The panel event took centre stage at the 2024 Nestlé Professional Toque d’Or awards ceremony, creating the ‘perfect setting’ to deliver a powerful message to more than 240 industry professionals.
The panel, which was chaired by TV presenter Mark Durden-Smith, featured UKHospitality chief executive Kate Nicholls OBE, Nestlé Professional managing director Katya Simmons, Sodexo’s food innovation & sustainability director David Mulcahy, Chef Publishing editor Claire Bosi and CORE recruitment managing director Krishnan Doyle.
Each speaker brought unique insights and perspectives on how to reshape the narrative around hospitality careers, while all believing that in order to attract more young talent, greater collaboration was needed.
Nicholls said: “We’re already doing some fantastic work to sell our industry to school pupils, but we need more young ambassadors to step forward and go into schools themselves, as they’re closer in age and more relatable. So collaboration is key.”
The roundtable concluded with a shared agreement on the challenges and opportunities to improve the perception of hospitality as an aspirational career choice for young people.
The key solution, however, was greater industry-wide collaboration to ensure young people get the information and support they need to be able to make informed decisions regarding their careers.
Mulcahy added: “Don’t limit your thinking to what you can do or where you can go in your careers. Hospitality is the industry that lets you do anything you want. There are plenty of stepping stones and opportunities for people starting out, so I urge anyone considering a career in hospitality to take on the mindset ‘I’m here, help me, train me, develop me'.
“In partnership with the Choose Hospitality Pledge, we’re delivering mass career workshops at key stadia sites, including Everton’s Goodison Park, Newcastle United’s St James’ Park and Brighton & Hove Albion’s American Express Stadium. It’s fantastic work that enables us to give young people and their influencers – teachers and parents – more choices and opportunities to thrive.”