Living Wage

Isolation – growing pings of the opening economy

Leave a Comment / Sustainability, COVID-19, Living Wage, Society, Support the Community, Training, Treat Staff Fairly / By emmaSRA

By Kate Dranginis, The Sustainable Restaurant Association As the economy is opening up, we’re often hearing about hospitality venues struggling with staff members being ‘pinged’ by Track and Trace apps and being forced to isolate despite being symptomless and providing negative tests. Of course, the Track and Trace apps are to keep us as safe as possible, but it’s the amount of pings that are causing …

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(Super) Saturday: a new normal night out

Leave a Comment / Bars, COVID-19, Government, Living Wage, Local sourcing, Restaurants, Seasonal, Sourcing, Treat Staff Fairly / By thersa

By Andrew Stephen, CEO, the SRA It began where it all started. The Eagle in Farringdon has for decades been a pilot light for how pubs can do great food. Their approach: ingredients without compromise at small margins. To make it work, they’ve always huddled you in on little wooden chairs amassed around small tables …

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Sweet smell of sustainable success at Friends House

Leave a Comment / Bees, Celebrate Local and Seasonal, Coffee, Community Engagement, Energy, Environment, Environmentally Positive Farming, Ethical Meat and Dairy, Fair Trade, Free Range, Healthy Eating, Living Wage, Local sourcing, News, Recycling, Sourcing / By thersa

By Paul Grey, CEO of Friends House (London) Hospitality Ltd Friends House (London) Hospitality Ltd just celebrated its 10th anniversary! For the last decade, we have built the success of our company and its operations – event venue, café, restaurant and guest accommodation in London (opposite Euston Station) and Cumbria – around one core idea: …

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Making fair pay pay

Leave a Comment / Living Wage, Restaurants, Society, Treat Staff Fairly / By thersa

Ask any restaurateur for their biggest concern for the future success of their business and it won’t take long for the conversation to turn to recruitment, retention and pay. And the stats are a genuine cause for concern, especially when taking into account the scenario of the hardest possible Brexit. 42% of chefs are migrant …

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Paying the real Living Wage can reduce staff turnover by 40%

Leave a Comment / Living Wage, Restaurants, Society / By thersa

By Issy Petrie, Programme Officer, Living Wage Foundation Imagine if you could increase staff pay satisfaction by 50%, reduce staff turnover by 40%, and double the percentage of management roles filled internally. Sound too good to be true? Well these statistics show what can happen if you implement the real Living Wage in your business. …

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Tipping – separating the facts from the fiction

Leave a Comment / Living Wage, Members, Restaurants, Society, Tipping, Trade News / By thersa

By Andrei Lussmann, Founder of Lussmanns As a restaurateur, what stands out most in the ongoing debate about tipping is the complexity of the issue and the misinformation in its reporting. Even the title of the newly announced Government consultation on tipping, gratuities, cover and service charges illustrates the confusion between voluntary and mandatory charges. …

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Are we past the tipping point?

Leave a Comment / Living Wage, Restaurants, Society, Tipping, Trade News / By thersa

By Dave Turnbull, Unite regional officer For decades, there has been a quandary about tipping in hotels and restaurants: Who should get them? How much should you leave? This has led to a situation whereby the process is often shrouded in secrecy and tarnished by unfairness. Last summer the whole issue exploded when Unite exposed a widespread ‘tipping’ …

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The National Living Wage – a no-brainer?

Leave a Comment / Community Engagement, Living Wage, Society, Trade News, Treat Staff Fairly / By thersa

By Mark Linehan, Managing Director of the Sustainable Restaurant Association It won’t have escaped anyone’s notice that this month saw the introduction of the new “National Living Wage” for all employees aged 25 and over. As Managing Director of an organisation with social responsibility at the heart of what we’re about, surely this has to …

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Investing in staff is essential ingredient for healthy future

Leave a Comment / Community Engagement, Living Wage, Society, Sustainability, Tipping, Trade News, Trade Show / By thersa

“Great people give great service and you can only get great people by paying the right wage.” Those were the sage words of Joseph Evans, Finance Director of Oakman Inns, one half of an engaging and thought provoking panel at the Casual Dining Show last week. Chaired by Mark Linehan, the session was entitled: Fair …

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Bullying – is it still to blame for staff shortages?

Leave a Comment / Community Engagement, Living Wage, Restaurants, Society, Trade News / By thersa

“I don’t know any kitchen in the UK that isn’t looking for staff,” Andrew Fairlie, chef at the eponymous restaurant at Gleneagles, said at the launch of Scotland’s Junior Chef of the Year, this week. The skills shortage is a long-running issue that Andrew and thousands of other chefs have been trying to solve and one we’ve …

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