etc.venues back on the growth agenda in London and New York

etc.venues COO Nick Hoare (pictured above) talks to Paul Colston about the venue group’s quick bounce back for business and plans for rolling out the brand further in New York and other US cities Following a couple of years of Covid-fuelled uncertainty and trauma for our sector, how has the etc.venues business weathered that storm and what are the prospects for the short and medium-term? etc.venues is in a stronger position than pre-pandemic. It feels good to say we are now an established global provider of meeting and conference space. The business has bounced back very quickly largely thanks to protecting our team, their skills and crucially our culture. The knock-on effect is that our clients have been with us on the journey and remained confident in our ability to deliver and in the value of our product. The appetite for in-person events is no longer in doubt. There is a greater appreciation of the value of attending a meeting or conference. Delegate numbers are up. Occupancy is at pre-pandemic levels and demand has continued to grow. Our competition (internal corporate space, hotels, and other players) has waned – resulting in less space. Coupled with growing demand this is a good equation for us. In the UK, we have surpassed 2019 figures for two months consecutively and our year end results are looking good. In the US, demand has been stronger than expected; our first two venues have really delivered and received excellent feedback, which gave us huge confidence to announce our third venue a couple of weeks ago. Where does the brand now stand in terms of financials and its strategic journey? We’re happy to be back on the ‘growth agenda’ with expansion plans both sides of the Atlantic. etc.venues is fortunate to have backers that can see the potential in the business model and have an ardent desire to capitalise on the market conditions. Next year the business will achieve £100m (US$110.7m) in revenues globally. We will be following the news of 810 Seventh Avenue in the US with the announcements of two further London spaces in the coming months. How has the etc.venues offer changed? And what can you say about changing demand from the client side? The beauty of a simple offer like ours is that it remains popular. Great food, tech that works, design that inspires and a team that make every event a success. Clients return for the consistency of our offering. Our chefs are producing more plant-based dishes than before. Projectors are now 4k laser quality found in cinemas, Wi-Fi bandwidth is upgraded and we are installing LED tiles for our media walls. Future room designs will look to seamlessly integrate portable video conferencing kit, like PTZ cameras to allow for the growth in virtual connectivity at meetings. Sustainability is at the fore for the industry but has been a part of our business throughout our 30 years. Recently we were the first hospitality company to join the SME Climate Hub. We have a programme to recycle our coffee grounds and are the only venue operator to be accredited by the Coeliac Society. We achieved Bronze accreditation for all our venues from the Soil Association and are working with Green Tourism for their accreditation. What can you say about changing demand from the client side? What has surprised you most about client preferences over the last two years? We have been really pleased by the ‘bounce back’ of larger events; however I have been surprised by the approach of some clients and, indeed, some large corporate clients to their training delivery. We have seen a number of key corporate clients bring their training back to our venues in-person. Yet some clients have remained wedded to the remote/digital approach enforced by the pandemic. On paper it might have a small financial benefit, but training of this kind is rarely shared or celebrated. A successful in-person training event generates learning/upskilling and fosters great culture which drives improved performance, loyalty and retention – time will tell if their strategy is penny wise and pound foolish! I predict they will be back in our venues in the not too distant future. How are you approaching the challenges of HR and staffing, with hospitality generally struggling with recruitment? We are recruiting hard and the HR team has done a great job in finding great talent. In addition, we consciously protected our core team during Covid, to ensure that we had the foundations to build on, to and train new team members who join. Our new international venues are opening new opportunities to our team for progression and our plans mean etc.venues is viewed by new joiners as a business that can develop their career rather than just a job. From our casual workforce, 80% have returned to work for the company now we have busy and full venues. Since January we have successfully recruited for around 60 positions. Our culture surveys for the company show a strengthened loyalty and opinion on whether the senior team are making the right decisions has risen from 75% to nearly 90%. It is amazing to think that the brand now has 30 meeting and event rooms in New York City. Tell us about that US roll out and, in particular, about the recent third venue addition to the portfolio at 810 Seventh Avenue. Amazing, indeed. 810 Seventh Avenue brings the portfolio in New York to 100,000 sq,ft in less than two years. This third Manhattan property consolidates our offering by adding a West Midtown location alongside 360 Madison Avenue and 601 Lexington Avenue. The design team will be bringing a ‘Brit of a difference’ to this latest venue with irreverent creative styling cues such as a London Underground inspired seating area. 810 Seventh Avenue will have seven rooms and a capacity of 140 in the main suite. It has excellent views of the Hudson River, Central Park and Times Square. We aim to match the inspiring views with an equally inspiring interior finish. The new venue has already been well received within the industry with comments of support from NYC&Co CEO, over 50 requests to view the space in the first couple of days and a healthy pipeline of business. We have taken huge confidence from how 360 and 601 have demonstrated that our unapologetically focused and simple model works in NYC. Is the US very much the focus now also for future development and investment? What other regions are you looking at otherwise? The two regions we are interested in are other east coast US cities and key European capital cities. Our ambition, to have a similar sized business in New York as we have in London in the next three years, means the US is a focus for development and investment but we also have growth ambitions in the UK – so watch this space.