The Sunday Times recently published its annual listings of ‘Best Companies in the UK’ – and the hospitality and catering sector fared particularly well.
100 Best Companies
Top of the table for our sector was Inventive Leisure, the company which runs the trendy Revolution vodka bars and the new Revolucion de Cuba rum bars, coming in at 26.
They were closely followed at 28 by Living Ventures which was founded in 1999 by entrepreneurs Tim Bacon and Jeremy Roberts, and stems from their first venture, the Living Room. The brand developed across most leading cities in Britain, based on its bid to offer quality without exclusivity, and high levels of service without high prices.
Contract caterers Brookwood Partnership came in at 31: the contract caterer for independent schools has managed to achieve a happy work-life balance for employees, who give this question the fourth highest positive score of 75%. Flexible work options include job-sharing and term-time only or school hours contracts
Hospitality and catering continues to feature prominently, including
35 Botanic Inns
36 Connect Catering
44 The Savoy, London
49 Busaba Eathai Restaurants
59 Catermasters
71 Red Carnation Hotels
The 25 Best Big Companies – let’s hear it for hotels!
Some outstanding performances here, demonstrating that large organisations can also be highly rated by their staff (see below for the demanding criteria that are applied):
10 McDonald’s Restaurants rising 12 places year on year
12 Marriott Hotels International
13 Bourne Leisure
14 IHG
18 Hilton Hotels UK
100 Best Small Companies
Hospitality and catering does not feature as prominently here, perhaps struggling to compete with the consultancies and agencies that dominate this listing. However, congratulations are due to:
36 Hawksmoor Restaurants
43 The Cavendish, London
64 PSL – The Food Professionals
The criteria by which companies are measured :
Leadership: how employees feel about the head of the company and its senior managers
Wellbeing: how staff feel about the stress, pressure and the balance between their work and home duties
Giving something back: how much companies are thought by their staff to put back into society generally and the local community
Personal growth: to what extent staff feel they are stretched and challenged by their job
My manager: how staff feel towards their immediate boss and day-to-day managers
My company: feelings about the company people work for as opposed to the people they work with
My team: how staff feel about their immediate colleagues
Fair deal: how happy the workforce is with their pay and benefits
H&CNews congratulates all the hospitality and catering organisations featured above for their achievements which demonstrate their long-term commitment to their employees.