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Business leaders from Scotland’s hospitality and food and drink sectors are to meet in Glasgow to discuss how the industry can respond to a combination of rising costs, taxation and falling consumer spending.
The event, called The Business of Hospitality, will be held at Barclays, The Beacon, Glasgow, on 28 October. It is being led by accountancy firm Henderson Loggie together with Barclays, and will bring together businesses from across Scotland’s hospitality community for a morning of discussion and networking.
Operators and industry figures have been warning of a potential cliff-edge for the sector, citing National Insurance and business rate increases, reduced consumer spending and some of the highest rates of VAT applied to the industry in Europe. Scotland’s food and drink supply chain is worth more than £19 billion to the economy and is among the country’s biggest sources of jobs, while some estimates put hospitality operating profit margins as low as three per cent, underlining the pressure operators are under.
The programme will include a keynote address from Michelin-starred chef Graeme Cheevers and a live question and answer panel featuring industry figures including Stephen Montgomery of the Scottish Hospitality Group.
Calls for action
The firm’s Head of Food and Drink, Matthew McDermott, said: “Scotland’s hospitality sector has shown remarkable resilience, but resilience alone cannot be the long-term strategy. Businesses are dealing with a combination of rising employment costs, taxation, regulation, energy prices and inflation, while many are operating on margins that leave very little room for error.”
Darren Kippen, Relationship Development Director at Barclays UK, said the event should be “about more than identifying problems” and should instead focus on what is needed to give hospitality businesses the confidence to invest, employ and grow.
Henderson Loggie has previously urged policymakers to step up support for the wider food and drink industry, cautioning that firms are becoming more vulnerable to collapse because of the combined weight of higher costs and regulatory pressures.