As we go to press with this issue, we have been at war with Iraq for just on a week. But life here seems to be going on pretty much as usual. There are all the flurries and eddies on the stock exchange with share prices plummeting and then recovering and the Fleet Street financial pundits all aflutter. So nothing new there. Tony Blair seems to have had a renaissance in the popularity polls as British troops are engaged, and killed, and many people feel, pragmatically I guess, that now it has all kicked off, better show a united front to the rest of the world - especially when there is a chance to pursue the national sport of being rude about the French.
Then there is the, what seems to me, unseemly brangling over contracts to rebuild Iraq after the conflict. Somehow this seems to be putting the cart very much before the horse. And Parliament is whingeing because British firms are not in the frame. Well, doesn't look as though the UN is going to be invited with open arms to be one of the architects of the new Iraq either does it?
Still, one place where British firms seem to be holding their own is in the UK catering suppliers market. Nobody says conditions are easy, but the people I have been talking to at various recent shows say their order books are healthy and people are still ordering new products. This goes for food, drink and equipment. Better than could be expected if we believe the papers and endless analysis in the popular media. Conversations I have had with suppliers have been mostly positive. Which means on the whole operators must be ordering new food, drink and equipment. The forecast economic downturn has not happened.
For some operators, however, it is a different story, but still not desperate, where expansion too fast has resulted in that awful term "downsizing". This is more to do with bad management than economic conditions. You don't have to be Brain of Britain to work out that if you rely on one big contract, and don't punt for new business during the term you hold that contract, when that contract terminates you will be in big trouble. So, London, when US tourists decide not to fly, target another market, and anotherÉand another one yet.
People's needs change as circumstances around them change and that is life. Let's stop taking everything for granted and adopt a more flexible approach to life and business. Nothing lasts forever, good or bad, so let's just get on with it.
It is April, new growth, new life and all that, Easter is upon us and we have the best months of the year to look forward too.
Enjoy this month's issue. It's a good'un.
Kathy Bowry
Editor
Catering Update