Yesterday wasn’t “another conference.”
It was a full-throttle day at The Queen at Chester Hotel where real operators, educators, suppliers, and businesses showed up to talk honestly about what’s working, what’s not, and what we’re going to do about it.
Doors opened at 9:30am, coffee hit hands fast, and by 10:00am the room was packed with people. You could feel the mix: owners, managers, chefs, suppliers, students, consultants, and a few brave first-timers who admitted they came for the learning… and the lunch.
Steven Hesketh kicked us off with a straight-talk opener: “Nothing’s going to stop us now.” It landed.
He provided a “100 Challenges of Hospitality” card and told the room to grab one and take it back to their teams. Steven explained how problems that don’t get sorted and just get accepted are what destroy a business. He gave examples of how to fix problems in hospitality, like a busy checkout at 11am on a Sunday. Let’s not accept that it will be busy; let’s do something about it. Let’s put more staff on; let’s bring housekeepers to help at reception, etc. It was very motivational and hard-hitting.
From there, we dived straight into making the people side of service less guessy and more deliberate.Ashley Boroda ran an interactive iMA session that had the whole room self-identifying in real time. We discovered the audience was heavy on iMA Yellow, no shock for hospitality: friendly, enthusiastic, people-first. But the kicker was the takeaway: how to adapt to other colours so teams stop clashing and start clicking.
Food provenance and allergy clarity took centre stage next with “Know Your Plate: Local, Honest, Informed.” Angela Highton (Edible Info/Edible Education) hosted a sharp, no-nonsense conversation with Ellis Barrie, Hugo Bourne (Bournes Cheshire Cheese), and Mike Ford (Pen-y-Lan Pork). We didn’t just talk about transparency; we tasted it. Samples from Pen-y-Lan Pork sausages and Bournes Cheshire Cheese did the convincing. We also had sample shots of Chance Clean Cider, a great surprise and delight that tasted excellent.
It was really interesting to hear how venues, chefs, and hospitality can help local suppliers by shouting about them more. When was the last time you took your team to your local supplier, or has there been a time you have invited your local supplier to your venue?
After that panel, we switched gears into energy and cost reality with Dave Skeels (Energised Earth). He cut through the jargon: what’s controllable, what to stop wasting time on, and where the quick wins hide. Steven got his own hotel bills out, questioning what the standing charge is, etc. By the end, people were really thinking about their own bills and questioning what they were paying, too.
We kept momentum with the People Influencing People session, Jojo Smith (CreativSAS) in conversation with Josh Edwards (@josheatslots) and Emma Riley (Rebel Restaurants). No vanity metrics. This was about what actually fills seats: consistent storytelling, clear offers, and content that reflects the real guest experience. Big takeaway: even if you post the same image or video on different platforms, the captions should be different, you probably have a different audience per platform. Very educational and informative!
Then we welcomed Brendon & Jayden Manders (LumberjAxe Food), fresh off Dragons’ Den. They talked about the gap between TV and Tuesday-morning reality. Did you know that the Dragons’ Den lift isn’t real? They spoke about their journey and how they started in their kitchen, to now being sold in Selfridges and Aldi, an incredible journey and a showstopping end to the day!
Massive thanks to our sponsors, Edible Group and Energised Earth, for backing useful, no-nonsense learning. They don’t just sponsor; they host, answer hard questions, and help fix problems.
It was a brilliant day, we love doing these conferences and we hope you loved it too.
Our next one is on 26 February in Manchester. We have collaborated with Downtown in Business to bring you The Great Art of Hospitality, and we can’t wait!
