As a business founded on the values of “innovation in all we do” and “entrepreneurial teams”, we understand the value of entrepreneurs. It is more important than ever that we champion emerging talent in our industry to help create modern solutions to modern problems.

EP Business in Hospitality

Personally, I’ve always been fascinated by entrepreneurship and so was delighted to join our friends at EP Business in Hospitality as a panellist on their Dragon’s Den recently. In this instalment called “Technology and Innovation”, 5 incredible entrepreneurs pitched to a panel of inter-industry judges. The aim was to generate discussion, share knowledge and understand how tech can be used as a solution to many of the issues generated by the current pandemic.

Dynamify

There were some fascinating debates and discussions from all of the panellists. Of note for me was an entrepreneur called Maxwell Harding. He’s the young founder of the tech company Dynamify, whom bartlett mitchell have already partnered with to provide a bespoke tech solution to our clients. This is done through our white-label app: PearPay. Dynamify’s technology allows customers to pre-order, pay, check safe times to eat, review allergens and avoid queuing. For bartlett mitchell, it has allowed us to gain outstanding customer insight through machine learning and analytics. Not only has this enhanced the customer journey and helped our locations become Covid-secure, we have also been able to personalise our service through better data. This is just one example of how young entrepreneurs are leading the way in our industry and providing us with innovative solutions to complex problems.

An entrepreneurial company

bartlett mitchell is a properly entrepreneurial company. We are still owner-led and pride ourselves in being the most nimble, responsive and agile caterer on the market. Wendy is the biggest advocate for entrepreneurship you will ever meet and is committed to giving great businesses the break they need. Dynamify is one such business and we are always on the lookout for exciting new hospitality ‘hotshots’ to partner with. It is crazy to think that 99.9% of UK companies are SMEs (<249 employees) and so allowing them to shine will be a vital element in our road to recovery as a nationbmINc

bmInc

One of the other key ways in which we support entrepreneurial talent is through our supply chain – specifically bmInc. This is our foodie incubator where we give entrepreneurial suppliers the chance to trial their product at some our clients’ sites. If the trial is successful, then they will become an accredited supplier to our business. Over the years this has produced loads of success stories and our clients love knowing they are getting access to the “cutting edge”.

Overall, now more than ever it is important to champion the small company and give the entrepreneurial problem-solvers the chance to shine. Just as our first clients gave us a chance 20 years ago, we are committed to seeking out the best our industry has to offer. Thanks to EP for opportunity and I look forward to the next one!