BII CEO Steven Alton introduces the magazine with his welcome letter entitled "Pulling together to achieve success". Here, Steven talks about how the licensed trade have come together to share best practice, and the latest innovations, to strive to encourage industry-wide success.
"Pubs have been heralded for their work in supporting and sustaining their communities and for the role they play in providing careers and skills for local people, and the social and community service they supply."
Simply the best! Meet our Licensee of the Year Award winners for 2021 - Jason and Chris Black of the Pityme Inn, Wadebridge, Cornwall
This year's Winter Event and Licensee of the Year Award was like none other. It brought together an industry devastated by the pandemic to recognise and celebrate the many outstanding achievements, the sheet determination, hard work and blood, sweat and tears it has taken to get to this points, 20 months since pubs were first ordered to close.
BII Members are at the heart of BII News, we're constantly checking in with licensees to see how they experience our Member Benefits, and what the road to recovery looks like as we move towards return to full trading.
In our ten to one segment, we asked 10 licensees, "How is tech helping you to run a more efficient business?"
Daniel Pilley MBII, Nine Jars, Haverhill, Suffolk
"We have implemented a task audit trail system for our team. Staff come in to work and have daily tasks that they have to check off. This covers everything from opening the doors to making sure they tables are clean, the toilets are checked and the fridges are al stocked. It is all timed and different tasks come in at different times of the day.
"We have this in every part of the business. We recently launched a horsebox to serve outside coffees and cocktails at night and there is a whole system of tasks in place for that. It then sends the managers and owners different levels of reporting."
Nicola Storey, MBII, The Mustard Pot, Chapel Allerton, Leeds
"Technology has been a revelation. My bookings system takes away half my workload as it allocated tables, takes pre-authentication of peoples' cards and it even sells tickets for you.
"The booking system is simple and reduces the amount of phone calls, pre-orders over the phone and saves us writing things down."
Each issue we catch up with three members for our Meet the Member interviews, as well as industry professionals, MPs campaigning for Pubs, and large scale operators, to bring you the best view of the hospitality landscape.