1.5 weeks to go until Hospitality Leaders Summit

Tickets are now on sale for the upcoming Hospitality Leaders Summit held at Randwick Racecourse on 29 July.

The event will feature a range of Q&As, panel discussions and keynote presentations revolving around pressing industry issues such as staffing, mental health and wellbeing and marketing and social media.

Christine Manfield (chef, author, restaurateur) and Nadine Ingram (Flour and Stone) will each sit down with MC Alex Herbert for Q&A sessions and cover everything from the importance of travel to in-house training and keeping things small.

Justin North (Concept Hospitality), Sven Almenning (Speakeasy Group), Sam Egerton (Merivale) and Hamish Watts (Applejack Hospitality) will talk about the journey of creating bars and restaurants in the ‘conceptualising a venue’ panel, which will cover everything from food and menu development to music, fit-out and more.

The summit will also host a panel on mental health and wellbeing which will focus on identifying warning signs and providing delegates with practical tips to help peers and colleagues who may need help. Mal Meiers (Food for Thought, R U OK?) will return to the stage alongside Fink’s Jeremy Courmadias, Amber Kaba from The White Jacket Effect and Hello Sunday Morning health promotion manager Sabrina Warwar.

The skills shortage continues to be a major concern, but the solution could be right in front of our noses. Changing the way Australians think about a career in hospitality is the first step to attracting and retaining new staff. Momofuku Seiobo’s Kylie Javier Ashton, The Star’s Bernice Colcolmb, Dr Glyn Brokensha from Expr3ss! and Appetite for Excellence co-founder Lucy Allon will discuss their strategies for running successful teams and providing career paths for workers.

Plus, there will be sessions on single vs group operators (Mitch Orr, Tristan Rosier, Paul Dewhurst, Tara Sullivan), pop-ups, merchandise, and food festivals (Chrissy Flanagan, Kerby Craig, Phil Gannon, Michael Nicolian), social media and marketing (Brooke Burns, Sophie McComas, Andrew Cavallaro, Joanna Reymond-Burns) and 2020 trends (Kylie Roberts, Levi Aron, Angus Lindsay, Tim Domelow) along with a keynote presentation from Nick Bowditch on using storytelling and social marketing to maximise sales.