Key takeaways
- Groups buy centrally through procurement and operations; independents decide on site.
- Hotels can involve three parties: the owner, the operator and the brand.
- Pre-opening teams buy almost everything in the weeks before a site opens.
- Reach managers in quiet weeks and quiet hours, never during service or peak season.
Where do hospitality buying decisions sit
Hospitality buying decisions sit at head office for groups and on site for independents. A hotel or restaurant group sets approved suppliers and systems centrally, and general managers choose only within that list or below a spending limit.
Hotels add a twist: the building may belong to one company, be run by a management company and carry a third company's brand. Brand standards can dictate some purchases, the operator others, and the owner signs off refurbishments, so find out which party owns your kind of decision.
Who are the hotel group and restaurant group decision makers
The operations director and central procurement are the main decision makers at a group, with the general manager deciding at property level. Specialist heads own their own areas, from the kitchen to pricing.
- Operations director: standards and spend across every site
- Procurement or purchasing manager: approved suppliers and group contracts
- Head of food and beverage or executive chef: kitchens, menus and food suppliers
- General manager: the property, its team and local spending
- Revenue manager: pricing, distribution and booking systems
- Property or projects director: openings and refurbishments
When should you contact hotels and restaurants
Contact hotels and restaurants before an opening, during refurbishment planning and in the quiet weeks between seasons. A pre-opening team buys equipment, systems and services against a fixed date, and a refurbishment reopens every supplier decision for that site.
Avoid the busiest periods for each kind of business: December for most restaurants, summer for coastal hotels, school holidays for family venues. On any day, managers are on the floor during service, so a message read mid-morning on a weekday has a better chance than one sent at lunchtime.
Which rules come up when selling to hotels
Food safety, allergen, licensing and payment rules come up whenever a product touches service. Local authorities inspect food businesses and their hygiene ratings are published, and allergen information rules apply to the food a venue serves, so anything near menus, labels or kitchens gets close attention.
Venues selling alcohol work under premises licences, and those taking cards care about payment security. Group buyers will check your product against the rules they are inspected on; confirm the specifics with your adviser before you make any compliance claim.
How to find and approach hospitality leads
Decide on group or property first, then follow openings and seasons.
- Decide whether your product is a group decision, a property decision or both.
- List hotel and restaurant groups in your regions, then the properties each one runs.
- Name the operations director and procurement lead at head office, and the general manager at each property.
- Watch for openings, refurbishments, acquisitions and menu or concept changes.
- Time outreach to the quiet weeks for each type of venue and to quiet hours in the day.
Where Pebbles Ai fits
- CapabilityProspecting & customer recordsName up to ten hotel or restaurant groups with roles such as operations director or general manager and a city; Find fresh leads returns between 1 and 100 people a run, each with a work email where one is found.
- CapabilityResearch & analysisAsk an assistant to read a group's website and news and list its properties, brands and upcoming openings, with numbered citations.
- CapabilityOutreach contentDraft emails in chat and keep them as drafts in your connected mailbox, then send each one yourself in that venue's quiet weeks.
Common questions
Should I sell to hotel brands or hotel management companies?
It depends on what your product touches. Brands set standards, management companies run operations and owners approve capital spend, so check which one owns the decision.
Can general managers buy without head office?
Often only below a spending limit or from an approved list. Ask early, so you do not win a site and lose the group.
What is the best time of year for selling to hospitality?
The quiet season for each type of venue, when managers have time to plan. That differs between city hotels, coastal resorts and restaurants.
About this page. Written by the Pebbles Ai team for people who run sales, marketing and growth. Last updated .
