Person of the Week

Andrew Davis
Founder and Chairman, Von Essen Hotels

Von Essen Hotels were named AA Hotel Group of the Year at this week's annual awards ceremony held at the London Hilton on Park Lane. AA Hotel Services Group Area Manager Giovanna Grossi said: "We selected von Essen hotels as Hotel Group of the year because they have demonstrated clear evidence of impressive investment, quality recruitment and outstanding achievement of accolades such as AA Rosettes and Red Stars." On receiving the award Andrew commented: "I am proud and delighted to collect this prestigious AA award. It is the culmination of 13 years hard work where we have grown to a collection of 28 luxury country house hotels in the UK and France, with exciting plans to launch our Metropolitan set of city based hotels very soon."

Quote of the Week

"Murdoch supports Tories! It’s enough to make me vote Labour!"

Former Deputy PM John Prescott tweets in response to The Sun newspaper's declaration of their support for David Cameron and the Conservative Party

Facts of the week

Stealth spending?

Stories high-light patterns in corporate entertainment and the shift away from 'show-off' spending

One small business in London has reported that spending amongst corporate clients at their venue - a cookery centre - has increased from 17% to 47% this year. They have also reported that enquiries from booking agents have increased by 54% this year.
Venturi's Table is a cookery centre based in south-west London have seen an increasing demand for cookery events from clients including major banks. Managing Director Anna Venturi believes that opportunities or entertaining in the venue provide for a totally private experience and tap into traditional values.
The move towards a more discrete approach to corporate hospitality has been an ongoing theme of discussion during the recession.
The trend was coined as 'stealth spending' by the New York Times in an article published earlier this year, which discussed corporate spend at the US Open. A number of banks reportedly hosted tables costing $50,000 each, with no names or logos to indicate where they were from. One event planner was quoted as saying that the biggest trend in "having an event, but no one knowing whose it is."

Venturis Link
Source: nytimes.com

Opportunity through outsourcing in public sector

Compass Group Chief Executive predicts increase in demand for catering services

Richard Cousins has made his prediction this week in the face of public sector spending cuts and signalled an opportunity for the foodservice sector.
In a Trading Update he reported that solid performances in education, healthcare and defence had helped to offset weakness in more discretionary sectors within the company.
Cousins said, "The key thing to say about healthcare and education is that globally it's only about one-third outsourced. In business and industry, it varies enormously by country but on average it would about 70 per cent."
He later added, "Will [public sector outsourcing] get to business and industry levels? I think in the long term, probably yes. The question is how long it will take to get there."

Source: ft.com

Interactive Discussion:
Has political correctness gone too far?

Is talent progression being stifled for the sake of being PC? This interactive panel discussion will explore the debate and is being hosted EP magazine and London Metropolitan University. This event is free attend and you can register your place on our website, just Click here to book your place

Article of the week

EP Condense is EP's weekly e-newsletter. But did you know that EP is also a bimonthly magazine available via subscription? Our Article of the Week provides a sample of what we have featured in past issue.

This week we feature a story from the EP archives. It is a profile feature entitled "Anything but typical – the story of Cyrus Todiwala". As one of the industry's most creative and passionate chefs, the article suggests that what marks Cyrus out is his love affair with customers, food and the industry at large. What are Cyrus' achievements?

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