Top Five Business Supporting Hospitality Sector Recovery

The Covid-19 pandemic has been ruthless and unwavering in its destruction over the past two years. In the UK, many lives have unfortunately been taken; pressure on the NHS reached new heights and the economy has suffered considerably. Businesses across the country were forced to close or operate at limited capacity with significant losses, and the health of businesses in the hospitality sector have been in jeopardy ever since. However, as we look ahead to a post-pandemic world, we have an opportunity to rebuild our economy in a greener, fairer and more resilient way; the key to doing so, is through innovation.

Innovative business can provide pioneering solutions to our most pressing challenges, helping us to develop a more robust economy, promote equality, diversity and inclusion, and achieve the country’s net zero goals. Through Innovate UK’s Sustainable Innovation Fund, we have been able to support a number of early-stage projects and business that are providing innovative products and services which will help rebuild the hospitality sector and support the transition to more sustainable ways of working.

Here are my top five businesses which are supporting the hospitality sector’s recovery:

1 - The Oak Network (OAK)

Current energy management solutions are geared toward larger companies rather than SMEs. Consequently, UK SMEs annually overconsume £8.6 billion in energy, which is equivalent to 15.4 million tons of CO2 emissions. With the smart meter rollout facing continued delays and not expected until 2024, an energy management solution that is accessible to SME business owners is needed to provide useful recommendations on reducing energy wastage.

OAK provides SMEs with actionable energy insights based on real-time data, showing them how to manage their energy consumption. OAKs Machine Learning algorithms allows SMEs to predict up to 30 days of consumption in advance. Its initial target market is hospitality, allowing the sector to reduce fixed costs and recover previous profitability that has been lost during numerous lockdowns.

2 - Ecodisco

The night-life economy contributes 6% to the GDP of the UK economy annually, yet little has been done to reduce the industry's environmental impacts. On average, 85 million people attend live events in the UK annually, resulting in over 100 million single-use plastic cups being wasted.

Ecodisco has created a new reusable cup scheme, called ‘HipCup’ for venues and clubs to support the sustainable recovery of the night-life economy. HipCup is a reusable cup with low embedded energy, which will last a minimum of 300 washes. It is designed for the unique challenges of venues, namely their usability and durability functions. Consumers can attach their cup to their belt, clothes or bag to for safekeeping before returning it to the bar to swap in for a clean replacement for their next beverage.

Furthermore, Ecodisco’s rental service supplies, collects, cleans and returns reusable cups to venues, overcoming the pain points venues often face around storing, cleaning and drying reusable cups.

3 - Solar Polar Limited

Covid restrictions brought to the fore, the importance of outdoor spaces. Social distancing and bans on mixing of multiple households indoors meant pubs, cafes and restaurants increasingly required outdoor space to seat their customers at a safe distance and seat enough customers to make their business profitable. The additional issue of adverse weather further impacted communities and raised an additional challenge to businesses relying on their outdoor space to allow them to continue to serve customers and maintain the health of their business.

In response to this issue, Solar Polar produced a solar heated outside space warming system that can be quickly deployed by bars, restaurants, cafes, parks and community spaces in the Winter months, safeguarding the hospitality sector against future restrictions in colder months.

4 - Creventa

Due to Covid restrictions on hospitality venues, such as restaurants and pubs, customers needed the ability to order from tables. Creventa developed a simple to use web ordering system designed to minimise contact in restaurants, pubs & bars.

The system allows ordering with minimal touch, eliminating the need for staff to serve customers personally while customers no longer need to queue to place an order reducing risk for both staff and customers. By scanning a QR code, customers can place an order in 20 seconds, without the need to download an app or use physical menus. The process is further streamlined via Apple Pay integration.

For businesses, Creventa is free to set up without fixed monthly costs. As businesses can show customers their full list of products, customers are encouraged to diversify their ordering habit, with some businesses noting an increase in food sales.

5 - Eat Out Round About

Eat Out Round About is an app that encourages customers to visit hospitality venues at off-peak times. The app shows the customer the local impact they are making when dining at these establishments. Visitors can discover local cafes, bars, and restaurants, offering 50% off their food bill with a maximum of £10 saving per voucher and per person, and make a positive impact on the local economy.

Businesses purchase a range of packages aimed at either their employees (to boost culture) or to attract new customers. Each package opens access to different voucher products available. Purchasing a package provides businesses the added ability to track campaign performance.

Users of the app can then decide where to eat out based on where they will be making the biggest local economic impact [modelled in the app]. There is also an option to filter by food types, distance, pre-theatre dining and ratings. App users can then visit participating venues to use the voucher.

The Sustainable Innovation Fund, set up by Innovate UK in 2020, is a £250 million public investment programme that provides financial backing and support for innovation projects to help build a greener, fairer, and more resilient future for the UK. Over 1,800 projects across the UK have received financial investment to support Covid-19 recovery, equality, diversity and inclusion and achieving net zero goals. Click here to find out more about Innovate UK.