WHO ARE THE F&B HEROES?
The consulting and management company from Frankfurt has decades of experience in gastronomy, retail, and real estate industries. They specialize in developing, optimizing, and managing sustainable and successful F&B concepts. With a team of international experts, they provide advice, planning, and implementation for hospitality projects across industries and countries.
Their knowledge and passion for hospitality, combined with data-driven solutions, help clients find strategically aligned solutions. They offer a comprehensive range of services, suitable concepts and partners for the hospitality industry.
F&B HEROES is committed to sustainability and deeply values nature, which is why all their food concepts are plant-based.
By empowering and encouraging all gastronomy stakeholders, such as employees, operators, producers, suppliers, investors, and guests, F&B HEROES aims to professionalize the industry. www.fbheroes.de
The F&B Heroes core team regularly holds brainstorming sessions at their unconventional office located in Frankfurt's Gallusviertel. The ground floor of their office also houses the Heroes Kitchen, which serves as a versatile location for events, workshops, product development, presentations, corporate cooking events, photo and film shoots. It's a place for collaboration, idea generation, and networking.
Friederike Bothe, a partner at F&B Heroes GmbH, conducted an interview with founder Jean Ploner and partner Tim Plasse to discuss their team's perspective on the current challenges faced by the gastronomy industry.
Friederike: Jean and Tim, with a combined 80 years of experience in the food and beverage and hospitality industry, you possess a wealth of knowledge about the sector and are familiar with current challenges. We have noticed an increase in clients seeking assistance with reboot processes. They are unsure where to start. In your opinion, where do you think the main problem lies? Is there a particular aspect causing difficulty, or is the situation more general?
Jean George Ploner. The founder of F&B Heroes and author of numerous trade books has been driving sustainable growth and the professionalisation of the hospitality industry for many decades.Josie Farquharson
Jean: What most hospitality businesses lack is a clear concept. Many hotels view themselves solely as providers of lodging services and fail to offer an exciting F&B product. They see catering to hotel guests as an added value, they rarely think about their own profile or culinary product statement though.
This lack of identity often results in a wide range of options available, which can be overwhelming for guests. In the flood of offerings, today's guests need orientation rather than even more choices. Hoteliers often add more options in response to their confusion, following the "more is better" approach. However, by providing a clear product with a distinctive identity, guests are able to make informed decisions about what they want to experience.
Tim: With a focused and well-defined concept, it is even less effort to attract and convince customers, because quality and experience are in the foreground and speak for themselves. Thus, it is a decision-making aid. The question you have to ask yourself, of course, is: How do I create a gastronomy that fits the identity of my hotel?
Friederike: But a lack of profile is only one of the problems. Aren't there a few more challenges?
Tim: Definitely! Our industry is fueled by emotions and often relies on gut instincts to make decisions. However, it's important to start prioritizing data and facts in our decision-making process. While intuition is valuable, it can be unreliable and difficult to scale. For example, saying a dish is popular is a subjective observation and doesn't necessarily mean it generates the highest contribution margin. We need to put more effort into analyzing contribution margin and applying the Pareto principle to make informed decisions and take appropriate actions.
Jean: Also, the employees crisis poses a significant challenge to the hotel and restaurant industry due to the reluctance of workers to return to their jobs since the outbreak of Corona. However, it is worth noting that the industry has made considerable improvements to working conditions. Collective bargaining agreements, fair wages, vacation entitlements, health, and pension insurance have been in place for a long time. Despite these measures, overtime and shift work were still prevalent until 1993 when laws and regulations were introduced to limit working hours, prescribe break regulations and protect employees from overwork. Despite these optimizations, many workers are still leaving the industry for supposedly more comfortable alternatives, and this is a challenge that employers must face head-on. And Tim's thesis is that there is no employee crisis anyway...
Tim Plasse. The partner and gastro-philosopher of F&B Heroes continues to shape gastronomy in Frankfurt today with his concepts, which he has developed, implemented and operated together with partners.Josie Farquharson
Tim: Exactly. The term "crisis" comes from medicine and refers to a return to the original state. During the pandemic, the situation of the employees deteriorated dramatically. But do we want to return to the state of 2019? Our clear answer is: Absolutely not! Instead, we as an industry must create a better framework.
It's important to prioritize the well-being of our employees instead of trying to please everyone. A solution to this is to eliminate, automate, and digitize repetitive and mundane tasks, such as temperature recording in cold stores. This can easily be done through automation, freeing up human employees to focus on more important tasks.
The goal of full staffing is a step backward. We cannot operate economically with the same level of manpower as before the pandemic. Our industry is facing significant efficiency issues, as compared to other industries where six employees generate a turnover of 1 million euros, ours takes 16.
Given the current circumstances, we must contemplate how we can maximize our resources. The key lies in reevaluating our processes and prioritizing innovation and technology. Implementing digitization and automation as standard practices will not only create new job opportunities, but also enable individuals to fulfill a wider range of tasks.
Friederike: With improved data, there's a lot that can be done in the area of sustainability as well, right? Thanks to digital solutions, we now have great tools for managing food waste, staff, inventory, and more. Plus, smart booking systems can help prevent economical mistakes. It's exciting to see how technology is helping us work towards a better future.…
Jean: Most important is the interlocking of these tools in a digital ecosystem. But in the area of sustainability, there are a few other untapped levers for the foodservice industry, such as savings opportunities in wastewater, wet waste, and energy. The biggest lever, however, is the food itself: One-third of global CO2 emissions come from food production. Of these, animal products have the biggest impact at nearly three-quarters. By incorporating concepts like plant-based food, smart kitchen hacks, and making protein a side dish rather than the main focus, many positive outcomes can be realized. At F&B Heroes, we are fortunate to have Antje de Vries, an enthusiastic plant-based food expert, on our team who is always eager to try new experiments. Her Plant Power Manifest addresses all the important aspects of a sustainable way of cooking with plants.
Tim: Unfortunately, hoteliers often show hesitation in the Plant Based sector as they strive to fulfill every wish of their guests. In our opinion, however, a change has been taking place here for years. People appreciate the familiar and reliable, but when traveling they are also open to new things. Guests should be able to rely on a certain level of quality in a hotel restaurant rather than a piece of meat on their plate. We need to replace the fear of losing something with the conscious experience of enjoying sustainable and healthy options.
In gastronomy, much can be achieved by reducing or eliminating certain practices. And since the future in Germany will be largely determined by regulations in all of these areas, hotels must prepare for this and act with foresight. Health and neo-ecology are among the megatrends of our time, but even without trend awareness, it should be clear to everyone that environmentally conscious, sustainable action is the way to go.
The Heroes Kitchen in Frankfurt's Gallus district at night: the perfect place for ideas, working together and networking in the F&B industry.Bruno Papic
Friederike: There is another issue that needs to be addressed when it comes to sustainable hotel F&B. It's not just about making things more efficient for those running the hotel or investing in it. It requires a complete overhaul of habits and ways of thinking. This is a complex transformation process that isn't easy to navigate. The question remains: How does the recent Corona pandemic fit into all of this?
Jean: The vacation travel boom that started after the pandemic seems to be slowly returning to normal levels. For business travel, the situation is different though: Here there are new aspects to be considered. Many companies are choosing to keep the option for employees to work from home, so business trips are no longer just about joint work, seminars or workshops, but increasingly about social interaction, which no longer takes place in the normal working day. Here, exceptional food and beverage offers provide a perfect opportunity for shared experiences, including cooking classes, bar courses and more...
Tim: Overall, it must be acknowledged that the hotel industry can establish profitable revenue streams through gastronomy. This can help mitigate the unpredictable nature of overnight business. We firmly believe that by organizing and imbuing F&B concepts with emotion, gastronomy can become the superpower in the hotel industry!
Friederike: Thank you, Jean & Tim, for your assessment! There is much to do!
