30 August 2018, 08:54 AM
  • The co-founder of Market Halls talks community, new concepts, and what’s to come in food and drink

WHAT’S TO COME…
I hope to see more independents and younger people coming into the industry, helping it to evolve to cater for changing tastes and needs. The Government needs to acknowledge how important the part is that food and drink plays in the fabric of business, culture and society, and help us grow with things like business rates. The chains will continue to be challenged, and it’s good to see that great pubs are coming back. This is a very interesting time.

MAKING IT WORK…
Operationally-speaking, it was quite a challenge to get everything set up and working smoothly. A large part of that was making sure that we got the relationships right – we wanted to make this work like a family, and everyone we work with on this project understands and respects that. That’s how we originally pitched it to everyone, giving them an easy point of entry and making it run as smoothly as possible for them so they can focus on doing what they do best.

THE BIG PICTURE
An appreciation for the things that independents offer – both in terms of restaurants and retail – such as story, quality, provenance, a greater understanding of food and drink and consumer education isn’t going away any time soon. For us, food is the new rock and roll. It’s a huge part of peoples’ lives and they’re spending more on food now than they are on going out, so it’s only going to get more important.

Read the entire interview in the latest issue of Speciality Food, available to download for free here.