He steered Gleneagles from a jaded hotel open just seven months of the year to its status as one of the most iconic luxury destinations in the world and shook up VisitScotland at a time when the national tourism body lacked strategic direction.
Now, Peter Lederer is working with the SLTA as it embarks on far-reaching change in order to become truly representative of the licensed trade in Scotland. Karen Peattie heard his plans over coffee.
“Understand your customers and what they want. The biggest single challenge facing the industry is the pace of change and unless you understand your own business and your target market you will get left behind”
SITTING in the plush but relaxed surroundings of The Balmoral in Edinburgh where the service is nothing short of exemplary, SLTA patron Peter Lederer glances out of the window across to the other side of Princes Street where the Apple flag flies proudly outside the company’s shop.
“If we’re going to talk about how important customer service is in the hospitality industry we should look at who does it well and use that as our benchmark,” he says. “The Balmoral does it well as we’re seeing today. But we can learn from outside our industry, too – and you don’t get much better examples than Apple because it knows it customers and not only exceeds their expectations but also tries to surprise them.
“It’s a company that invests in its people – and that’s something the licensed trade still needs to work on if we want to make our customer service better.”
With his unrivalled knowledge and contacts across the food, drink and hospitality sector – he was made a CBE for services to the industry in 2005 – it makes sense for the SLTA to tap into that vast pool of experience. Lederer knows the trade association well having previously been chairman but it is arguably his passion for the industry that will drive his new role as patron.
“I’ve said this before: we all have a role to play in telling the world that Scotland is great, Scotland is welcoming and Scotland is a great place to do business,” he says. “Everyone working in tourism, hospitality, retail and wholesale has a role to play and we need to collaborate with others to get the message across.”
Succeeding Lord Macfarlane of Bearsden, who retired after 24 years as patron, Lederer can’t guarantee he’ll hold the position for the same length of time. What the energetic 65-year-old can guarantee, however, is that he’ll do his utmost to help make the SLTA more relevant to the needs and requirements of the industry.
“Our industry needs strong trade associations because they are a hub for so many things – relaying vital information, networking, helping operators find their way through the maze of bureaucracy of running a business, legislation and so on,” he points out. “At a time when the industry is going through difficult times there are also tremendous opportunities so a forward-thinking STLA has an even more important role to play in helping steer the ship.”
When Peter Lederer speaks, people listen. And no wonder. This is a man who joined Gleneagles as general manager in 1984, becoming managing director just three years later and chairman in 2007. He was also instrumental in bringing the Ryder Cup to Gleneagles in 2014 and was a director of the hotel’s then owner, Diageo.
As well as his much-lauded stint as VisitScotland chairman (2001-10), Lederer was president of the Institute of Hospitality (2007-12) and a board member of The Leading Hotels of the World (2001-13). Indeed, it would take a standalone article to list his distinguished CV and the clutch of awards he has amassed over the years.
At Diageo, where he adopted a broader leadership role for the multinational drinks supplier’s business in Scotland, he led the set-up of the Diageo Learning for Life Scotland programme, the £5 million initiative launched in 2014 to help young unemployed people find training and job opportunities in the hospitality industry.
Suppliers, Lederer points out, are doing a “terrific job” for the licensed trade and he is heartened by the way in which many are engaging with the SLTA. “Suppliers – they are all our stakeholders in the industry,” he says. “We need to have a good relationship with them and not simply view them as the people who supply the products we sell – there’s an opportunity to collaborate with them on many levels.”
But there is also a need to throw out the collaboration net that bit wider, he suggests. “We already know that we need to have good relationships with local councils, the police and suppliers but I want to see the SLTA engage more meaningfully with Scottish Enterprise and Skills Development Scotland, for example, and also VisitScotland,” says Lederer.
“There are so many opportunities we can tap into but we need to have some really robust debates and discussions,” he continues. “We can’t do everything on our own because we are a relatively small trade association but we can sit round the table with others who are in a position to help us and offer advice so we can then take that back to our members.”
“It’s about adding value and if the SLTA is not adding value to what it stands for and the services it provides, why should it exist? Why should people join if they view us as a ‘club’? They need to see how their trade association is relevant to the industry today – and how it can help grow their business.”
That’s why Lederer is creating an advisory group from a much wider network of individuals to stimulate new and different discussions around areas that could range from technology, social media and communication to training, legislation and lobbying. “I see us having a core group of people, the idea being to bring in specialists from IT or finance or social media and so on, depending on the area we want to focus on.”
Of course, Lederer recognises that not every member of a trade association is prepared to be hands-on. “You’re obviously going to get more out of it if you’re prepared to get involved,” he says. “Everyone will have different reasons for joining the SLTA but no member of any trade association can expect to sit back and watch things happen – you have to make them happen, or at least try to make them happen.
“I’d also like to see existing members contributing more to the various debates we need to have and for them to help bring new members onboard – explain how they’ve benefited from SLTA membership and help convince others that they could, too.”
Lederer refers to the Scottish Bartenders Network which joined forces with the SLTA late last year as part of the strategy to modernise the association and reach out to the people who are the face of our industry. “This has been a pivotal development for us,” he says, pointing to the fact that all personal licence holders in Scotland are now entitled to complimentary professional registration with the SLTA and the benefits that go with it.
“Engaging with younger people is important because in the past there has been a perception that the SLTA is a bit of a closed shop,” he says. “But look around – there’s a growing band of young business people with a very entrepreneurial outlook who are coming into the industry and making a big impact. We need them but we need to be relevant to them.”
What is the most important message Peter Lederer has for today’s operators? “Understand your customers and what they want,” he says without hesitation. “The biggest single challenge facing the industry is the pace of change and unless you understand your own business and your target market you will get left behind.
“Premises have to evolve as competition changes,” he points out. “Take The Cambridge Bar here in Edinburgh. I was there with my wife one lunchtime recently and we had a great burger – it’s grown a reputation for its burgers and beers and is a great example of an independent pub that has evolved to offer a point of difference
“Others are doing different things to make themselves known locally, be that offering a mini-bus service to take people home at the end of the night so no-one has to drive or building a great reputation for being family-friendly premises. Some are still successful with the traditional pub format because of their location and because that is what their customers want.
“Customer expectations are so much higher than they once were and developments in technology mean that if the customer service is bad there can be a review on TripAdvisor quicker that it takes the bartender to clear the table. And that’s a type of pressure that our industry never previously had to deal with.
“We cannot underestimate the big challenges but we can rise to them and be an industry shaping itself for the future.”