Everyone loves a party, and one of the biggest will be celebrating the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee at the start of June.
With an extra bank holiday on Friday 3 June and the Monday late spring bank holiday moved to the previous Thursday, the celebration will be a four-day event from Thursday to Sunday, with the hospitality sector hoping the weather is fine for bumper business.
How will the hospitality industry benefit?
The hospitality industry is expecting to sell something like 900 million pints and 7.5 million meals during the celebration, bringing a £105 million boost to the economy and around £29 million going back to the Exchequer through duties and VAT.
The celebration could be just the tonic for the pandemic-battered industry with revellers expected to make use of extended hours in pubs, clubs, and bars across England.
Opening hours have been extended from 11 pm to 1 am from Thursday to Saturday and return to normal on Sunday.
How can hospitality take advantage?
The extended hours will mean extra hours for staff and businesses may need to look at taking on temporary staff. The benefits include:
- Taking experienced staff, for example, catering experts, sommeliers, or cocktail experts to offer customers a special experience.
- Plugging immediate gaps in staffing, with the bonus that if temporary workers show real promise, they can be taken on permanently to ease long term staffing problems.
- It’s temporary, so there are no worries about overstaffing once the business has returned to normal.
- Extra costs should be offset by increased profits from the events.
Other ways to boost business could include:
Eating out, literally: Venues can take advantage of the pavement dining culture with extra tables and offering dedicated table service. They can also offer outdoor facilities servicing speciality street food, like Asian, Mexican, or good old fashioned hot dogs and burgers.
Celebration food and drink: Businesses can offer customers celebratory brews or specially created meals to mark the occasion.
Showing the key jubilee entertainment: Venues can lay on big screens TVs so customers can enjoy the pomp and circumstance while wining and dining.
Street parties: Venues can offer their own form of a street party, using outdoor facilities to provide entertainment. They can also offer outdoor bars which could attract more passing trade and allow businesses to make a more solid connection with their local community.
Children’s entertainment: Make it a family affair by offering special meals and deals for children or laying on special entertainment for them.
Maximising data: A huge influx of new customers and traditional customers allows for thorough monitoring of their own data, from bookings and word of mouth to monitoring social media. As a result, businesses can build a picture of their clientele, as well as spot significant weaknesses in their service and strengthen those areas.
For more information and help on related matters in the hospitality sector, please contact our expert team.
