Mark Morris, founder of The Staff Canteen, talks about the companies’ biggest successes, his advice for others in the hospitality sector, and the synergy between The Staff Canteen and Lightspeed.
What is your biggest success at The Staff Canteen?
I'm proud that we've lasted 15 years, and I'm proud of the team that we've built. I'm proud of the fact that we have become the go-to platform for chefs and restaurateurs.
When I started The Staff Canteen, we employed an editor before we employed a sales person, because I honestly believe if you look after your community, the commercial side of things will work out.
When someone comes to The Staff Canteen and signs up, they're a customer. They can go to any platform, and they come to The Staff Canteen, and they share their knowledge with us. The fact that people do that fills me with huge pride.
Why did you decide to partner with Lightspeed?
Over the past 15 years, The Staff Canteen has built up a huge network. We always knew we had a really strong audience, but the technology sector has always been an industry that we struggled with.
Recruitment and staffing is a massive issue for the hospitality industry, and because of this, we realised that technology was going to be something that hospitality businesses were going to have to adopt far more. Businesses are looking for technology to help them. That could be as simple as when you go back to a restaurant, someone's saying, “We've got your usual seat for you”.
It's having data, but turning data into information, and making the data that you have valid for your business. It's great for us to partner with Lightspeed, as you don't just look at restaurants as a sector, but each restaurant as an individual business. Lightspeed listens to the needs of each individual restaurant, and how it can help with the different demands.
Have you noticed any emerging trends in the UK hospitality industry?
One big trend we’ve seen that’s being led by the owner operators is employee welfare. Hospitality has always had a reputation of being hard work and unsociable hours. Employers are investing in their people a lot more.
Restaurants are now doing four days a week, and straight shifts are becoming pretty much standard. People are much more aware about people's mental and physical health. It’s amazing that in the hospitality sector, we’ve been feeding our staff really badly. If you're going to ask someone to do 10, 11, 12 hours a day and feed them really rubbish food, you're not going to get the best out of them.
You’re only as good as your team, and if you don't have a team, your business is fragile. If you've got a team that are motivated, that aren't tired, that aren't stressed out, that are being looked after, are getting a good salary, are getting all the breaks that they need, it's going to improve your product.
