Lorraine is a multi-award-winning social entrepreneur, board member, consultant, writer and coach. Having spent two decades as an executive director for brands including Gordon Ramsay Restaurants and Corbin & King, Lorraine felt compelled to form Be Inclusive Hospitality CIC in 2020 due to the consistent lack of representation of people of colour in positions of influence and the supply chain.

This social enterprise now holds the prime position of igniting much-needed conversations and delivering initiatives to advance change within the hospitality, food, and drink sectors.

Her work has been featured in the Evening Standard, Metro, The Guardian, The Caterer and Restaurant Magazine.

Lorraine is a board member of the WSTA and Slinger. She is the Food & Drink Editor for Black Business Magazine and is a judge for a number of industry award ceremonies, including Guild of Fine Foods Great Taste Awards, Bold Woman Awards UK by Veuve Clicquot, Uber Eats Restaurant Awards, and the British Guild of Beer Writers Awards.

In 2022 Lorraine was named the GQ Food & Drink Innovator of the Year winner; she received a special award in the Code Hospitality 100 Most Influential Women in Hospitality list and won Entrepreneur of the Year at the Precious Awards. In 2023 Lorraine was named NatWest and Pioneers Post WISE100: Top Women in social enterprise.

Be Inclusive Hospitality was recognised by NatWest’s SE100 for two years consecutively, as one of the UK’s most impressive social enterprises.

Lorraine is a social entrepreneur and industry expert with a background as an executive director in prestigious brands like Gordon Ramsay Restaurants and Corbin & King, established Be Inclusive Hospitality CIC in 2020. Her mission is to address the underrepresentation of people of colour in influential roles and supply chains within the hospitality, food, and drink sectors. Her work, featured in publications like the Evening Standard, Metro, the Guardian, The Caterer, and Restaurant Magazine, has ignited vital discussions and introduced initiatives for industry progress.

Lorraine is actively engaged in various industry organisations and publications, serving on the boards of the WSTA and Slinger, is the Food and Drink Editor for Black Business Magazine, and participates as a judge for awards ceremonies. In 2022, she won the GQ Food & Drink Innovator of the Year, Code Hospitality 100 Most Influential Women in Hospitality, and Entrepreneur of the Year at the Precious Awards. In 2023, she was honoured in the NatWest and Pioneers Post WISE100: Top Women in Social Enterprise.

When did you launch Be Inclusive Hospitality?

I set up the Instagram account at the end of 2019, initially posting as a visibility platform. The first lockdown of 2020 allowed me the space and time to write the business plan, launch, and build a community: the fact that everyone was at home meant that I had a captive audience to do so quickly.

How big is the community now?

First, I will mention that we drive action through research, empower our community with funded initiatives, and partner with organisations committed to fostering inclusion. We consider everyone that we engage with as our community. We have 630 members, 120 ambassadors, 100 mentors, and over 50 corporate partners

What is the main focus of Be Inclusive Hospitality?

The business was incorporated due to the lack of representation of Black and ethnic minorities in positions of influence, leadership roles and the supply chain. Our mission is to build a thriving community to accelerate race equity within the hospitality, food, and drink sectors.

Can you give me an example of practical help that you offer?

The core mission is delivered through three pillars:

▪Workshop & Consultancy – We collaborate with leaders, delivering an extensive array of services specifically designed to propel Equity, Diversity & Inclusion (EDI) goals forward. The services encompass corporate membership, workshops, training, and consultancy services.

▪ Partnerships - 100% of our initiatives are funded by grant providers and sponsors. Collaborations extend to regional, national, and global brands, with an investment exceeding £300,000 to date to support mentorship, grant provision, qualifications, and work experience.

▪ Events – are an essential pillar for Be Inclusive, providing opportunities to inspire, empower, and connect its network and community. Throughout the year, a variety of internal events are hosted, including the BIH Spotlight Awards, Elevate Mentorship Scheme Networking, and Community Networking.

All three pillars are unpinned by ground-breaking research, encompassing reports, focus groups, and interviews, having accumulated 4,000+ experiences, with over 1,000 downloads primarily accessed by hospitality leaders seeking actionable insights. Research is free to download from our website.

Tell us about your membership

The oil of the community are people from ethnically diverse backgrounds, at all career levels who are keen to thrive within the industry. They join our community free of charge, and this grants them eligibility to access our funded initiatives. We do have a range of corporate partners who are also members, and the common thread is businesses that are keen to advance change through education, resources, and initiatives to advance Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion. Our partners are extemely diverse and include The Sustainable Restaurant Association, Mars Foods, Uber Eats, Edrington UK, Imbibe Live, The Alchemist and JKS Restaurants.

Do they come to you or do you reach out to them?

We are fortunate that most of our partners seek us out, which frames the really positive and forward-thinking conversations we engage in regularly. I think that our Inside Hospitality Report has been the main source of individuals across the sector independently learning, and then acting, either independently, reaching out to us or connecting with another agent of change.

Where do you think the problems lie with equity in hospitality – front of house, back of house…?

Hospitality doesn’t have a diversity problem; the problem we are keen to confront and address is that if you are Black or Brown, you are more likely to be in a zero-hour contract, working part-time or low-paid position. This was one of the findings from the 2023 Inside Hospitality Report. The question I pose is why such a stark contrast in the ethnic makeup of the board rooms versus the back of the house is there.

If you had to educate just one sector what would it be?

Most definitely the CEOs/Managing Directors. Ultimately company culture is shaped from the top, in order for change to really happen, it has to start there.

How do you think things will change over the next few years?

My only hope is that these important conversations continue to happen, and that businesses continue to take action to address them. My hope is progress; I can't measure beyond this.

How important is it to recognise that not everyone has the ability to get to the top of their profession: for many it’s just a question of getting a decent job in an industry that they love?

The question should be, for those who have the ability to get to the top of their profession – why are they not accessing senior positions?

What steps can a business leader take to make their organisation more diverse?

Diversity shouldn’t be the goal, Inclusion and Equity should be. Without placing a huge amount of time and focus on these two things, companies will always struggle to retain people from ethnically diverse backgrounds.

In terms of your journey, where do you think you are – are you in the foothills, or still on the bus putting your backpack on?

[laughs] I love the analogies – yes, I haven’t got my backpack on yet, and it’s gigantic. It’s important to remember this is not a sprint; it’s a marathon.