Investing in Hospitality #FAQFriday

Happy Friday, everybody.

It’s #FAQFriday live from Kilhey Court down in Wigan.  And this week’s frequently asked question has come from a number of people who are in investment, asking, “should they get involved in hospitality?”  Should they invest in hospitality?

Lots of businesses out there are currently up for sale.  Obviously, it’s all about you doing your due diligence and making sure that you have an expert in your pocket to be able to see whether it’s the right investment for you right now.  But the industry is obviously in a position where there are some crazy, cracking deals out there.

Hospitality is not going to go away.  I don’t care what anybody says.  I know there is lots of negative media out there at present, and has been for quite a while.

Interestingly enough, I was asked at a careers presentation that I did just a few weeks ago by students who had invested their time and money in training in hospitality to find out whether the industry is something that they should continue to think about going into with all the negative media feedback that they’re seeing.

And, of course, it is.  Of course.  Everybody wants to eat and drink.  People like to go away and actually treat themselves.  So I would highly recommend that we don’t focus on the negativity.  I know why the negative media is out there, but we need to start focusing on marketing positive reasons why the industry is a great industry to go into, number one, but also why it’s a great investment as well.

There are lots of people who’ve been in the industry a long time who have probably got a little bit fed up in Covid times and have been struggling because since it’s been probably very, very busy.  They’re not coping with that, or there’s a number of reasons why people have an exit strategy.  But that’s not a reason to ask whether we should invest in an industry that is growing, that’s the thing at the moment, it is growing.

What you need to do is make sure that you do your due diligence, make sure that you have an expert in your pocket if you’re an investor, someone like me would be helpful because I could do your due diligence for you.

And also, make sure that we look at the books, we look at the opportunities and feasibility studies on the businesses that you’re looking at, that we can help and support you to make the right decision for you.  And that’s the thing, because there are so many businesses out there, but you’ve got to make sure that it’s the right business for you.  And make sure that you’ve got a full operational strategy of how you’re going to run that business in the future, what you should be spending your money on, knowing the trends that are coming up right now, in 24/25, and what people are looking to do, and knowing who your ideal client is.  Same with personnel as well.

But you’ve got to really know your numbers; you’ve got to really know what the business is currently doing and why it is currently doing whatever it’s doing.  Because when you know that information, it’s quite powerful for you to decide whether that’s the business that you want to take forward or completely start again with, or whatever you want to do with.

But certainly, I’m very happy to have an initial conversation with you, alison@ajlakes.com, to help and support you to get on the road to make the right decision.

But we’ve got to start as an industry putting positive marketing out there about why it’s an industry to go into as a career choice because when I was doing this presentation for careers convention literally a few weeks ago with HND students,  and they were asking whether they should continue investing the time and money into training into the hospitality industry.  You need to get out there and start communicating what amazing positions are out there and that the industry is not going under that it’s actually growing.

So more about growth.  I know lots of national organisations like UK Hospitality are fighting the Government for help at the moment.  But we need to obviously remember to market how amazing we are as an industry.  And I think they’re doing a great job highlighting the issues that we’ve got.  But remember, there’s always a positive and negative in everything.

We’ve got some crazy, positive, exciting things that are going on in the industry.  Amazing things are coming up right now in different organisations and different businesses around the country and across the world as well.  So it’s certainly a growing industry to get involved with, help and develop each of the businesses, and you can make some serious money, if you know what you’re doing.

So the answer is, it depends on the business that you’re looking at.  Please, do your due diligence and your feasibility studies, and be really clear on your numbers and what you want to get out of it.  You’ve got to be clear on your goal as an investor; you’ve got to be clear about what the goal is.  If you are only there to just make shedloads of money very, very quickly, that might not be a great thing to do, unless you’re very clever with it.

But certainly, look at ways in which you can make long-term investments, as that is a great way forward.

No, this is by no means financial advice, by no means whatsoever, but it is knowledge from inside of the industry.  There are lots of opportunities.

So I hope that’s helped.  Have a happy Friday and a happy weekend.

Take care.