‘A united approach is our best chance at getting a #seatatthetable’

After a disappointing start to the petition for a Hospitality Minister, Hotelier Robin Hutson, gathered over a hundred influential Hospitality industry leaders together today to back a new social media initiative.

It hopes to engage young people who work in the hospitality industry who may have missed the petition originally launched by Chef and Restaurant magazine.

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“Our objective is to achieve 100,000 signatures and once we have them, I’m hoping others better qualified than me, will devise the strategy for the debate,"explained Robin.

#seatatthetable campaign

The campaign, Seat at the Table, has been devised by a group of young hospitality professionals who were encouraged to start a movement to drive support for the hospitality industry. They are looking to provide a very concentrated approach and would like to make a lot of noise in a short amount of time. They are hoping this will gain traction quickly and improve reach to different sectors of the industry.

They believe ‘a united approach is our best chance at getting a #seatatthetable’ and the campaign will now run for the next 30 days and will highlight 90 different restaurants who support the petition across the Seat At The Table Instagram and Twitter.

Those backing the social media campaign include Tom Kerridge, Angela Hartnett and Jamie Oliver.

Tom Kerridge said: “We are an employer of many young people and it’s important for us to engage with those 30 and under. This isn’t something which is a political movement or a shout out – it’s something which represents us as an industry.”

A cause worth pursuing 

Hospitality currently fights for airtime in two crowded government departments; pubs and restaurants are in the departments of business, energy and industrial strategy while hotels and tourism sit in digital, culture, media and sport.

Robin said: “We’ve all seen ample evidence this year of poorly thought out and disjointed thinking. Many of the restriction challenges we’ve faced may have been avoided if our representation in government had a deeper understanding of the sector.”

Hospitality is the third largest employer with 3.2 million directly and 1.8 million indirectly – contributing £39billion to the economy in direct gross tax receipts plus £24billion in tourist visitor spend.

Harry Murray MBE added: “The question we have to ask is does government really appreciate the value of hospitality and tourism? And is the industry shown the respect it deserves?"

Why do we need a Hospitality Minister?

A Hospitality Minister would be the champion and guardian of hospitality in parliament, promoting the importance of the economic, social and employment contribution.

Robin said: “This year, more than ever before hospitality has been recognised so I think it’s a really good moment in time to be pushing for this. We want someone to be fully invested and have that deep understanding of this complex industry.

“It’s also an opportunity to really advance the status of hospitality and tourism in this country.”