There's a great video interview in BigHospitality with Chief Executive Grant Hearn about how Travelodge plans to put some turbulent times behind them following a recent debt restructure. You can read the article and view the video in full by clicking here.

Travelodge CEO Grant Hearn has king-size plans for the chain

I appreciate it's a business focused interview aimed at the hospitality sector, but here are my three main observations on that particular interview:

Mr. Hearn mentions Premier Inn within ~~the first minute~~ 22 seconds of beginning his interview and goes on to discuss the focus that exists on that rivalry.

There is a focus on that rivalry, but I suspect none more so than in his own Boardroom. And that's fine behind closed doors, but publicly you have to wonder why is the Travelodge CEO giving so much oxygen to his rival's brand? As a potential customer, I am reading an article about Travelodge, given by the Travelodge CEO and guess what? Premier Inn gets a mention even in the headline. That's gotta hurt.

He goes on to state that Food and Drink sales are not central to the business plan as they represent "only about £30m" in revenues out of £400m in total. In a nutshell he says; "What's important about food and drink to me is actually... selling rooms."

Again, as a potential customer, it leaves me wondering how good the food offer actually is if it doesn't appear a priority for the top man in the job? Or to look at it another way, is that kind of statement going to motivate all those bartenders, service staff and chefs on payroll now required to raise their game if Travelodge are to compete with 'those other guys'?

There was mention of a new bedroom design. I had to play it a couple of times to catch it, but there it was in the last line of the article and referred to just once by Grant in the video interview itself.

This may simply have been down to editing, but what a missed opportunity for the CEO (the main brand ambassador of the company) to talk more about these exciting new changes within Travelodge and how they will benefit future customers. He could have then clearly articulated the company's renewed focus on great food, drinks and service from the fantastic people working within the group.

Of course, Mr. Hearn did say all those things. But, to paraphrase the old Morecambe & Wise gag, not necessarily in the right order. I guess he forgot to take off his CEO Strategy hat and put on his Brand PR hat for a few minutes.

Within the boardroom, it is perfectly acceptable to talk about product, offer, ROI, strategy and even Premier Inn. In public however, surely the soundbites should be about customer innovation, service excellence, the brand experience and team spirit. Travelodge staff deserve to hear it from leadership, their competitors should start to fear it and most importantly their customers really need to believe it.

Getting out of the Boardroom to focus on bedrooms.

As it happens The Telegraph made a much better job of selling the virtues of that new room design with those impressive king-sized beds. I urge you to read it here to get the full picture of Travelodge's business roadmap ahead. It does sound exciting.

I wish Grant Hearn and all the team at Travelodge every success in rolling out this new phase. The financial restructure was a risky piece of business that seems to have been pulled off successfully. This should give the group a sure footing during these continued turbulent months and years ahead.

This is one of the funniest videos I've seen in a long time. Watch it a couple of times and enjoy it.

After reflecting on it for a while, I think there is a large pinch of truth to be found in there somewhere. Over the years I have met, worked with and sadly, employed a number of chefs who really believe the dishes they cook are worthy of a Masterchef finale, when in truth they would be laughed out of a transport caff.

I am talking about chefs that produce the most bland or insipid sauces and purees safe in the knowledge that a trendy 'swipe' or 'smear' presentation will lift it to greatness. Or calling a dish locally-sourced because "the label on the box in the freezer said 'Made In England'" (the actual words of a waitress describing a burger's provenance to a friend of mine in a pub recently).

Or the kind of chefs who consider ketchup to be a great substitute for tomato puree and a tin-opener essential to their knife kit. Or who perhaps look at you blankly when you ask "Is this dish actually finished?' or "Have you added any seasoning?" where the final stage of 'pass and correct' - meaning to sieve the sauce or soup and adjust the seasoning - is all too often omitted out of laziness.

Or who get defensive when you ask if we can do something other than spaghetti bolognese for the special. (And by the way, serving the ragu on the side does not render it 'de-constructed'.)

And why has this culture been allowed to develop? Because it is now the norm for this bland mix-and-match pseudo-cooking to be praised at every turn for it's so-called uniqueness and creativity. Eric Morecambe's piano tinkling with Andre Previn wasn't a masterclass in music, it was a masterclass in comedy. In the same vain there are thousands of so-called chefs - in small local pubs, big chain mega-brands, neighbourhood eateries and tired institutions - earning a decent salary, not for the Masterclass in cookery they think they are delivering but for the comedy of errors their customers have to put up with.

Travelodge CEO recently interviewed: My 3 observations.

Pseudo-Chef: Comedy of Errors