Comment
The latest comment and opinion, from industry figures and the business journalists at Catering Today. We bring you the latest on what’s happening in the restaurants, bars and catering industry, with exclusive stories, analysis, best practice and industry comment.
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Dec- 2019 -19 December
Airbnb is the latest ‘big tech’ monolith to run rings around our outdated legal apparatus
It may seem tangential to those who do not work in real estate, but there is a court case on the continent with major implications for the future of many sectors, which reached a critical phase yesterday. It is the case of Airbnb vs the French tourism association, in which…
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18 December
Vera Lynn’s gin dispute is a window on a fascinating trademark problem
Everyone knows a bit of cockney rhyming slang, but what if your own name is the one being used, and then somebody tries to use it as their brand? This is exactly what happened to the singer Dame Vera Lynn, who has just been awarded £1,800 in legal costs from…
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17 December
‘Jingle bots’ are artificially ramming online shopping baskets to use up stock
I have my reservations about this story because we spend a lot of time in our office poring over the news for interesting stories and takes, and we haven’t seen it reported like this before. But it comes from a company called Radware, which is a publicly traded web app…
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16 December
The seasonal game of highs and lows
As the end of 2019 approaches, this is the busiest time of year for many working in catering and hospitality. For us, December and January are the quietest months. But the quieter months are very valuable to us. We use this time to reflect on our successes and failures during…
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16 December
The latest business data is bad news, but the reasons given spell a good omen
This morning there was some bad news for business, but which definitely comes with a silver lining. So, the bad news first: the ‘Flash UK Composite Output Index’ from data firm, Markit, which tracks private sector business activity, found that it shrunk during the month of December. It has dropped…
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13 December
The election is over – time for the Tories to deliver for small businesses
It now looks as though political stasis and all the damage that does to business will be lifted in 2020. Boris Johnson’s victory in the election is the Tories’ strongest since the Thatcher era, and gives him great scope to implement bold policies. At this juncture it’s worth taking a look…
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12 December
Businesses are sitting on £115bn and waiting to splurge
Goldman Sachs thinks money will pour into UK stocks and shares after this election, but it’s at least partly because they suspect a Tory victory. Regardless of which side of the Brexit divide you are on, there is one thing that’s for certain: business has been extremely cautious about the…
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12 December
Cheers to that: Five drink trends you need to know about in 2020
As we raise our glasses to a new decade, it is a good time to take stock and consider the huge shift in consumer attitude which has heavily influenced the drinks market and will continue to into the 2020’s. For 2020 and beyond the “tinny” is set to continue to…
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11 December
Small business owners dip into personal wealth to survive? Of course they do
We are living through an era where there is much discussion about capitalism, taxes, executive pay and so on. Is Philip Green a monster for raiding the BHS coffers when they were his to raid? Is the pay of a city CEO morally acceptable when his lowest paid workers are…
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10 December
Want to know who will win the election? Watch the pound
In recent years there has been a lot of talk about how badly wrong pollsters can get it. Nobody thought Trump would win, nobody thought Leave would win the referendum, indeed even elections have been too close to call. Though it now feels like a different historical epoch to look…
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