The Oxford English Dictionary defines Hospitality as ‘the friendly and generous reception and entertainment of guests, visitors, or strangers.’

That is what our sector is in the business of.

But historically that same ‘generous reception’ has not always been shown to people working in the industry.

Hospitality has had the highest portion of low-paid jobs in London, with 70.4 per cent of roles paying less than the real Living Wage in 2021[1]. Many are also working unsociable hours, including at night, and with insecure or unpredictable shift patterns. The real Living Wage is the amount people need to survive on. This is distinct from the National Living Wage set by Government, which is not calculated on the real cost of goods. While we welcome the National Living Wage increase from Government today (to £10.42), it doesn’t go far enough – and people earning less than the real Living Wage will still go hungry this winter.

But the hospitality sector is changing. This Living Wage Week we are excited to celebrate that among the small and medium restaurants and hotels of London we are finally seeing a shift – and more and more of them are recognising the important of paying the real Living Wage (£11.95 in London) to their teams.

We’re asking our members and friends to think about the restaurants, cafes and other hospitality businesses they’re eating and drinking at. Are they Living Wage employers? What else are they doing to support their employees during the cost-of-living crisis?

Since November 2021, we have seen a 60% increase in the number of accredited Living Wage Employers in the hospitality sector alone[2]. And the number of employees earning less than real Living Wage according to latest 2022 data has dropped to 48.5%[3]. I have been chairing the hospitality steering group of the project that aims to Make London a Living Wage City. And I am absolutely certain that this is the moment for our sector to do better.

This leadership in creating change isn’t coming from the big companies who have the larger profits to carry it (in the good times at least). The change is being led by the small and medium enterprises who see that their commitment to their community and their colleagues is just as important as (and in fact an enhancement of) their bottom line.

And the change isn’t just about money, it is also about building a community of genuine hospitality.

Take new Soho restaurant Miznon, where the lowest paid earn a basic minimum of £12 per hour (before service or tips), and they host a community breakfast for their employees and others from local businesses to come and eat. They also welcome their employees on their day off, to ensure everyone gets a decent meal despite the cost-of-living crisis.

Or Pophams, the small bakery chain who have accredited as Living Wage employers and support their team members whatever they are facing in their lives.

And The Ivy Collection, who whilst a household name, ensure they invest in opportunities for their employees to progress and get promoted.

All of these employers also host House of St Barnabas graduates in their teams; people who have experienced homelessness and are now working towards good work, a stable home and a supportive network. These employers provide not just a job, but a community (which our graduates pay back in passion and hard work).

Hospitality is one of the few careers where, with the right attitude and the right support, individuals can learn and progress from entry level to the very top without a degree or technical qualifications. Good hospitality businesses like those above can offer brilliant career options, where individuals can bring their own character and be celebrated for who they are. And the real Living Wage movement in London’s hospitality sector now has a fire under it.

This is an encouraging reminder that our hospitality sector doesn’t only need to be a place of generosity and welcome to our customers, but to our employees too.

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This blog was inspired by a dinner at the House of St Barnabas, bringing hospitality sector colleagues together to explore the challenges facing our teams in the cost-of-living crisis. This is part of a series of dinners and blogs. Past blogs can be read here.

We were also joined by colleagues from the Living Wage Foundation. You can find out more about the Living Wage Foundation and how to become an accredited employer here:

Become a Living Wage Employer | Living Wage Foundation

Making London a Living Wage City – Citizens UK

 

[1] LivingWage_Employees_Below_The_LivingWage_2021.pdf, based on the government’s ASHE data

[2] Unpublished data from Living Wage Foundation

[3] Employee jobs below the real Living Wage 2022_1.pdf

This October, we’ve decided to replace our cocktail menu with spirits made from black owned producers. We want to make a statement about the history of the spirits industry and help you to sip consciously next time you visit our club.

The spirits industry has a sinister past. In 1817, more than 99 percent of Black people in America and the Caribbean were enslaved by a white person. The history of rum and bourbon is not well documented, and with many oral histories being lost, the true stats on the number of black distillers and scientists involved in the creation of spirits is not well known. Jack Daniel is one of the most dominant names in the industry, however the person perhaps most responsible for its success—was an employed free black man named Nathan “Nearest” Green, who taught Jack Daniel the art of whiskey distillation—a fact which went unacknowledged for more than 150 years. Cocktail historian David Wondrich has linked both haute cocktail culture and dive bar culture of the early 1900s to Black bartenders. Even these stories alone, show how we owe much of our drink culture to Black people and people of colour.

And today, in 2022, the industry is dominated by white owned businesses. We want this to be a part of the wider conversation, using the cocktails you sip as a conduit. There shouldn’t be a completely white hold on this industry. If we ever want to make a journey towards a post-racial society, then we are are going to have to be willing to have a conversation, which links the past to slavery and the establishment of white supremacy and systemic racism – but also about how this history makes black communities economic stakeholders in the future of the industry as well.

This is about the future. Support these black businesses who are bringing spirits, some which as westerners you will never have tried, Ogogoro is a distilled spirit originating from the oil or raffia palm tree which is part of the Nigerian bar culture, the sippable Vusa Vodka made from South African Sugar Cane, the almost sweet Bayab Gin made from the sap of the Baobab Tree found in many parts of Africa and the hard to categorise Aphro from the West-African Sub Region which blends herbs and spices in a tequila like way.

We hope you enjoy them as much we do.

Look out for specially mixed cocktails showcasing these spirits in the club. Check out the menu here.

This week, on Thursday 22^nd September, the Living Wage Foundation announced an increase in the real living wage. The real living wage is now £11.95 in London.

The House of St Barnabas is a proud living wage employer, everyone who works here earns London Living Wage or above and we welcome today’s increase. We recognise the importance of paying our staff a fair wage so they know that they can pay their rent and bills without relying on tips. For me, one of the most exciting things about our model is that it gives us an opportunity to show that good work in hospitality is possible and use our voice to talk to other employers about making this the norm.

As a business, we know that by paying the real living wage we attract excellent staff who want to stay and grow with us. Our colleagues create a great club member experience, but vitally, create a fun and welcoming training environment for people on our employment programme. This environment is crucial to the success of our employment programme.

The real Living Wage is based on the cost of living and what is needed for a dignified life, it’s higher than the legal minimum wage. It considers things like the weekly food shop and household bills, but also essentials such as dentist trip or a new school uniform. Over 350,000 workers across the UK will get a pay rise because of the commitment of over 11,000 Living Wage employers who voluntarily pay all their staff the real Living Wage.

Although the cost-of-living crisis affects everyone, it is the lowest paid who will be most affected. It’s no secret that hospitality is traditionally a low paid sector, with many staff relying on service charges and tips to make ends meet. But hospitality is also one of the country’s biggest employers, employing millions of people – it can be a fantastic way back into the workplace for people who have experienced homelessness.

We know that good quality, paid work alongside affordable accommodation is a route out of homelessness. By good work, we mean jobs which pay a fair living wage, have stable contracted hours, opportunities for progression and a focus on the whole person. Without this, working people remain in precarious situations that can lead back to homelessness, and that’s without a cost-of-living crisis. We see first-hand through our Employment Academy graduates that going into Living Wage jobs removes a major barrier to escaping homelessness.

Blossom is a graduate of our employment preparation programme and now works as a Commis Chef in our kitchen. She tells us: “Being paid the Living Wage means that I can top up the gas and electric every month, which I used to have trouble with. And if I run out of food, I still have some change left for that. This makes a big difference.”

The real living wage is a lifeline and it’s important for the House of St Barnabas to lead the way in showing that it can, and should, be paid.  It is an investment in our business, helping it to grow even during challenging times, and it is a practical demonstration of how much we value our workers.

For us, good work and paying the London Living Wage is essential for social impact and for running a great business. We could not do one without the other.

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Read more about why Good Work matters and we should be asking for more from our restaurants here.

As someone who has experienced mental ill health due to work stress in the past, it has been painful to lead through a two-year period where poor mental health has not just been common, but at times normalised. Hospitality workers have borne the brunt of the pandemic’s challenges; they have ridden the initial impact of covid, the isolation and financial impact of furlough, returned to a short-staffed workplace with the ongoing instability of new covid variants; all exacerbated by a rising cost of living.

I discussed these issues with colleagues from household name venues across the hospitality sector, including the Ivy Collection, BAFTA and the Royal Academy, as part of a series of Good Work dinners we are hosting at the House of St Barnabas, and whilst it made me downhearted that there was so much shared experience on this topic, the commitment to create real change reassured me.. There has never been a time where employees and employers have been so open about the importance of mental health in the workplace – and never has been there so much attention on what we can do about it. The hospitality industry has long had issues with some of its working practices, and this recent crisis gives us the opportunity for a fundamental shift in how we nurture the wellbeing of our teams.

Many of our teams have found themselves struggling with their mental health for the first time due to the combination of factors above. Managers and Head Chefs have been providing intense emotional support to colleagues daily, at the expense of business as usual. And many employees, particularly in kitchens, have soldiered on without accessing support as they didn’t feel able to ask for help. Some, despite being stretched, have taken on additional hours or second jobs to cope with the increasing cost of living.

As a leader in this context in hospitality, there is a constant balance between supporting the wellbeing of staff and delivering the expectations of customers and  a viable business. Hampered by two years of closure and restrictions, businesses have an urgent need to recoup recent losses and create financial stability. Customer habits have changed too, with bookings and cancellations at much shorter notice, making footfall much less predictable and harder to plan for.

Hospitality leaders were clear that they hadn’t lost hope, but some have made a conscious decision to stop communicating a timetable by which things will be better, as one unexpected challenge after another continue to make stability feel out of reach: a train strike, a covid surge, a heat wave.

But encouragingly, all the employers around the table were committed to the idea that work should be both mentally and physically safe, and fun, and we all had a responsibility to create this environment. There was a sense that we need to strap in for the new normal – and finding new ways of operating that do prioritise staff wellbeing alongside the customer experience had to be an absolute flagship of future models.

Although there was a shared recognition that things aren’t getting easier any time soon, here are 5 inspiring examples from colleagues across the sector of what works in creating physically and mentally healthy places to work in hospitality right now:

1. Build a Mental Health Awareness Culture; prioritise and build awareness of mental health, training mental health first aiders and giving them the scope to educate others
2. Be honest with teams that things aren’t perfect, avoid giving false hope or deadlines for when things that we can’t control will be different. Listen to the challenges and be transparent about what we can and can’t fix – and be honest with customers about what is – and isn’t – deliverable in this new context
3. Recruit trainers in restaurants to take pressure of managers and work alongside junior staff to build skills and standards on the job, taking the pressure of managers in depleted workforces
4. Celebrate the small wins, give daily feedback to individuals, and recognise the progress and success that is achieved every day, however challenging
5. Recognise and resource HR, our people teams have carried us through these hard times and stayed strong for everyone else throughout. Let’s reward and resource them to keep developing.

We certainly aren’t perfect on all of these things at the House, but we are committed to getting there. And I’m excited that the hospitality sector will look back on the pandemic as a turning point for the better on employee mental health.

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Read more about our series of dinners focused on Good Work here.