“This is a really simple business...

“This is a really simple business … it’s when we complicate it we really mess up”

Roberto Goizueta, Coca-Cola CEO 1980 – 97.

In my 25 years of training staff, I have regularly used this quote.

It is a true statement, perhaps for all business, but particularly in hospitality where it is all too easy to get overwhelmed by the details and complexity.

In a hospitality business, there are lots to think about; every customer has a different experience and it is your job to manage that experience to ensure that it is exceptional every time; there is the never-ending day to day tasks and then managing the experience of staff and colleagues, not to mention marketing and growing your business.

But, when things go wrong in hospitality it is when we forget what we are really here to do and what our purpose is.

In hospitality, we are not here to sell food and drink, that is the transaction that has a monetary value, but it is not our purpose.

Our customers can get food and drink from a vast number of other outlets, including the supermarket and online these days so when they venture outside and to your venue, it is not because we happen to be able to quench a thirst or satisfy hunger.

Our customers visit us to connect with others whether that is friends and family, a community or just simply to have our company as the hosts.

Hospitality venues are about belonging, friendship, and connection.

If we can remember that then we are able to simplify our businesses and concentrate on the things that really matter rather than just the things that present themselves in front of us.

We can stop firefighting and look up to see the real purpose of what we are doing.

Once we understand and remember that we are here to provide an opportunity for communities to come together and for humans to connect in spaces where they are free from judgment and free from the burden of expectations from others, then our businesses can be better designed to accommodate that.

Of course, we still need to have financial transactions, we still have bills to pay and lifestyles to accommodate; we still need to provide service and products; we still need to ensure that we operate a profitable business and ideally we need to implement systems so that we can do all of this efficiently.

But, the most crucial element of getting a hospitality business right is to be able to identify our customers and to understand them on a truly emotional level.

If we can do that then providing the products that they love and will spend money on is easy; focusing on creating an environment that is more comfortable than their own homes is easy and remembering that customer care is simply about kindness to others makes your hospitality business extremely focused and very simple.