Yorkshire-born mother-of-two Julie Barker combines her ‘day job’ as director of Accommodation & Hospitality at the University of Brighton, with a number of volunteer roles at industry organisations. She is currently a director at The University Caterers Organisation (TUCO), having been chairman for six years, and is a fellow of the Institute of Hospitality and the British Institute of Innkeeping (BII) among other positions. A trained chef and passionate advocate for the industry, Julie is also a member of the Women1st Top 100 Club.
What does your role director of Accommodation and Hospitality at the University of Brighton entail?
I lead quite a diverse range of departments. I started many years ago just overseeing catering, but it’s now catering and bars, community engagement, conference and events and student accommodation, so as you can imagine it’s quite varied with catering and bars turning over about £5m a year and student accommodation turning over around £14m a year.
Every seven years or so, as a colleague has moved on, I’ve gained another piece of – what I would describe as – the overall hospitality jigsaw. Each has its own challenges and responsibility and different parts of the year bring their own challenges. At the moment we’ve got students with us in halls, but they will be taking their exams soon and will move out, then the space will be turned into hotel accommodation used for events and conferences.
I think my role is as broad as it comes within the hospitality remit: You are dealing with students eating jacket potatoes and home-made baguettes at one end and then catering for VIP’s at canapé events and sit-down dinners at the other. You have to have a wide spectrum of skills, not just as leaders but as staff on the ground. We all need a full grip of all aspects of the industry.
Did you always want to work in hospitality and catering?
I was brought up in Yorkshire during the time of the strikes, so when I was at school, I decided I didn’t want leave and go into a manual job against such a backdrop of shortages. The industry in the north was decimated and the career choices were nil where I lived, so I looked around for something that would guarantee me a career. I realised there would always be a job in the food industry, because people will always need feeding.
I moved to London with Trusthouse Forte. Meanwhile my sister and parents had moved to the South Coast. When a job came up at Brighton University as a relief catering officer I saw it as a way to get closer to my family, so I applied and got it.
Then, when the head of my department left a few years later I approached the deputy vice chancellor and said ‘I would love to have a go at doing this’ and he had faith in me to say ‘give it a go’. That’s how it started. Then, ever five or seven years I see a portfolio would sit well with me and I add it to my role. I think that’s what has kept me at Brighton. That and the voluntary work, which has offered the stimulation to get involved and engaged with the industry a bit more.
What has been the biggest challenge you’ve faced in your career and how did you overcome it?
I think it’s the same challenge most women face and that’s juggling work and family. I’ve got a great husband and had reliable childcare for my two children when they were younger (They are older now, so that’s less of an issue) but the days when I had two children at a childminder and was juggling kids with coughs and colds, school open evenings and all those kinds of things, as well as trying to do the day job and the voluntary work, was a real challenge.
I also think my diary management skills are too ambitious. I tend to put meetings in back-to-back at different locations in London, leaving no room for a break, lunch or even to commute! But the biggest challenge is certainly juggling home and work. You’ve got to have good solid support at home to make that work and I’m fortunate that I have, but it’s still a challenge.
What are some of the biggest challenges faced by university caterers and accommodation providers currently?
I think the biggest issue we’ve got in higher education (HE) is government policy changes – whether that’s around fees or removal of the numbers cap – it just means more competition with the same people vying for students to get more money in.
Apprenticeships are both a threat and an opportunity to HE: A threat in that if HE is not offering them to students, then they are missing out on a massive revenue as young people – faced with high fees, will be looking at apprenticeships as a way to avoid them by combining work with their studies. They are also an opportunity for employers in our industry – especially when we’ve got skills shortages – to recruit from sixth form colleges.
Catering in HE is getting more challenging as universities become more reliant on the income generated by commercial businesses. Most universities operate their commercial functions at a break even, so it’s not subsidised, but it doesn’t cost the public purse. However, that’s something we’ll see changing as we move forward. HE catering will need to become a pure business and generate a profit that can be put back into the business and the organisation. I expect it will provide an ideal opportunity for contract caterers in the future.
How has university catering changed in the years you have worked in this area?
The biggest change has been the customer base. Students now are in tune with the high street and trends and are expecting to see them on campus, while at the same time demanding value for money. We regard the high street as a competitor and students want to see the leading brand on campus.
Students also expect facilities and services on campus to be at the cutting edge. Their expectations are high. Among my peer group and with the vice chancellor, every other word is ‘student experience’ and it has to be top of the agenda at every university. Environment, food and beverage and accommodation are top of the list when students judge their experience, so we need to be on our game.
What are some of the biggest trends you’ve noticed in university catering?
The biggest part of our business is grab-and-go. It’s massive. Some of that could be due to lack of breaks and students having less time to eat, but in any case it is extremely popular. In terms of food trends on campus, students follow whatever trends are around – it might be burritos or sushi today and Swedish fish, or whatever will be big, next year.
Interestingly, bars on campus are seeing less trade with cafe bars taking over. The alcohol-fuelled days for students are long-gone with alcohol consumption at universities declining. Geographical location has an influence – if they are based in a city, the city-centre environment will be more appealing than staying on campus to drink. If they are drinking, they will pre-load and then go out to a nightclub as budget also influences them. We are seeing more food poverty with students and more use of food banks, so affordability is key.
As one of the top 100 women in hospitality, what is your view on women working in hospitality, are there enough of them and is the industry welcoming enough for women?
I think broadly speaking the industry does welcome women, but I do think it does tend to be at lower levels of the industry and we need to improve the number of them at senior or board level where men do still dominate. I think it would be very difficult to put an absolute reason on why that is the case because quite a lot of women take time out to have families and take career breaks, which could potentially push them back a few years.
Overall, in both the HE and hospitality sector there need to be more women in senior leadership roles. At an industry meeting I attended recently there were 20 people around the table and only two were women. When I was chairman at TUCO I was conscious that we needed to redress the balance so when I recruited for four particular posts I looked for more females to fill them.
What does the future hold for you in your career?
I’m open to offers. Genuinely I’d love to be in a position to engage my passion and influence the industry at more levels and am actively looking to move on as my role has come to its end point. I would love to do more within the industry. To share my passion and influence in the industry at a national level is something I aspire to do.
Emma Eversham
Hospitality & Catering News, Interviews Editor