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.