CL-090 Helen Anne Smith Wants More For The Hospitality Industry

Buzzwords like “craft,” “ethical,” and “sustainable” seem to be everywhere in hospitality. But do those terms actually mean anything, and if so, how do they relate to the most important resource of all: people? Burum Collective founder and writer Helen Anne Smith explores this strange and sometimes intentionally dissonant question in their first piece for Good Beer Hunting, titled “Last Call — The Human Sustainability Crisis at the Heart of the Hospitality Industry,” which was published on September 29, 2021. In it, they explain how resource sustainability, while crucial, often disregards the human element, and what consumers and employees alike need to do about it. In this podcast conversation, Helen reveals how they’re channeling emotions like cynicism and anger to push for a better industry for everyone, how to harness a sense of powerlessness and turn it into action, the importance of intersectionality when making necessary demands, and how we all need to collectively work together to ensure the safety and survival of the most vulnerable among us. This isn’t a conversation for you to listen to, lament, and set aside. I encourage you to sit with the discussion and think about what you can do to make the hospitality industry a better, most just, more liveable, and more equitable place.