First Season Review: What The Podcast Taught Us
This episode of Talking Hospitality reflects on the impactful stories and guests featured throughout the podcasts first ever season.
Hosts Sarah Kettel and Timothy R. Andrews recognise the resilience shown by individuals and organizations in the hospitality industry during a challenging year.
About The Episode:
Timothy R. Andrews & Sarah Kettel discuss inspiring initiatives highlighted during the first ever season of Talking Hospitality.
They discuss Kemi Akinola's charity work feeding thousands and the mental health support provided by Susan and Dan Grandfield.
The conversation highlights the importance of community and innovation, with examples like Open Kitchens providing restaurant-quality meals to those in need.
As they look forward to future seasons, the hosts express gratitude for the connections made and the positive changes inspired by their podcast.
This podcast episode reflects on the remarkable resilience and innovation within the hospitality industry during challenging times.
Hosts Timothy and Sarah revisit inspiring stories from guests featured in previous episodes, highlighting individuals and organisations that have made significant contributions to their communities. They discuss the impact of mental health in the hospitality sector, emphasising the importance of support systems like Hospitality Action and Be Enriched.
The conversation also touches on the evolving nature of hospitality, including the rise of hybrid events and the shift towards takeaway and delivery services.
The hosts also discuss how their podcast has inspired others to take action, whether through donations or by starting their own initiatives, reinforcing the idea that sharing stories can lead to real change in the world.
Overall, the episode celebrates the power of connection and the collective efforts to uplift those in need, underscoring a hopeful outlook for the future of the industry.
(Apologies for some of the sound issues in this publication, we had some technical issues we were unable to edit out.)
A BIG thank you for all our contributors!
Key Takeaways:
- The podcast highlights the immense resilience and creativity found in the hospitality industry during tough times.
- Timothy and Sarah emphasise the importance of sharing inspiring stories to uplift listeners and those within the community.
- Kemi Akinola's charity work showcases the powerful impact of community support in feeding those in need.
- Susan and Dan Grandfield discuss mental health challenges in hospitality and provide actionable solutions.
- The conversation reveals the necessity of recognizing and utilizing available support systems for mental well-being.
- The hosts express excitement about evolving trends in hospitality, including hybrid events and the rise of takeout services.
Further Resources:
- For more insights, visit the Talking Hospitality Blog: https://www.talkinghospitality.com/blog/
- For courses on Hospitality and the subjects discussed visit: https://www.educatinghospitality.co.uk/
Guests and Companies Mentioned:
https://www.hospitalityaction.org.uk/
https://www.susangrandfield.com/
https://www.bluecragsconsulting.com/
https://timeforthegoodnews.buzzsprout.com/
Transcript
Timothy Put the Cattel on welcome to this, our podcast, Timothy Put the Kitel On.
Sarah Cattell:I'm Sarah Cattell and this is my co host, Timothy R.
Sarah Cattell:Andrews.
Timothy R.:Timothy Put the Cattel on is a podcast looking at issues within hospitality solutions and inspirational stories.
Sarah Cattell:The podcast is shared on all major platforms, iTunes, Google Play, SoundCloud and Spotify.
Sarah Cattell:And it's marketed on social media.
Timothy R.:So today, Sarah, I thought we should take a review of last year's podcasts.
Timothy R.: ad quite a productive year in: Timothy R.:It's a wonderful guest that we've had.
Sarah Cattell: iant idea because even though: Sarah Cattell:But we have been very lucky.
Sarah Cattell:We started a podcast that's brilliant.
Sarah Cattell:We had some guests who are incredible people.
Sarah Cattell:That's brilliant.
Sarah Cattell:We met some amazing people, although we've not met any of them in person yet and forged some really great friendships and connections.
Sarah Cattell:So there's a lot to be grateful for.
Timothy R.:Unbelievable.
Timothy R.:We started it in March.
Sarah Cattell:When was that?
Sarah Cattell:That was a hundred years ago, right?
Timothy R.:It was a hundred years ago.
Timothy R.:Very different view of how things might look.
Sarah Cattell:Yes, absolutely.
Sarah Cattell:There's been some pretty amazing things going on and we've picked up on a lot of them.
Sarah Cattell:We've spoken to a lot of great people who've done great things.
Sarah Cattell:So I think we should really just talk about all those people again because they've really blown my mind.
Timothy R.:I mean, we started the podcast with the idea of just hopefully getting some inspiring stories from the hospitality industry, just because, you know, it'd been devastated very quickly by lockdown, but yet we were hearing some amazing stories coming through of what people were doing and some of them were really inspiring and it was great to have them on as guests.
Sarah Cattell:It was.
Sarah Cattell:And although we knew there were some great stories out there, I think the more we uncovered and the more people we got to know, the more I realized that the goodwill and the great things and the innovation that had come out of the situation we were in far exceeded anything that I'd ever thought they would.
Timothy R.:Absolutely.
Timothy R.:It's been great.
Timothy R.:First guest on the podcast was Kemi Akinola from Be Enriched, and some of the things that she was doing through that charity and what was it, 5,000 people she fed in quite a short space of time.
Sarah Cattell:Yeah.
Sarah Cattell:And I'll just mention what she was up to at Christmas, actually.
Sarah Cattell:So Christmas Day.
Sarah Cattell:Kemi has never taken a Christmas Day off, as far as I know, since she's been running the charity.
Sarah Cattell:I had a call from her, just said, can you help with feeding about 200 refugees who are living in the area?
Sarah Cattell:It's their first Christmas in Britain.
Sarah Cattell:Let's give them Christmas dinner.
Timothy R.:Yeah.
Timothy R.:She's done a lot of good.
Timothy R.:And of course, donations were made by some of our listeners to her charity, which is great.
Timothy R.:That's so lovely and it's well deserved.
Timothy R.:One of the things that stood out for me about that podcast was all the different stories that she had, like, including how a man with a horse and a car, basically.
Timothy R.:Exactly.
Timothy R.:But everybody mucked in.
Timothy R.:It was great.
Timothy R.:The whole community sense of what she was talking about, how everybody pulled together to make sure people that couldn't eat had food.
Timothy R.:I mean, that was incredible.
Timothy R.:And now she's got a bus that's going around feeding people and showing people how to make food.
Timothy R.:Great first guest to have on the show for sure.
Timothy R.:Then, of course, we had Susan Granfield and Dan Granfield.
Sarah Cattell:Oh, lovely Susan.
Timothy R.:Dan.
Timothy R.:Yeah, lovely.
Timothy R.:People talking about mental health and they talked about how in hospitality, people in particular have suffered from mental health issues.
Sarah Cattell:Lots of people have.
Sarah Cattell:And it's been.
Sarah Cattell:It's just been one of those roller coaster rides, and that hasn't really helped.
Sarah Cattell:It wasn't like there was one problem, then you fix it, then you move on and learn to deal with that.
Sarah Cattell:The problems just seemed to keep coming.
Sarah Cattell:It was just one blow after another.
Timothy R.:I mean, statistics are showing something like 74% or something like that of hospitality people have had some sense of mental health issues this year.
Sarah Cattell:That's scary.
Sarah Cattell:That's really scary.
Timothy R.:Yeah, it's a pretty.
Timothy R.:Pretty scary thing.
Timothy R.:But what was really great about these two is they had solutions and it provided tips and advice for people so that it isn't a case of just talking about the doom and gloom, which, of course, the podcast is to address the issues, but either provide solutions or provide something inspiring.
Timothy R.:And what these two did was provide tips and advice for people that might be going through it.
Timothy R.:So if anybody's going through it now, they should go and check these podcasts out.
Sarah Cattell:Absolutely.
Sarah Cattell:They've got all the tools between them, Susan and Dan, and I'm pretty sure they've really helped some people, and I hope that the podcast continues to do that.
Timothy R.:Since doing our podcast, they are now doing their own and they've been inspired to do good news podcasts.
Timothy R.:And, yeah, it's really good.
Timothy R.:It's like, good.
Timothy R.:It's good news stories that they Go around the world and look at things and pull out of the media and then spread the message.
Sarah Cattell:Oh, I love that.
Sarah Cattell:That's a brilliant idea.
Timothy R.:The podcast is called Time for the Good News, so please check it out.
Timothy R.:Good news stories.
Sarah Cattell:I think one of the most interesting and informative interviews for me from our podcast series was Jeremy Gibson from Hospitality Action, because I knew who the Action were.
Sarah Cattell:I've been fundraising for them for a while.
Sarah Cattell:I knew they did great work, but I really only touched the surface on what they actually did.
Sarah Cattell:And Jeremy really gave us an insight into all of the good things that they're doing.
Sarah Cattell:And also the employee assistance program and the fact that they have a 24 hour helpline for anyone who's struggling.
Sarah Cattell:I think that's incredible.
Timothy R.:What I learned is nobody can really underestimate the work that they've been doing and the need for it in the hospitality community right now.
Sarah Cattell:I think it's crazy that more people aren't talking about what they're doing.
Timothy R.:I'm really surprised.
Timothy R.:I'm just.
Timothy R.:I was just.
Timothy R.:But the good.
Timothy R.:The amount of good that they've done and the amount of good that they're going to continue to do, the amount of people that they've reached, and yet people aren't still fully aware of the grants that are available to them, the support that they've got, their 24 hour, seven days a week helpline, that's free, whether you're an employer or an employee.
Timothy R.:And to hear of some examples of people's lives that they change, it just blew me away.
Timothy R.:I was so proud to be able to share their story and hope that we managed to get it to reach more people.
Timothy R.:You realise by talking to the people that we've spoken to, just generally across the board, how devastated our industry has been and how much it's affected people.
Timothy R.:But then there is support out there and it's people like Hospitality Action.
Timothy R.:Be enriched.
Timothy R.:Open kitchens.
Timothy R.:They're all doing their bit, they're all.
Sarah Cattell:Doing amazing work and, you know, they are the unsung hero.
Sarah Cattell:We hear the word unsung quite a lot with things, but I kind of really realized what that word means now.
Sarah Cattell:We've heard so much bad news, but for our industry, there's been just this spectacular outpouring of just gestures of amazingness.
Sarah Cattell:That's not even a word, but I'm using it.
Timothy R.:Everybody hears about Marcus Rushford and of course he's doing a great job and it's incredible.
Timothy R.:But there's a lot of other people as well, and it's little guys that we need to give a little tip of the hat to.
Sarah Cattell:Yeah.
Sarah Cattell:There are so many people.
Timothy R.:As somebody who's worked in hospitality industry, I'm really grateful and touched by what these people have been doing.
Sarah Cattell:I'm proud of us in the industry, too.
Sarah Cattell:I'm proud of us.
Sarah Cattell:We've stepped up and it's amazing.
Timothy R.:And then of course, we talked about things like how the industry might be changing because of a result of the lockdowns.
Timothy R.:You know, things are not going to be the same necessarily when things reopen.
Timothy R.:Things like hybrid events now will probably be the new norm.
Sarah Cattell:Yeah, we're all used to zoom calls now and facetiming each other, but it's the fact that that's going a little bit further and bringing things to you which are physical to go with this social distancing and really not being in a room with someone and yet still maybe, I don't know, having the same glass of wine in your hand or tasting the same cheese.
Sarah Cattell:It's quite incredible when you think about it.
Sarah Cattell:And what's also incredible is that we as society have actually had the means to do this for so long and yet never done it because we didn't have to.
Sarah Cattell:And it's forced the hand of innovation to make these things happen.
Sarah Cattell:And it's really quite incredible because I'm sure we've all sat there and thought, oh, I wish I could just be at home in this meeting and then just, you know, share the same thing, but not have to be there because I have to get out of bed and get dressed.
Sarah Cattell:Because getting dressed, you know, used to be a thing.
Sarah Cattell:That's not now, is it?
Sarah Cattell:No one gets dressed anymore.
Sarah Cattell:Or at least not from the bottom half.
Sarah Cattell:From the top half, everyone's wearing a shirt and tie.
Timothy R.:I always look extremely dapper and at my very best.
Timothy R.:Sarah, what are you talking about?
Sarah Cattell:The waist up, Tim.
Sarah Cattell:But I think the fashion industry are going to have to adapt, aren't they?
Sarah Cattell:I mean, you know, no one wears trousers anymore.
Sarah Cattell:It's all pyjamas.
Sarah Cattell:And I really hope that this carries on.
Sarah Cattell:Oh, yeah, Onesies, onesies.
Timothy R.:All the way.
Sarah Cattell:Onesies.
Sarah Cattell:And, you know, I wonder if there'll be this backlash against smart trousers and we'll all be just in casual wear the whole time, which would be amazing inside the house, outside the house.
Sarah Cattell:Who doesn't want to be comfortable?
Timothy R.:Of course, one of the things that's also changing is, of course, some businesses are now doing takeaways and deliveries and looking at how they can make food good quality Food.
Sarah Cattell:Yeah.
Timothy R.:And get that out to people.
Timothy R.:And what open kitchens, of course, was very interesting was how the people they were working with was getting restaurant quality food out to the hungry and the people that were suffering from food poverty, but for a very, very low cost.
Timothy R.:I mean, they, they literally fed thousands of people over a very short space of time.
Timothy R.:And they used the communities in Nottingham, they brought community with in London and have been doing lots of sort of local areas and just bringing hospitality people together to feed their local communities.
Timothy R.:I mean, that the project and the scale of what they have done is really something else.
Sarah Cattell:What it brought home to me was that I'd never, ever, ever considered this before.
Sarah Cattell:Having a kitchen to cook in is a privilege.
Sarah Cattell:I have never lived in a house, a flat, anywhere where I haven't had a kitchen to use.
Sarah Cattell:But that is the reality for thousands and thousands of people every single day.
Sarah Cattell:When you think about it, it's just weird.
Timothy R.:Lisa's story of, I think it was Bill who ate kidney beans, cold kidney beans, out of a tin for three weeks before they managed to get to him.
Timothy R.:He's not alone in this.
Timothy R.:There are people that were working and their income is gone and there's no support and they can't afford to do things.
Timothy R.:They're worried about the roof over the head.
Timothy R.:And it's people like open kitchens and being rich and hospitality action that are keeping them safe.
Sarah Cattell:Yeah, they really are.
Sarah Cattell:And also inspiring other people.
Sarah Cattell:Lisa had that wonderful story about the young man who'd never, never eaten at a restaurant before and then was delivered restaurant quality food.
Sarah Cattell:And he's a teenager, isn't he?
Sarah Cattell:And he, from, from just that one meal, he has decided that he wants to work in hospitality.
Timothy R.:Just brilliant.
Sarah Cattell:I mean that's, that's just incredible to me.
Timothy R.:What I quite liked as well is with the podcast is like we did it with mental health, is we were providing tips and advice for people that were listening.
Timothy R.:But also what came out is people aren't necessarily in the best shape.
Timothy R.:They've started maybe occurring habits that they're not entirely happy with.
Timothy R.:And a lot of people feel stuck in those habits.
Timothy R.:It was great to have somebody like Lynn Mortman on who talked about going alcohol free for a few days, like whether it was 30, 60, 90, and of course the journey that she had was very inspiring.
Timothy R.:Of course, Laura Willis as well, who talked about social media and how we respond to it.
Timothy R.:They raised some really good points about how we don't need to necessarily change everything and it doesn't need to be permanently forever.
Timothy R.:But we can make small changes in order to make ourselves a little bit better or feel better or take control of our lives.
Sarah Cattell:No one ever talks about the middle ground, which is making small changes for the better, but not entirely losing something from your life.
Sarah Cattell:That was the bit that really hit home for me because I realized I was addicted to checking my messages and my emails.
Sarah Cattell:They're on my phone, my phone's with me all the time.
Sarah Cattell:I look at it too much.
Sarah Cattell:I knew I did.
Sarah Cattell: a smartphone to like a Nokia: Sarah Cattell:But actually there are solutions.
Sarah Cattell:But we only ever get extremes of news in anything.
Sarah Cattell:So we only ever get stories of people who have nearly died from alcohol poisoning because they are alcoholics and they had to cut it out of their life completely and change their life.
Sarah Cattell:Or we hear about kids who are addicted to their phones and social media and it's completely wrecking their life and their self esteem.
Sarah Cattell:There's.
Sarah Cattell:There's a.
Sarah Cattell:An area in between those two things of good and bad, and we're all in there somewhere on that spectrum.
Sarah Cattell:And there are things we can change.
Sarah Cattell:And I didn't know that really, or couldn't see that until we spoke to Laura, for instance.
Timothy R.:Hearing them talk about their story resonated in so many different ways.
Timothy R.:Oh, that's me, that's me.
Timothy R.:And it was so inspiring because these people have addressed it and fixed it and showing other people the way to do the same.
Timothy R.:I mean, it's been a real pleasure doing these podcasts with you.
Timothy R.:I really enjoyed doing it, and I think it's been really positive experience.
Timothy R.:We're getting a lot of good feedback from people.
Timothy R.:Donations have been made.
Timothy R.:We're now getting people wanting to be on our podcast, which is quite cool.
Sarah Cattell:It feels weird that you're saying that, because I still, I'm loving doing this and I've loved doing it every week, and I'm doing it for the pure joy of it, but it does.
Sarah Cattell:It still doesn't feel quite real.
Sarah Cattell:So when you say stuff like that, I'm like, why?
Sarah Cattell:Why do they want to be on our podcast?
Sarah Cattell:Oh, oh, I get it.
Timothy R.:And it's about people that are struggling, and hopefully we've touched some people's lives.
Timothy R.:I know, for example, the mere fact that we're doing podcasts has inspired some people.
Timothy R.:Just the very basic fact of us doing it.
Timothy R.:I know somebody who was very fit, who stopped exercising, went all locked down because he was feeling very demotivated.
Timothy R.:But because we were doing something, he was, I need to go out and do something.
Timothy R.:So he's back on his bike, he's back out running.
Timothy R.:Because we just triggered that.
Timothy R.:Well, why am I sitting here while other people are doing things?
Timothy R.:Three or four people have messaged me and say, I want to do a podcast.
Timothy R.:What do I need to do?
Timothy R.:This is wonderful stuff.
Timothy R.:Like I said, people have donated, people have had conversations.
Timothy R.:So there's all these wonderful things that are happening that wouldn't have happened if we hadn't done this.
Timothy R.:And I think that makes it worth doing.
Sarah Cattell:It does.
Sarah Cattell:And, you know, I didn't realize how much this would actually open up.
Sarah Cattell:Just a network of people to be in touch with each other, which could have been so easily lost in lockdown because we were all basically confined to our homes.
Timothy R.: ce and I'm looking forward to: Timothy R.:We obviously got some guests already lined up.
Sarah Cattell:Yes, we have.
Sarah Cattell:I feel like we should go on location.
Timothy R.:When we're able to go on location, we'll go on location.
Sarah Cattell:I'm thinking the Maldives.
Timothy R.:I think the Maldives.
Timothy R.:I'm very happy to do that.
Timothy R.:If you get the tickets organised and pay for it, I will come and join you.
Sarah Cattell:Right, right.
Sarah Cattell:Yeah, I'm on it, I'm on it.
Timothy R.:Good, good.
Sarah Cattell:Thank you for listening.
Sarah Cattell:Please share, subscribe and like, we look forward to you joining us in the next episode of Timothy Put the Katel on.
Sarah Cattell:Available on iTunes, SoundCloud, Google Play and YouTub.
Sarah Cattell:Timothy put the Catal on.
