Hospitality networking association Arena has launched a committee that brings together young talent from across the hospitality sector.
Arena Futures is made up of individuals from across the contract catering, hotels, wholesale and supplier sectors, who will regularly meet to discuss industry issues, whilst helping to shape Arena’s approach to attracting new people to its networking events.
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Steve Norris, chairman of Arena, said: “The idea of Arena Futures, appropriately named by the new committee, is to attract new people to Arena and to organise events which are accessible to younger people or people new to the industry; with trendy venues and speakers relevant to people’s careers.”
Led by chair Karis Thomas, who manages PR and events for Bestway Wholesale, the committee includes entrepreneurial young colleagues from Bidfood, Biotiful Dairy, ISS, Just Eat, Nestle, The Landmark Hotel and William Murray. They will meet quarterly to review and plan events and set out the strategy for Arena Futures.
It’s proposed that the events calendar will include a Spring launch event targeted at helping people make connections, a summer event with key speakers to help people develop their transferable skills and a Christmas event geared to enhance individual’s growth for 2021 with trends updates and a review of the year.
The committee members include:
Bestway Wholesale – Karis Thomas
Bidfood – David King and Emily Lowery
Biotiful Dairy – Richard Anthony
ISS – Adam Richards, Ellen Potts, Lewis Jansen, Natalie Tuckwood
Just Eat – Charlie Fortune
Nestle Professional – James Turner
The Landmark Hotel – Oliver Darrington
William Murray – Victoria Joseph