You spin me right round baby, right round; like a record, baby, right round, round, round.

It’s certainly felt like that this past week with conflicting reports from hospitality operators as to the mood of the great unwashed.

Is thrift the new black? Is red the state of all our bank balances?

Well it looks like Sports Cafe’s balance is at the very least pinkish as it’s had to go to its bank and ask for more funds after a poor Christmas.

Frankie & Benny’s owner The Restaurant Group was also glass half full in its appraisal of prospects for this coming year.

But Giraffe stuck its neck out and confirmed expansion remained on the cards this year and Yo! Sushi was suitably upbeat, which might be telling or simply a by-product of having an exclamation mark in your name.

Tragus, which admittedly late last year had to postpone a decision on whether to launch on the London Stock Market due to the credit crunch, enjoyed good Christmas trading and is looking forward to a busy 12 months.

Sodexho probably doesn’t care either way as the contract caterer has just won an eye-wateringly large seven-year deal with the Ministry of Defence.

In other catering news Compass Group completed its senior UK chef line-up, a process it began last June with the appointment of Nick Vadis as UK executive chef.

I’m number one why try harder? Yes, Hilton is the number one hotel brand for business guests in Western Europe, Middle East, Asia Pacific and Latin-America, according to the 2007 BDRC Hotel Business Guest Survey.

The restaurant critics aren’t in the best of moods this time of year and its was the second Babylon Beach Blanket’s turn to get a kicking in our round-up of London reviews.

Jobs for the boys (and girls) won’t be as plentiful this year experts have warned but Malmaison owner MWB said the outlook for 2008 remains “extremely positive” despite uncertainty over consumer spending.

Tell that to the British Beer & Pub Association. They’re expecting a “dire” January as beer sales slide and managed chains clean up and a bleak period ahead.

And how about this for something to lift the winter gloom?

Networking body Arena, now in its 25th year, has none other than Alastair Campbell lined up as its guest speaker at its annual lecture and dinner at the InterContinental hotel on London’s Park Lane on 19 February.

Yes Tony Blair’s spin doctor in chief will be on hand to answer your questions and we’re giving you the opportunity to put your queries to Campbell. You can ask him how hospitality can come together to better make its case to government. Or put him on the spot about what he’d do as spin doctor for the industry. The choice is yours.

Send Caterersearch your questions via caterertabletalk@rbi.co.uk with the subject line My Question to Alastair and we’ll put them to the main man on the night.

For more information on the Arena event go to www.arena.org.uk/