Last month, Alex Demetriou, CEO of Foodbuy UK&I and Karl Atkins, CEO of Foodbuy Group took to the stage to headline the Arena Savoy Lecture – an inspiring event bringing together the hospitality industry for an evening of insights and networking.

The evening began with the CEO of UKHospitality, Kate Nicholls OBE, who opened the event with an insightful update on the foodservice and hospitality sector.

Kate stressed that despite the turbulent years, which has seen a margin erosion of 40-50% since 2018, the challenge now is to look forward to the signs of optimism. Whilst there’s sadly no white knight, she shared, as she put it ‘Reasons to be cheerful’.

Alex and Karl went on to share their personal reflections on Foodbuy Group’s journey, their passion for hospitality and the importance of connection, community and collaboration.

Alex and Karl both offered a fresh outlook and set the tone for an optimistic and forward-thinking future in hospitality.

A series of questions from the audience followed and conversation continued during the drinks and canapé reception, before guests were invited back to the Ballroom to take their seats for dinner.

Some key takeaways from the event were:

• Global travel is coming back a little stronger than anticipated. The latest figures saw it get to 96% of pre-Covid levels of volume and value in real terms. In 2024, international visits to the UK were up 5%, giving us 40 million visits and spend was up in 7% in real terms at £35bn.
• Discretionary spend is out there and recent UKH research found that 90% of consumers are eating out at least monthly and 75% say that eating and drinking out and socialising with family and friends is their top priority once they get some discretionary spend.
• New tourism minister is developing a new tourism strategy that includes business events, music events and sporting and cultural activity. The ambition is to get to 50 million visits a year by 2030, so within the next four years, we’re going to add 10 million extra visitors.
• We shouldn’t be ashamed to talk about growth; growth sits at the heart of the future and Karl shared how important it is to be open and honest about growth and ambition.
• The “we’re all in it together” philosophy has never been more on-point. It’s a whole supply chain approach and strength of relationships is everything – and this is more important than ever before. All of the challenges, that we all face, are somewhat easier when we come together and collaborate.
• Both Alex and Karl said, they are very, very proud of the business they’ve created, but feel like they’re just getting started – ” i think we found a purpose and a mission that we didn’t have before”.
• Alex spoke about the ‘experience economy’ highlighting the event space as a sector that will keep on winning. “People want that one-off experience. They want the photo. They want to say that they did that for their children, because the three takeaways a month won’t be remembered, but that photo at the Taylor Swift concert will be”.
• Alex underlined the responsibility of individuals with influence to inspire and motivate talent and reminded them to really think about the way younger people make their decisions, which has changed. “I refer to it as the Messi and the Ronaldo effect. People used to want to work for companies, they’re now going to work for individuals, because they’re seeing brilliant leaders.”

Thanks to guests’ generosity, £3730 was raised for Springboard and Hospitality Action in the charity raffle.

You can read the full event coverage and watch the video here: ARENA SAVOY LECTURE – APRIL 2025