The Editor's Hospitality Blog

I was interested to read about People 1st's launch, earlier this week, of a Gold standard customer service campaign aimed at ensuring the customer experience for visitors to London before, during and after the 2012 Olympic Games is as positive as possible.

Their release quotes from a recent Square Meal Restaurant Guide survey, which revealed that 50% of UK diners find fault with the restaurant service they receive.

The campaign is backed by London Mayor, Ken Livingstone, who said:

"For the next few years leading up to the 2012 Games and beyond London will be the focus of the world. We are expecting a huge increase in the many millions of tourists who currently visit our capital from abroad and from around the UK and we must grasp the opportunity to ensure we offer a first class welcome to everyone – a welcome they will never forget."

What do you think of service standards across the country? I think they can be patchy. recently I went to a pub behind Piccadilly Circus and received such an astonishingly frosty 'welcome' at the bar that I immediately turned around and walked out again. And a few months ago, as I approached reception at a hotel in Scotland to check in, I was greeted with absolute silence from the person behind the desk. It was a bizarre and uncomfortable few seconds - I waited for her to acknowledge me, she waited for me to introduce myself - that would sit well as a case study on how not to greet customers in a management training video.

What and where was the best customer service you have received recently? And the worst?

I've just met Group Managing Director of Compass Group UK & Ireland, Ian El-Mokadem at Compass HQ in Uxbridge. Over lunch, Ian (known affectionately as Elmo around the industry) shared his views on People 1st, school meals reform and his vision for the future of the UK's largest foodservice operator.

On People 1st
Elmo said he was supportive of any attempt to simplify the training landscape, but said "I just don't understand what the Dickens [People 1st] are doing. In a year of doing this job, I haven't spoken to them, and haven't seen their agenda very clearly" - this, from a man whose office is a mile down the road from People 1st's offices.

So, can the Skills Passport work?

"If we and other big players say 'yes', it's going to get critical mass - but I wouldn't put money on it working."

On Strengthening Compass UK's client offering
If clients ask, 'why do business with Compass?', Elmo answers that, as well as being empowered to offer their own sector expertise, his various divisions can draw on the strength and depth of the organisation as a whole. To back up this claim, work is going on to strengthen support functions such as IT, training, health and safety and product development. He calls this approach "freedom in a framework". His vision is of a truly joined-up business, proud of its diversity but with all self-imposed barriers knocked down. To achieve this, he needs to create a sense of teamwork and shared focus. Elmo oversees around 7000 sites, employing some 70,000 employees, so the ongoing task of applying and communicating a core set of company values is a complex but crucial one.

Elmo holds up the recent rationalising of the group's fine dining divisions into a single division, Restaurant Associates, as an example of the sort of rethinking planned for other parts of the business. In B&I division Eurest, this will mean realigning the offering and organisational structure to address the challenge of being more retail-savvy and more informed by the increasingly "grab and go" nature of high street dining.

Ongoing restructuring extends to the group's supply chain, which currently encompasses around 9000 products, plus other produce sourced at the local level. Plans are afoot to rationalise the chain and create procurement efficiencies across the group. And chefs are being encouraged to get more involved in the procurement process.

"They should have an involvement at the beginning and the end of every procurement decision", said Elmo.

On School meals standards
Elmo's message to the government mandarins responsible for school food guidelines was: "job done, guys!" In other words, nutritional standards have successfully opened a national debate on the standard of school meals, but the time has come to stop regulating. In particular, he feels the forthcoming ban on cakes and other confectionery at breaktime could have the opposite effect to the one desired, as more children bring snacks in to school with them, and more catering companies cut their losses and withdraw from schools.

It's been a busy week! I breakfasted with Jaume Tapies, chairman of Relais & Chateaux, last Friday, at the group's recently-opened 'maison' in London's Beauchamp Place. the property is effectively a shop window for the hundreds of luxury restaurants and hotels within the collection, offering passers-by a chance to browse marketing material and cookbooks, get a sense of the properties and book a stay.

Tapies tells me that Relais & Chateaux has been prospecting British hotels and has for the first time been "knocking on doors" at those hotels it feels would be worthy additions to the brand. He expects that at least ten or twelve more UK properties will feature in the collection in the next two to three years. He also promises that the 2009 guide will "change completely" from previous years' editions, with the generic page template replaced by a fresher and more design-led approach.

Monday of this week saw the start of three days of intensive Cateys judging at the splendid Dorchester Hotel on London's Park Lane. I now know the identies of the majority of Cateys winners for 2008 - but if I told you I'd then have to kill you, as they say, so I'm keeping shtumm. What I can tell you is that the winners were chosen by a bewildering array of hospitality's great and good. Judges included Brian Wisdom of People 1st, the IOH's Philippe Rossiter, Bob Cotton, Heston Blumenthal, Hotelier of the Year Michael Gray, Robert Cook of Malmaison and Hotel du Vin, Travelodge's Grant Hearn, William Baxter, Alaistair Storey, Marcus Wareing and a host of other big names.

Judging is an exacting - and exhausting - process. Luckily, I was able to recharge the batteries with a fortifying dinner at Restaurant Tom Aikens, above the King's Road. the occasion was the restaurant's fifth birthday, and Tom pulled out all the stops to create a stunning tasting menu that was complemented by great wines picked by head sommelier and 2008 UK Sommelier of the Year winner, Gearoid Devaney. Happy birthday, Tom.

One award not yet allocated is the Silver Award - and we need your help with this category. Which individual has, in your opinion, done more to further the cause of UK hospitality in the past 25 years? let us know and you could win yourself a pair of tickets to the industry 's Oscars night in July.