Anna joins WORQ Hospitality as Chief Operating Officer
As she comes on board to lead an ambitious, bespoke, hospitality training programme for 250 Worq Group staff in Scotland, hospitality entrepreneur, business consultant, and project manager, Anna Lagerqvist Christopherson is calling on The Scottish Government to place greater value on hospitality sector jobs.
Anna was recently appointed as Chief Operating Officer for WORQ Hospitality, a group which owns and operated many leading hospitality venues across Scotland, including Luci’s Italian Restaurant and the Polton Inn in Lasswade, the Tally Ho in Winchburgh and Hemingways in Edinburgh. Along with her husband the couple opened the Boda Bar Group of Swedish pubs and venues in the capital in 2004. The brand grew to eight locations in Edinburgh.
Anna has now developed a twelve month training programme promoting excellence and accountability. All Worq Group staff completing the scheme will receive a Growth Training Certificate.
Anna said: “I am very excited to join WORQ Group, and the Doherty family, in the further development of the WORQ Hospitality workforce. It’s fantastic to be on board at such a progressive and groundbreaking entity as WORQ, which embodies the true spirit of entrepreneurship, and values growth in people across the board.
“I can’t wait to get started with this special training programme I have developed just for WORQ Hospitality, and its particular needs. Every single member of staff will have access to this, and I am confident it will make a huge difference to their confidence, knowledge base, and future career prospects.”
Anna said that she wanted to pay tribute to the growth mindset in the business which had “created a business full of opportunity, with talented individuals on board who are committed hospitality professionals”. She said: “They want to take their careers to the next level, and I hope to help them achieve that.
“Together, CEO Jonathan and I can achieve a great deal, not just through the training, but in all areas of the business, especially through structure and in staff retention.
“It does strike me that as our sector continues to recover from the pandemic, we are presenting the Scottish economy with instant job creation. The Scottish Government should be showing us much more support. There are young people entering this industry who want to progress, we want to elevate hospitality jobs and show them that they can go onto to achieve worldwide careers, fulfilling top front of house roles, and top sommelier roles, for example, in five-star establishments. The sky really is the limit, but, with the pandemic, Brexit, and all the other obstacles over the past few years, it has been very, very hard for countless hospitality businesses to progress.”
“The time is more than due for the Scottish Government to look at all of these issues. They need to realise the huge contribution that the hospitality sector is making to job creation, and give our sector the proper backing it needs!”
