Looking Ahead – Finally!

This week has represented a week of positive if not hopeful optimism following the announcement of the roadmap out of lockdown by Boris Johnson on Monday.   The industry has reacted with a mixture of emotions ranging from elation to frustration, excitement to anger however, whatever your reaction, one thing that has definitely happened is a massive shift in perspective.

A conversation with a particularly good friend of Appetite’s earlier this week had something of a profound effect on a conscious thought process which has continued through numerous exchanges since and that was that rather than asking: “What have you been doing to keep busy during lockdown?” or “How have you found lockdown?”, the questions have shifted to “What are your plans for re-opening?”.  A real sense of let’s stop looking backwards and regardless of whether you agree with the dates or not, we HAVE dates and looking forwards, we can finally press the big green GO button!

Up and down the country hospitality business are furiously planning their phase 1/2/3 openings and working out how to make themselves as busy and profitable as possible, whilst still adhering to the safety guidelines and restrictions whilst they remain in place.  As an enormously proud supplier to the industry, Appetite have been doing exactly that also.  We have been redefining our purpose, our plans and how we will support this wonderful industry reopen and not only survive but THRIVE through the rest of 2021 and beyond.  Hospitality is going to be a key driver in kickstarting the economy again and the RIGHT people will be the key to it.

And so, in a final act of reflection over the last (almost) twelve months…

• This pandemic has massively given us the gift of time, and with that, we have strived to make ourselves ‘Fitter – Faster – Stronger’. We come out of this with the strongest team we’ve ever had and absolutely committed to continuous improvement and of course growth, in time.
• We have developed an internal mental health first aider and have partnered with a dedicated business to ensure that our team are well and supported.
• We have had the opportunity to upgrade all our systems and tech. We launched a brand new, state of the art database which will aid our ability to finding and connecting great people and great businesses faster than ever before.
• We upgraded our telecoms to an entirely cloud based system meaning, as COVID has shown us, we can work efficiently from wherever we are and can always be connected to each other, and to you – our clients and candidates.
• All our consultants have brand new, nippy little laptops with all the info they need at the tip of their fingers, again enabling us to move quickly and provide solutions efficiently.
• Our office in Godalming has had a make over and looks and feels great, ready for when we can finally be together again, doing what we love to do and what we do best. The beer fridge is stocked, and we are looking forward to Friday beers (before hitting the pub, of course!)
• And FINALLY! The window to our great business!  Our brand new, completely redesigned website has gone live and we are delighted with how it looks and feels and are looking forward to using it to showcase some of the incredible opportunities with businesses we are proud to call partners.

Please do check it out – meet our wonderful team, see what our clients and candidates say about us, meet the rest of our Appetite Family – Appetite4Work and Hospitality Jobs UK and see how we are dedicated to supporting you – The Hospitality Industry.

So as we navigate the very final days of this weird weird year, we look forward to sharing our plans with you.

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