Hospitality and Retailing

Leeds Beckett University has a strong track record in delivering research and consultancy projects in hospitality and retailing in the following specialist areas:

• Marketing planning, implementation and market research.
• Human resource strategy and planning.
• Learning and development, coaching and mentoring for both front line staff and senior executives.
• Corporate strategy review, evaluation and development.
• Operations design and management.
• Food product development and innovation.
• Consumer product testing and evaluation.

Our team of consultants have extensive industry experience in this area. They include Guy Lincoln, Francis Patton, Jane Welbourn, Alistair MacAuley, Carole Rodger, Kevan Burke, Chris Morley, Keith Johnson and Dale Bottomley.

We have memberships of professional bodies including the Royal Society of Public Health, the Chartered Institute of Marketing and the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development. We are also registered trainers with Chartered Institute of Environmental Health, British Institute of Innkeeping.

Examples of our work:

• Client: Society of Independent Brewers (SIBA)
  Project: Corporate strategy review, evaluation and development.
  We undertook a strategic review of the SIBA, identifying commercial strategy opportunities and providing recommendations on corporate structure. The Society developed their commercial approach to take account of these opportunities and has restructured their organisation to facilitate this.
• Client: JD Wetherspoons
  Project: Learning and development, coaching and mentoring for both front line staff and senior executives.
  We worked with the client to develop a professional diploma for their senior unit managers and area managers. The programme has now been running with us for over 5 years, has seen over 200 people successfully complete the qualification, has won national industry training awards and produced many measurable benefits for the business including increase loyalty and reduced staff turnover, increased revenues at unit level and reduced costs.
• Client: Whitby Seafoods
  Project: Food product development and innovation.
  We carried out consumer product testing on behalf of Whitby Seafoods. This involved sensory evaluation tests and taste panel; work and the resulting report was instrumental in in the company securing a listing for their products with major national multiple grocery retailers.
• Client: Herbs Unlimited
  Project: Operations design and management.
  On behalf of Herbs Unlimited we developed and implemented an innovative process for washing and packing food to meet microbiological safety standards. This involved implementing a HACCP study, food safety auditing of the factory and staff training. This enabled the company to meet retailer requirements in order to secure national listings for their products.

Other clients we have worked with include:

• Spirit Pub Company
• Vianet Leisure Solutions
• Punch Taverns
• Betty’s and Taylor's Group
• Admiral Taverns
• The Unite Group
• The British Institute of Innkeeping
• Arla Foods
• Morrison's

If you have a specific project you would like to discuss or, for general information about our consultancy services please contact our University Enterprise Office on 0113 81 21904.