A year of growth and lovely new members of the #bmFamily💜💚

Well there goes another year – taking us into our 20th year of life at bartlett mitchell. Who would have thought! Certainly not me!

People ask if we had a plan and I can genuinely say no! We know most people start with an exit plan in their minds-eye from day one, but we genuinely haven’t.

Saying that we have just put an ambitious 5 year plan together to make sure we stay focused on what is important to the #bmFamily💜💚 and our values.

2019 – What a Corker

It  has been another corker with so many great people joining the #bmFamily💜💚. Moments of deep joy, frustration and all things in between. So no change there then!

I’m not sure it gets any easier, and in fact, I think it’s harder to stay true to your values, as the outside influences get noisier.  I’m particularly grateful to the UK Hospitality team for really trying to watch our industry’s back. With what’s going on, getting recognition as a sector has been a major achievement.

Writing an end of year blog reinforces that our world is every changing, however I do believe, and frequently say, change is always good. Opportunity from change keeps it fresh and throws up new ideas, new people, new ways. I genuinely believe things happen for a reason and it’s how you adapt and keep it positive that makes it a better experience for all. 2019 has again proved this to be true.

Highlights of a Great Year

It was a big year with winning our 100th contract and welcoming our 1000th team member. Two milestones I never thought we would be saying.

The highlights of 2019 has been winning some very lovely contracts, which means our existing team can do what they do best, and get recognition and opportunities for new roles. It means we get to bring new people into the #bmFamily💜💚 to learn new things from too. Although life has its challenges at times, the team are showing how great they are by looking after our existing business well and settling the new contracts in while finding, and honing, their own skills to deliver great innovative food. I’m still continually awestruck by what our team do every day. If you saw our internal news feed, where our teams can post what they do – you would be too. It’s moments like that which make you feel really rewarded for what you do.

Growth and Leadership

I’ve particularly liked seeing where people have grown and shown their leadership skills. Not complaining or being negative about situations, but getting on with it and showing that by great leadership you can make a difference. We have so many superstars with us and I’m thrilled about how we can support them and help them grow.

Amazing New Food Concepts

We have developed some amazing food concepts to really challenge the market – ‘Edgy Veggie’ being one of my favourites. As this takes vegetarian food to the main event. Our work with Andrew Darge of Vanilla Black has really influenced our thoughts about the positioning of vegetarian food and how we think about it. So many good ideas from our team it’s difficult to pick out a few. But when you’re visiting restaurants and especially events you get a sense of just how superior our selection is.

Awards and Recognition

We have won a couple of awards too – always great as people want to work for successful companies who are able to make a difference. Winning awards is the icing on the cake of recognition.

New for 2020

Recognition is going to be a big part of bartlett mitchell for 2020 and how it’s important that the #bmFamily💜💚 recognises and appreciative each other – our fundamentally FOODIES. We have developed a scheme where team members can appreciate their own colleagues, bosses and we will be encouraging our clients to join in too.

Chef Academy

I’m especially excited about our new innovative, Chef Academy, which is about to come in to play. Developed by our chefs for the chefs, it’s going to be taking all the training we have always done, and really shaking it up! I’m really excited, particularly about focusing personally on the KP to chef journey we are launching, to continue our philosophy of developing and growing our own.

Training App

I know for sure we are ahead on the technology front of most aspects of the business, as the teams tell us that when they join, but our very smart new training app, that allows the power and responsibility of training to be held in the hands of the #bmFamily💜💚 members themselves, is going to be a change maker. Just having training records, both mandatory and optional, on your phone means you are in charge of your destiny. A library of training will be available to further develop yourself and all our training will be able to be videoed and shared.

Female Chef Group

A personal focus for me will be working with our female chef group, our leading ladies, as I really want to give them the support and opportunities so they can show that, in the kitchen, they have a particular value.

We will hopefully keep growing, maybe with a year of consolidation in 2020, as we have so many new ideas and innovations, it will be good to really make sure they have an impact.

20 years of the #bmFamily💜💚

Plus of course we are celebrating our 20 years, with a 2020 party in January for all team members, to say thank you, so we are certainly starting the year off with a Big Bang!