Hospitality Guild launches to unite sector skills effort

Suzanne Jackson, formerly of Punch Taverns, will serve as executive director, and Peter Thomas, BII chief executive, has been made a director of the Hospitality Guild. It is a newly formed umbrella organisation bringing together 22 professional associations with the aim of improving the image and professionalism of hospitality and simplifying the way employers can access high-quality training programmes, including apprenticeships.
 
Simon Vincent, Hilton Worldwide president for Europe, is chair of the Hospitality Guild, which was established by sector skills council People 1st with £1.75m of government funding.
 
McDonalds has provided the Hospitality Guild with premises, meeting rooms and a “state-of the-art training kitchen” at its Hospitality House in East Finchley, rent-free for seven years. A new web portal will provide access to business tools, and a Young Hall of Fame Awards will celebrate rising stars in the sector.
 
Jackson said: “Perceptions of our industry are poor, and it is highly fragmented. And yet we need to attract 80,000 new managers per year or face a huge skills gap. The Hospitality Guild will showcase the disparate efforts being made across the hospitality sector and pull together our partner organisations.”
 
She added that it is the Hospitality Guild’s aim that independent licensees will be able to take advantage of large employers’ in house training facilities.
 
For more information visit www.hospitalityguild.co.uk