Hospitality Market Overview of 2023
Various well-known hospitality businesses this year stated that they were back to pre-pandemic profit levels, with some presenting rapid expansion plans. A number of hospitality businesses also used 2023 as the year to reposition their estates – whether for the purpose of returning their focus to the better performing sites, or to maintain their strategic focus as a modern business.
Regionally speaking, progress was particularly evident in Northern cities such as Leeds, Liverpool and Manchester.
Meanwhile, challenges remained evident for the sector, in the form of the cost-of-living crisis, food price inflation, rising business rates and continued staffing issues. Reform through menu price increases and technology-focused streamlining solutions, were some of the tactical approaches taken to combat the challenges they faced.
From an operational perspective, businesses have had to adapt to a frequent fluctuation in footfall throughout the year. As a result, operational excellence standards are still being reprioritised, but are in many cases in need of further development.
Venners Activity in 2023
Venners as a supplier to the industry has seen a positive increase in market share in 2023. Our offering in operational excellence support – through specialist training, profit consultancy, compliance management and professional auditing – has helped many businesses maintain healthy levels of profit and growth.
Venners are still widely considered the go-to business for everything related to operational controls.
We further solidified our strong position as a preferred supplier and employer, significantly increasing our operational capacity through our own recruitment efforts. This year there has been a steady influx of prestigious and well-established customers, including Popeye’s, Louisiana Kitchen, Clermont Hotel Group, Pizza Punks, Celtic Manor Resort, London’s Savoy Hotel, Rangers, Newcastle and Sunderland Football Clubs, Birmingham’s Botanical Gardens and Taymouth Castle!
Hospitality Market Predictions for 2024
Experience economy growth
Particular growth is expected to be seen in the experience economy, which includes areas such as branded residences, and competitive socialising venues. As part of the experience economy, customised, personalised, luxury, hyper local, authentic and technology-based experiences are likely to see augmented popularity.
Offering diversification
In a bid to stay current, many businesses will turn to further diversifying their offering to keep up with experience-based consumer expectations. This will likely see venues like hotels offering more leisure experiences (such as daycations), increase their interaction with local communities to drive authenticity, and introduce further flexible and collaborative spaces. It will also see other industries, such as retail, dip into food and beverage offerings.
Technology integration
Another major trend for 2024, is expected to be the increase in focused technology integrations within business offerings, as well as business processes. Especially where sustainability is a secondary win for businesses, technologies that accommodate goals in this area will become more popular and established.
Cost saving
Given all the challenges that the hospitality sector is likely to continue to face – particularly with expected business rate increases expected from April – cost-saving measures will continue to play a predominant role in 2024. Hospitality businesses may find it difficult to find an effective blend between saving costs without dropping their standards. Although hospitality workforce shortages are improving, industry experts do not anticipate a full recovery in the coming year in this area either.
“Marstons and Venners have developed a successful long-standing relationship. Venners are an extension of our Profit protection and stock control team, providing expertise, support, and a flexibility over our nationwide estate. The wealth of experience and knowledge within the field based and support teams is invaluable.”