Introduction: “The scale of our ‘reset’ has been ambitious, in terms of pace and workload. We have had to make structural changes, onboard new capabilities and reset our internal processes.” So says SSP UK and Ireland CEO Kari Daniels as she looks back on the biggest milestones, challenges and structural transformations during her first year leading SSP.
In that year, which Daniels describes as a “year of reset”, SSP underewent a detailed strategic review to finetune its portfolio across channels and gear up for growth. According to Daniels, the key pillars of this reset was to focus on customers, invest in the company and refresh key SSP brands.
She says: “Having the right portfolio is a key driver of our growth such that our opening and refurbishment programme is now four times greater than pre-pandemic.”
Daniels discusses her big priorities for 2024 and outlines the key tenets of SSP’s own Diversity & Inclusion programme in celebration of International Women’s Day. The theme for 2024 is ‘Count Her In: Invest in Women. Accelerate Progress’ and Daniels believes that SSP is at the forefront of equality in the F&B industry with a 50:50 split at executive level. The company has also invested in several key community programmes that help women not just feel included but also thrive within and outside of the organisation.
What have been your main impressions from your first year at SSP?
Firstly, the dynamism of our business. We operate in extremely fast-paced environments spanning the retail and hospitality sectors. Secondly, the passion and drive of our teams because there is so much enthusiasm, commitment and energy among my colleagues – particularly our front-line colleagues.
Thirdly, the strong client relationships we have developed. We work at some truly incredible travel locations that are demanding, rightly so, for innovative propositions and leading brands. And finally, the breadth of our proposition and brand portfolio, because we operate more than 20 owned and partner brands across our rail and air estate in the UK.
How has the business evolved in that time and what are your priorities for 2024?
We’ve seen a great recovery in our air business to pre-pandemic levels, less so in rail, and there’s still lots of opportunities to be explored. We described my first year as a ‘year of reset’, focusing on our customers, serving them brilliantly and investing into our estate while refreshing our key SSP brands.
We’ve just completed a really detailed strategic review – looking at our business by channel as well as by category, and we now know that we’ve got the right brand portfolio to cover all customer needs. We continue to develop our offer with long-standing partner brands, including Burger King, Starbucks and M&S Simply Food, and have entered into exciting new partnerships with BrewDog and Breakfast Club this past year. We’ve also been investing behind our own brands, including Café Local in rail stations and Soul + Grain across air and rail.
We’re also investing in technology and service to help us serve our customers better. We’ve upgraded all our coffee machines for example and invested in ‘order at table’ technology that allows customers to order in their own time and bespoke their order to suit.
What have been the most interesting challenges or surprises?
There have indeed been some external headwinds. We can see our customers are being impacted by the cost of living crisis, while in the rail market here in the UK, we’ve also had to respond to the significant disruption caused by industrial action. The resilience and agility shown by teams right across the business in responding to these challenges has been outstanding.
The scale of our ‘reset’ has been ambitious, in terms of pace and workload. We have had to make structural changes, onboard new capabilities and reset our internal processes. Huge progress has been made but as always there’s more to do.
The theme for IWD 2024 is ‘Count Her In: Invest in Women. Accelerate Progress’. In your view, how is SSP investing in women across the organisation?
Supporting women in the workplace is really important to me personally. Across the organisation we’re very focused on our ‘diversity, inclusion and belonging’ agenda and investing in helping women achieve leadership positions as well as thrive when they get there.
We’ve a diverse global workforce from over 135 nationalities, speaking more than 50 languages, and half of our colleagues are women. Our teams are therefore by definition inclusive and culturally rich.
Across the group, all our managers have DE&I training to raise awareness of what it means. But good practice can’t be ‘trained in’; it requires cultural shifts that go beyond box-ticking and symbolic gestures. We need to dismantle barriers and foster a sense of belonging where every colleague, regardless of race, age, ethnic background or gender, can chart a meaningful career path. Equity and inclusion must be embedded into our organisational fabric.
There’s a sense that we’re getting real traction here, and one example of how we’re seeing this in action is through our vibrant and thriving colleague networks. These are bringing communities of people together from across the organisation, focusing on, for example, neurodiversity and disability, and LGBTQ+ issues, as well as a UK and Ireland women’s network and a menopause network.
Today our own UK Executive is 50:50 men and women, while at a group level we’ve exceeded the Board diversity target set by the FTSE Women Leaders Review, with 50% female board representation.
What are the next steps the company can take to support women’s growth in the company?
It’s important to recognise that we’re on a journey and there’s still work to do. As a member of the advisory board of WiHTL [the organisation that supports companies in the travel and leisure industries in creating diverse and inclusive environments –Ed] as well as being a member of the Chief Executives Forum at IDG [which is a forum of industry leaders looking to tackle issues in the consumer goods sector –Ed], I’ve found it really helpful to be working with and learning from people from organisations who are further ahead on this journey.
We can’t evaluate what we don’t measure, and we’re putting considerable effort into looking into the data around what people think and feel about their workplace. The results of our recent colleague survey indicate that we’re doing fairly well.
So we’re in fair shape. Our 2024 survey is currently live, and it will be interesting to see if and where we’ve moved the dial. The new results will help us refine the plan and spotlight where we need to focus.
What role do companies like SSP play in ensuring that women, particularly in the F&B industry, are given equal opportunities?
We now need to look at how we can pull through the next generation coming up across the business. As an organisation of scale with over 400 units in the UK, there’s no shortage of opportunity, whether that’s in quick-service or full-service dining or retail. Another massive plus of this industry is that it lends itself to the flexibility many women need at different times in their career. We can also literally flex that flexibility, offering different working patterns on a weekly, monthly or yearly basis.
How have attitudes towards diversity and inclusion in the workplace changed within the international retail and food industries during your career so far?
There has without a doubt been a phenomenal change in attitudes. For me, I’ve gone from often being the only woman in the room to now rarely being the only woman. The change has been structural, but also cultural. It’s very much a feeling – I feel like I ‘belong’ more than ever before in my career. I would like to think my experience mirrors that of other women across the industry.
What more needs to happen to ensure full representation for all in the travel dining sector?
There’s definitely still more to do and we need to push to accelerate change. Women are still being overlooked.
In a global organisation like ours, we can see differences across our markets. In some parts of the business, such as the Nordics, many of the battles were won decades ago, while in other parts of the world the process is only just beginning.
As SSP’s first female regional CEO, what advice would you give to the industry’s next generation of female leaders?
I’d say be brave, take every opportunity, and go after the career you want. Women still tend to suffer from ‘imposter syndrome’ more so than men, so it’s important to have faith in yourself and your abilities. If you don’t have that self-belief, seek out someone who can help you find it. It’s sometimes not easy to see, but more often than not in my experience the people around you are batting for you and want you to succeed. ✈
