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People
The staff behind the service.
What’s it about?
People are at the heart of a hospitality business and yet four out of five hospitality professionals report having experienced at least one mental health issue during their career (Source: The Burnt Chef Project).
In Bristol, 6.5% of jobs are in the accommodation and food service sectors. This is a higher proportion than in Finance and Insurance, IT, or Construction (ONS, 2021 Labour Market Profile for the City of Bristol). Taking care of employees is important, not only for the success of your business, but for making a significant impact in the community too.
This section of the guide includes locally produced tools, resources and lists of organisations that are working to care for the people behind the food and enhancing diversity and inclusion in the sector. Additionally, it includes a brilliant case study from The Assemblies Group, highlighting the benefit of maintaining strong support structures to care for staff wellbeing.
Where to start in thinking about equality, diversity and inclusion
In 2023, as part of Food Justice Fortnight, Bristol Good Food 2030 ran a webinar entitled ‘How can the food sector become more diverse?’. As part of the brilliant panel discussion, Dale Cranshaw, then Deputy CEO of Windmill Hill City Farm, spoke about their plans to increase the farm’s diversity and inclusion, providing some recommended first steps for businesses looking to address those issues. Watch back now.
Thrive at Night guide to mental health in the night time economy
Thrive at Night is a programme from Bristol Nights, providing mental health and wellbeing support to the Night Time Economy (NTE) workforce in Bristol, through resources, training, peer support and trauma response support sessions. Their resources include thorough handbooks for both workers and managers, full of useful information and advice.
Supporting under-represented groups into employment
These organisations are all working to increase representation of diverse groups into hospitality, through work placements and apprenticeships. Each organisation works in different ways and offers varying levels of support, so do explore the options to find what’s right for your business.
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Babbasa offers support with community engagement research, policy and strategy development, inclusion training, employee recruitment and social responsibility project development. Through their programme Our City 2030, they hope to partner with the hospitality sector in the future. |
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Bristol Future Talent Partnership works with young people from Black and minority ethnic backgrounds aged 14 to 21 to remove barriers, raise aspirations and provide talent with opportunity by providing high quality work experience opportunities with our partner organisations. |
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Empire’s Box Careers programme combines non-contact boxing training with careers and education activities to support disadvantaged young people aged 16 to 25 on their journey into learning, training and work. |
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How To Be A Chef is Square Food’s free vocational programme in food and cooking, created in partnership with Bristol 24/7. The programme provides young people (aged 16-25) with skills for employability and opportunities for progression to further catering-related learning or employment |
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Not Impossible makes it easy for busy employers to host talented 16–25 year-olds, through microplacements that fuel social mobility. |
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The Key Cafe offers paid placements to recently released ex-offenders and prisoners released on Temporary Licence. Placements will last around six months, giving ex-offenders time to gain skills, competencies and importantly, the confidence needed to enter the wider workforce. |
Each organisation works in different ways and offers varying levels of support, so do explore the options to find what’s right for your business. If you know of other organisations working locally in this space, please get in touch.
Case Study: The Assemblies Group and mental health
The Assemblies, an independent group of venues including The Canteen, No.1 Harbourside, and Old Market Assembly, have recognised the unique challenges of supporting staff in the hospitality industry. Hospitality, by its nature, involves anti-social hours, complex scheduling, and a transient workforce. These factors make it difficult to coordinate meetings, maintain consistent communication, and implement long-term initiatives.
Acknowledging the high-stress nature of the hospitality industry, The Assemblies has put in place several support systems for mental health, including trained mental health first aiders and membership of Hospitality Action. These resources provide invaluable support for their team, helping them manage stress and maintain their mental health.
Understanding the critical importance of work-life balance, The Assemblies have implemented a policy across their venues that all full-time salaried staff now work a maximum of 40 hours per week. Part-time staff picking up extra hours do not ever exceed 40 hours per week either. They have also introduced the Planday App, allowing staff to manage their schedules, shift swaps, and time-off requests directly from their phones, giving people greater control over their work-life balance.
Investing in staff is central to The Assemblies’ philosophy, recognising that people are the heart of hospitality. Their front-line workers are the face of the venues, and their wellbeing directly impacts the quality of service. Since implementing the 40-hour work week in 2023, The Assemblies have observed a reduction in kitchen closures due to staff unavailability.
Find out more
Bristol Good Food 2030
Bristol Good Food 2030 aims to transform the city’s food system within the decade, supporting its ambitions on health, climate, biodiversity and social justice.
The Bristol Good Food 2030 Partnership, coordinated by Bristol Food Network, includes the council and a diverse range of organisation – from grassroots charities to businesses and academics . The Partnership has developed Bristol Good Food 2030: A One City Framework for Action, to guide and drive forward change in our local food system.
The framework sets out priorities and initiatives that aim to make Bristol’s food system better for people and communities, climate and nature, workers and businesses.
If you would like to join the Partnership’s Working Groups and help shape the direction of Bristol Good Food 2030’s strategic work, we’d love to hear from you. You can find out more about the work that’s going on here, but feel free to drop us a line with any questions.
Get in touch
If you would like to join the Working Groups that dictate the direction of Bristol Good Food 2030’s strategic work, we’d love to hear from you
Our sponsor
Bristol City Centre Business Improvement District (BID) is a collaboration of levy payers working together to make Bristol an even better place for everyone. Its aim is to ensure Bristol city centre is increasingly known for its safe, attractive and welcoming look and feel by all those who work, study, live and spend leisure time in the city. Its vision is for a better Bristol – A future-focused city that attracts business, investment, and people to create a resilient and welcoming city for all.
The Bristol Inclusive & Sustainable Business and Enterprise Support (BrisBES) programme is crafted to provide fully funded high-quality, inclusive, and sustainable support to entrepreneurs and businesses in Bristol. We offer a range of workshops including a three-day Introduction to Enterprise training and access to 1:1 coaching with our business advisors.