Sponsored article: Celebrating influential women across the drinks industry
Lauren Hutchison
Licensee of The Steadings, Kirkcaldy
Lauren started her career in hospitality working in a chip shop at the age of 13 before taking a part-time job in a pub run by a small multiple operator.
She gained experience in everything from working in the kitchen to learning the basics of running a bar service before becoming an assistant to the director with involvement in behind-the-scenes operations and management.
Aged 23, Lauren applied to take the lease on The Steadings, a Star Pubs’ site in Kirkcaldy near to her home. The venue had been closed for four years and was tired and unloved, but Lauren saw the potential the large 165-cover venue offered.
Since taking it over in March 2023, she has relaunched and transformed the pub, filling a gap in the local market for an affordable good quality family-friendly pub focused on food.
Lauren has achieved all this whilst bringing up her daughter, who is aged seven. She is now keen to take on a second pub. Lauren employs 18 people at The Steadings, 11 of them are women.
Why is International Women’s Day important?
For centuries women didn’t have any rights. Now we’re in a position where we have a voice and can get good careers.
International Women’s Day is a chance to remember how far we’ve come in terms of equal rights and a prompt to us to push on and keep making things better for women.
Did female role models help you progress in your career?
I didn’t want to work for men my whole life, and through hard work, determination and commitment I’ve moved up and on to have my own pub and be my own boss.
How do you support women in the pub industry through your work?
I’m still quite young and my team are young, too. I aim to encourage and support them by being the best role model I can. I lead from the front and demonstrate that you can go as far as you like if you try, push on and don’t let anything get in your way.
Seeing me have my own pub at the age of 26 gets them thinking and is motivating. I let them enjoy the fun parts of the job – serving and chatting to customers – but I also encourage them to step back and see there’s more to hospitality and that it can be a real career.
For those that want to, I’ll provide further training – for example, I’m putting one of my youngest team members through a Modern Apprenticeship in Hospitality Management and Supervision.
Does the pub industry offer good career opportunities for women?
It can do but more work is needed. It’s down to employers. It’s our responsibility to encourage women to progress by making sure the industry offers the training and career paths that will enable them to move up the ladder.
Some people don’t want to go further and that’s fine. As employers we need to work closely with our teams to see who has the potential, capability and ambition to move up and then support them in doing so.
Could anything more be done to accelerate women’s equality in the pub industry?
Strong female role models will really shift the dial on equality and be incredibly motivating for young women starting out. The industry, its supply chain and supporting services are all male-dominated.
Women need to stand strong and make sure we’re seen and heard – whilst always remembering it’s about gender equality, not trying to overtake men. Confidence is vital. When we’re in a room full of men, we need the courage to speak up.
Successful women must lead from the front and demonstrate to other women that there are no glass ceilings.
Employers can play a massive part in accelerating gender equality by making sure the industry offers the training and career paths that will enable women to move up the ladder and by encouraging those with the potential and drive to do so.
More broadly we all need to call out outdated views of women – whether these come from customers, suppliers or colleagues. I’m young, blonde and female, so people often have misconceptions about me – for example that I won’t understand business or that my family must have bankrolled me to get my pub.
I find humour is the best way of countering this and gently educating people that women are just as capable as men.
