It’s budget time: what’s next for UK hospitality?

As the new budget becomes reality, we’re cheering for changes that will allow the UK hospitality sector to grow and innovate

The UK hospitality sector is on the edge of their seats as they wait for the annual budget to be released later today.

In the lead up to the budget, key players from the hospitality sector called on the government to give the industry a break, as taxes continue to rise and the labour shortage worsens.

Suggestions include:

• Freezing of ‘bricks and mortar’ business tax rates to help them compete with online retailers
• Initiatives to help the young workers who make up a large part of hospitality’s labour
• Freezing alcohol duties

Analysts predict the sector could lose some 600,000 jobs if changes aren’t made. These kinds of losses would be devastating for the sector.

It’s time to evaluate where you might be carrying dead weight

When you’re a small and nimble brand it’s easier to keep processes under control and make sure you’re not spending where you don’t need to, but as a brand grows some legacy processes might stick around for no reason, which results in wasted resources.

Here at Trail we have the privilege of seeing inside great hospitality operations. We get to see what’s working and what could be improved. And we often see time being wasted on operational processes that are no longer useful to the business, but no one has had the time or motivation to re-evaluate them.

Where can we optimise?

If you already feel like you’re trying to get water from a stone, we hear you. It’s tough to see where cuts could be made without sacrificing quality. Do you know where your staff spend their time? How much time does your organisation spend on activities like internal audits?

The hospitality sector in the UK is already experiencing a labour shortage, so hiring more staff isn’t always an option, but encouraging and enabling productivity with your current team is.

R&D tax credits

Have you thought of ways your brand could be taking advantage of R&D tax credits? If you’re helping to move the sector forward you should be rewarded for it somehow, right? The hospitality sector needs companies that are focussed on innovation, that will bring the whole industry forward.

Harness readily available technology

Hospitality is a rapidly changing sector, with innovation and advancements in tech happening for both front of house and back of house. When’s the last time you looked at your tech (or lack of tech) and asked yourself what’s helping lower overheads and what’s helping generate more revenue? Ideally you want your technology solutions to have a winning combo of both.

As the new budget becomes reality, we’re cheering for changes that will allow the UK hospitality sector to grow and innovate. Making life easier for hospitality brands, after all, is what Trail is about.