A Man Walked into the BHA

A Man Walked into the BHA

by Paul Singer, MD, London Fine Dining Group

 

Now before you all go thinking that I have turned into a dyslexic version of Bernard Manning, I should explain that BHA is not a misspelling of the word BAR nor an acronym for the British Horseracing Association although I bet (at odds of 20/1) that some of you might be thinking so!

 

No, it's an acronym for something completely different - the British Hospitality Association.

 

And this is the (abbreviated, you will be delighted to hear) tale of my first meeting and what goes on behind those closed doors in Lincoln's Inn Fields.

 

London Fine Dining Group had always been a privately owned company, the product of a rescue of one of London's most respected restaurant groups (A to Z Restaurants) and the financial backing of commercial property mogul, John De Stefano. Historically, we kept ourselves pretty much to ourselves although as the group began to grow, it employed almost 300 people across 8 sites in Central London.

 

The time had come for us to have a public voice and so it was with a certain measure of apprehension that I was invited to attend my first BHA meeting.

 

Luckily, the meeting was set for lunchtime, the idea being that people might be enticed into attending by the offer of Hula Hoops and a sandwich platter from M&S.

 

I was introduced to a gentleman who introduced himself to me as the Earl of Bradford. He looked more like an accountant than an Earl so, in a moment of misjudged hilarity, I asked him "Are you a real Earl or did you buy it on eBay?". I say misjudged because not only did he turn out to be the real deal but he also had a website devoted entirely to the exact topic of purchasing peerages in an attempt to fraudulently pass yourself off as a member of the aristocracy (in case anyone is offered the Dukedom of 'Ackney for a "monkey" in a pub one night).

 

And after that wonderful start, we were seated for lunch - next to each other.

 

Luckily, the food was to prove our salvation. The good Earl was dealt a chicken breast whereas I was dealt a leg. As everyone knows, I prefer breast to leg (stop sniggering at the back!). I surveyed the chicken leg for a moment trying to decide which part to pretend to cut up and leave first. As I glanced to my right, I could see the Earl doing the same with his chicken breast. Our eyes met and he then told me that he preferred the leg. Our chance to bond. We swapped chicken pieces and thereby hangs a story I will be able to recount to my grandchildren (when I have any) for years to come - for how many people can claim to have swapped their chicken leg for a breast with a real Earl?!

 

Eating that chicken breast which had come from the Earl's plate was the closest I have ever come to royalty, apart from a school trip to the Tower of London as an 11 year old when we saw the Crown Jewels and a wooden block where a few of Henry VIII's wives were beheaded (I forget how many - history was never my strong point).

 

The BHA, as I was to learn, incorporated not just conventional hospitality (like hotels and  restaurants) but also hospitals and prisons. That was a revelation. I had never thought of Wormwood Scrubs as a venue for hospitality but perhaps if you behead enough of your wives, you might get to try it for free.

 

The BHA umbrella also covered the London Restaurant Association and the National Restaurant Association so now, in one fell swoop, I was a member of more committees than I could care to name.

 

The Chief Exec of the BHA at the time was Bob Cotton (I think he might have an OBE - possibly the outcome of too much chicken-swapping with the Earl). Bob had grown up through the ranks of hospitality including a spell working as a chef at Clarence House where the Queen Mother allegedly insisted on having a thoroughly comprehensive choice of eggs for breakfast including fried, scrambled, poached, hard-boiled, soft-boiled and probably flambéd in Gin, too, for all I know.

 

He was an avid campaigner for British Hospitality (or as he used to say "What I call British Hospitality" - because it was British Hospitality!). I lost count of the number of times he could get the words "what I call" or "what I term" into a sentence. In fact, the rest of the sentence just didn't seem to matter once those words had been used.

 

In 2010, Bob moved on and became a consultant for London Linen (with a name like Cotton, it must have been fate) and made way for Ufi Ibrahim - a chief exec with a name so unique that she is probably a one-woman Googlewhack in addition to being an anagram of "Barium Hi-Fi" which could be the latest in nuclear sound technology from Currys. That's what I call impressive. Not in the least camera shy, Ufi's photo appeared more times in the press than Cheryl Cole's during the first week after her appointment - and that's quite a bit.

 

So what can the BHA do for you, apart from satisfy your cravings for Hula Hoops and Royally connected chicken?

 

Well, it can allow you to become a part of that huge and otherwise secretive governmental machine which dictates almost everything connected with the hospitality business from the size of a wine glass to the number of hours your staff can legitimately work.

 

To be even a small cog in this ever-turning wheel is vitally important to your business as you not only have a chance to shape your own future and that of the industry in which you work but also learn which rules and regulations are hurtling down the tunnel towards you, thus giving you the chance to avoid being run over by them before it's too late.

 

Ufi and her team are relentless in campaigning for the interests of their members, whether it's trying to negotiate better deals with preferred suppliers or fighting with government departments to cut through red tape or prevent unnecessary secondary legislation.

 

Their upcoming major challenge will be 2012. Whether the Olympics will provide a platform for Britain to showcase the very best its hospitality industry has to offer or whether the UK will just become one huge receptacle for discarded McDonalds packaging has yet to be seen.

 

One thing is for sure; if Ufi and the BHA have anything to do with it, the Hospitality industry is not going down without a sesame-bun-fight.

 

 

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