager. “It was an absolutely mental business. For instance, the Mal restaurant alone did 250 covers on a Saturday.”

However, a health scare which saw Hazel diagnosed with Cervical cancer at the age of 26 made her decide to work closer to her home in Larkhall.

She says, “I was working at Malmaison but I felt very tired all the time, and had other symptoms too, so I pushed my doctors for a diagnosis. I was lucky because it was before pandemic. I was supposed to take 12 weeks off, but by six weeks I was bored. There is only so much TV you can watch. And my GM at Malmaison, Roula, massively helped. She allowed me to come back and do light office duties, and she took on parts of my role. I am just one of these people that can’t bear to be idle – even if I go on holiday I’m okay for a week, then I have to do things.”

However when she had to return to Larkhall to recuperate Hazel felt the draw to come back to Glasgow and after getting the all clear she joined Jury’s Inn Glasgow as Deputy Manager before relocating and joining Hotel du Vin as General Manager in Winchester.

Says Hazel, “This was a tiny hotel with only 24 bedrooms and a restaurant with 60 covers. Winchester is also a really picturesque and affluent place. My biggest challenge there was getting staff –people who lived there didn’t really need to work. I sometimes stepped in to fill roles . Once I did a few weeks as pastry chef when I was there – needless to say I make a better GM. But I loved being there because it was something different for me.

“Then my old boss from Jury’s Inn called me and offered me a General Manager’s role in Bradford, then I was offered a role in Swindon. Around that time Jury’s Inn was bought by an Israeli company called Fattal Hotels and they started to buy fairly central properties in London which they were planning to turn into their own brands – one of which was NYX, and they asked me to go to London and look after the transition of the Holborn property whilst it was being refurbished and due to become the 1st NYX hotel in the UK. Once they had the permanent General Manager in Holborn I was relocated to be GM in Croydon, while looking after Swindon too. Then fate played a role. “One of my best friends was working with Dalata and she mentioned to me that they were building a hotel in Glasgow and introduced me to Emma Dalton, whom I met for lunch to discuss the long term plans around Glasgow. They had just begun to flattened the ground for