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Many of our clients retain us to undertake regular audits of their catering facilities across a national portfolio. We devised an approach to promote competitive behaviours from on-site teams, and deliver ongoing attention and improvement for the client organisation management teams. And so, our annual catering audit awards were born and BaxterStorey were victorious in 2022.

We undertake around 40 catering audits each year. We collate scores and learnings to ensure high standards of service are maintained and changes can be implemented for continuous improvement. We review the results and award teams for both highest marks and biggest improvements. This year’s BaxterStorey winners were delighted with their Dining Out voucher prizes!

Darren Gilbertson, Accounts Director. BaxterStorey had this to say about the team’s success,

“Achieving the awards of best site and most improved site is a testament to the hard work and effort of our teams who have worked hard to deliver for our customers across the past year ensuring that fresh food, coffee and customer service is at the heart of everything we do.“

In pseudoscience Pythagorean numerology the number eight represents victory, prosperity and overcoming. In Chinese culture, eight is thought to be a lucky number because the number broadens gradually representing becoming prosperous. But what’s this got to do with our food and drink consultancy?

Well, we celebrated our eighth birthday this Spring. In the last year, we have supported our clients to overcome many of the challenges Covid presented to hospitality and catering, have encouraged client teams to be victorious in our Audit Awards and have grown our client base significantly.

New levels of support post-Covid

Covid challenged the industry in many ways, impacting physical footfall, cleaning costs and materials and the supply chain, and driving forward new ways of working. We enjoyed seeing catering propositions being enhanced and directly funded by organisations keen to entice their workforce back to the office and support their teams during cost of living challenges.  We pride ourselves on listening to all of the information before crafting our strategic recommendations. This year this incorporated hosting a virtual workshop with a night shift warehouse team at 10pm. If we had requested this three years ago, it would have been considered unusual, but our use of Microsoft Teams and other solutions meant we could gather invaluable feedback from a major proportion of a company’s workforce without needing to travel all over the country overnight.

Client awards introduced to raise standards

Our new Audit Awards provided a chance for competitive teams across our client base to secure prizes for the highest mark, with the supplier team from BaxterStorey announced the victors at Stockport in 2022.

New clients seeking improvement to their employee catering facilities

This year has seen Thread add a national television broadcaster and an energy facility to our client base for catering and hospitality advice.  As with many clients, they’re keen to ensure their employee facilities meet market and consumer expectations, and require review, analysis and a strategy for future services. 

A Quick insight into Thread’s latest activities now we are six ….

Celebrating six years supporting businesses with their catering and hospitality challenges. From catering space planning and office relocation, to procurement, quality audits and cost reduction strategies, alongside our colleagues and clients we have navigated our way through a very demanding year.

In keeping with our company values we have continued to make donations to the local foodbank and are proud to provide a few hours of voluntary support to the NHS to ensure we give back to the local community.

We’re expanding our skill set with nutrition advice and planning a number of refurbishment and cost reduction projects for implementation in the spring. As hospitality businesses plan to reopen again we look forward to supporting them with our clients; to develop sustainable business models going forward – we’re excited about the year ahead!

As returning to workplaces and a “new normal” starts to feel within our grasp, many of our catering and hospitality providers, and corporate clients who select them as their supplier, are reconfiguring spaces and planning how to make their operations viable and safe for workers and customers. I always say we like to think we’re different at Thread, and one of the reasons why is our desire to leave a lasting legacy with the people IN the organisations we work with, not only positive impacts for those leading them, and that’s about providing them with additional expertise, knowledge and confidence in what they do.

This investment in people is critical to give confidence in getting people back into workplaces and social environments, so I am delighted to see that international provider of food hygiene, health and safety advice – Common Sense Compliance – who I have worked with for many years have launched a specific training programme to give catering suppliers and corporate procurement teams confidence in the practical steps that they are taking to get operations open. They’ve developed industry specific COVID-19 policies and toolkits, and can deliver training via webinar to operational teams. And as Environmental Health Professionals, they can also review and evaluate any existing COVID-19 policies or plans you may have started developing to ensure they’re compliant – and certify them to give greater assurance. I’ve gone so far as to endorse their training, their audit and their policy review and certification services, so if you would find this valuable, contact me directly.

This is just one of the simple, effective and speedy mechanics that will help keep the hospitality industry moving and trading in line with government lifting of restrictions as they happen.  Some others I have found inspiring are:

• The Grand Outdoor Café campaign – to encourage landlords and governments to be flexible on licencing and demise regulations to enable operators to use outdoor space to enable greater social distancing and optimise capacity (and profitability) for food & beverage operators.
• Designer Deliveries – with chefs like Adam Handling initiating his “Hame” delivery service of high end dishes that travel better than some of his restaurant concepts but meet the expectations of his diners, will we see greater flexibility in future from the Michelin and premium dining market? Gymkhana, Hakkasan and Hide are all offering similar take out options already, who will follow….
• Contactless egg and milk vending machines at local farms – they’ve been around since long before the outbreak but have come into their own in recent weeks; I hope that noticing the difference in quality will encourage locals to continue to source this way regularly.
• Our local Warwickshire Gin company adding hand sanitiser to its production line – diversifying to support the challenges in demand, and benefit from a new revenue stream while out of home alcohol sales are at their lowest.
• Creation and sending of “care packages” to friends and family – from craft breweries to George & Joseph Cheesemongers Self Isolation Survival Kit – I am sure additional revenue streams for some businesses will continue long after the pandemic has stabilised.  

As borders continue to close and not just the UK, but the world takes an unexpected “time out”, we are thinking about all of those who are fighting the war against COVID-19 (including the blue light services, frontline NHS staff and teachers caring for key worker families), but also those fighting to keep their hospitality businesses afloat and alive until the world settles once more.

We are fortunate at Thread Consultancy that our client portfolio is broad and diverse, and many are still in need of our time and services. We are therefore running business as usual but via remote working of course.

But we understand that the world of hospitality is in extremely challenging times and may need some help during this unprecedented time.  So now we have taken time to steady our own course, we want to reach out to those in the industry to offer support – if you have a basic query, or something you think we can help with remotely, we will be pleased to speak with you free of charge. We must help each other through the tough time, to ensure we survive for the good! 

As British Airways eloquently articulated last week, when the world starts turning once again, once travel is permitted and social distancing measures relaxed, “it will be epic”. Families will be reunited, people will celebrate their friendships, communities will recognise their heroes – and the hospitality industry will do what it does best – provide spaces, comfort and service that surprises, delights and creates wonderful memories.

It’s been reported that the emergency food aid sector, including food banks, have been struggling due to the drop in donations from both individuals and the supermarkets in the last two months since COVID-19 took hold of the nation.

We know that the outbreak has made it much more difficult for some families and individuals to either financially or physically access food. As such, we have continued to contribute to our local food bank, as we have for the last three years ensuring some of our success at Thread goes back into the local community. We are incredibly proud of the work that the centre at Stratford Upon Avon is undertaking at this difficult time, including having to move premises to the Methodist Church in Old Town to ensure volunteers and customers remain safe.  

This Christmas we want to wish all our clients, friends, colleagues and wider network a wonderful, restful and mindful festive break.

Whether you’re enjoying turkey dinners, Boxing Day feasts or new year celebrations, it is the time of year we really appreciate what amazing food we have access to, and think about others less fortunate than ourselves. As has become tradition, we have made a donation to Stratford-upon-Avon Food Bank this year in place of cards to help local people in crisis. With one in five people in the UK living below the poverty line, the 1000+ emergency food packages for people over the christmas period are invaluable.

We’re proud to be supporting them once again and ensuring a tangible difference in the lives of people within our local community.