ACROSS Retail Talks online, on the topic “Outlook 2021”

The video of the ACROSS Retail Talks can be found here: 

It has been almost five years since the ACROSS Advisory Board was founded. Currently it has 22 members who identify the challenges the industry faces as well as the opportunities, emerging trends etc. Accordingly, it was only natural to ask them for their expert opinion during the first ACROSS Retail Talk with the topic “Outlook 2021” on February 25 at 4 p.m. CET; of course, against the background of the Covid 19 crisis. 16 members accepted this invitation:

From Vienna, ACROSS Publisher Reinhard Winiwarter punctually welcomed the numerous participants and handed over to Klaus Striebich, Managing Director of RaRE Advise and himself a member of the ACROSS Advisory Board. Striebich informed the virtual audience –participation was free of charge, by the way–that they could ask questions via the chat function. This opportunity was frequently used.

If you fail to prepare you are preparing to fail

The members of the ACROSS Advisory Board explained their key learnings from 2020. They reported what they could do better next time and what they certainly will not miss anymore. Against this background, Janner Tanner quoted Benjamin Franklin (1706 – 1790), one of the founding fathers of the USA, who had said: “If you fail to prepare you are preparing to fail.” According to Tanner, it is important to be flexible and open-minded. Furthermore, he said, it is essential to strive to lift the spirits of both employees and customers. Scott Dwyer, on the other hand, said that it was and is important to present a united front to the outside world as an industry and to speak with one voice. Walter Seib emphasized that people are not made to be alone. In normal times, restaurants satisfy this need–and they will do so again. Apart from that, the CEO of HMSHost International sees the Covid 19 crisis as a kind of gift. “Thanks to it, the company is better prepared for a possible next crisis. Silvio Kirchmair also sees a positive side to the pandemic: his carbon footprint has been massively reduced due to the lack of air miles. He has learned that it is important to make decisions quickly, implement them swiftly, and follow through.

Further ACROSS Retail Talks on exciting, European topics are being planned. We will keep you up to date.