Is This The Stupidest Thing We Do?

Given the number of messages I’ve received following my recent rants, it seems my fear of causing upset has been realised. While I’m sure drawing attention to our collective areas of improvement is a good thing, pissing you off in the process is less so, and I would like to apologise. No, really I would. And I will, properly and unreservedly, just as soon as we’ve discussed one small thing - Brand F&B Strategy.

My expertise in this area was best summed up by a long-term client/friend who also happened to be President of some of our industry’s best-loved brands. He once said, “You know what Alec knows about brands?—Fuck all!” While that’s a fair point, being a consultant means having an opinion, and being qualified to do so isn’t necessarily related. Except in this case, I am qualified, as like many of you, I’ve been on the receiving end of too many brand-wide F&B projects. In fact, I have a confession to make: I’ve been responsible for a few of them. Projects that you know all too well, go something like this:

The board decides that the hotel brand must improve its F&B to drive revenue, boost guest loyalty, impress existing and potential owners, and most importantly, appease shareholders. The Brand F&B Strategy project is born. No one asks the hotel teams what they actually need.

The corporate marketing/brand team creates a briefing document aligning the F&B vision with brand pillars, the circle of activation, transition position, and guest portrait thumbnails. While this looks clever, no one knows what it means. And once again, no one asks the hotel teams what they need.

Agencies with impressive expertise in project management, culture, brand research, and consumer behaviour are briefed—none of whom have any specific expertise in F&B. In the unlikely event they do, they’re definitely hopeless in everything else. Still, no one has asked the hotel teams what they need.

After much pain, endless meetings, clever talking, and maybe even an agency being fired along the way, the Brand F&B Strategy is finally completed. Cue a shiny new document detailing high-level F&B pillars, missions, operating outlines, frameworks, and regional signature elements. And yes, nobody really knows what it means, nor has anyone asked the hotel teams what they need.

Once approved by a delighted brand team and the board, the shiny strategy is ready to be launched. Expectations are high. Leading to roadshows, seminars, regional workshops, and online meetings—packed with presentations from clever people saying clever words. The GMs, F&B Directors, and Chefs in attendance have a great time catching up with colleagues, but they’re left wondering what it all means and, of course, why no one ever asked them what they needed.

Doing this is expensive—eye-wateringly, are you sure it costs that much? expensive. We’re talking hundreds of thousands, or in one notorious case, millions spent on agencies, branding, events, and hospitality. Great for team-building, sure, but improving brand-wide F&B? Not so much. Don’t believe me? Let me share a recent conversation I had with a veteran, award-winning GM who had just returned from another Brand F&B Strategy launch. It went something like this:

“How was the launch?”

“Great! Caught up with old friends, the city was gorgeous, lovely dinner, amazing wine.”

“Yes, but what did you think of the strategy?”

“Interesting—what I can remember of it.”

“I see… and what will your team do differently as a result?”

“Nothing.”

And there you have it. All that investment, effort, and energy—for what? No one thought about what happens after the launch. Once the teams, armed with their lovely new strategy folders, are back in their hotels, what are they actually supposed to, you know—do? Is this the stupidest thing as an industry we do?