Beer Mats & Team Culture
A few weeks ago, I stumbled across a simple but brilliant idea at Harat’s Irish Pub in Ljubljana. I was walking past when the atmosphere and live music pulled me in. I was on my own, fancied a few pints, and I’m always up for a chat with random people.
Before long I met Nick, a member of the team, socialising on his night off and in great spirits. He was particularly proud of the fact that his face was on a beer mat. Not just his either, several members of staff were featured. Nick happily posed for the photo.
It’s a small thing, but it immediately shifted the feel of the place. The team isn’t hidden away in the background. They’re literally part of the fabric of the pub; part of its identity and part of what people respond to. As an ex-pub and nightclub manager, I loved the ethos behind it.
When I looked more closely at the brand later, it all made sense. Harat’s social content focuses on its people, their personalities and real pub life, rather than polished, generic bar content. The coasters carry that same instinct into the physical space, giving the team visibility and the pub another layer of character. That matters in hospitality.
Hospitality is a brilliant industry to work in, but it is rarely seen as a first-choice career from the outside, and nobody in it needs reminding that it can be tough. Busy services, long shifts, constant pressure and plenty of moving parts. Keeping people motivated takes more than a good rota and a payslip.
Recent workforce data from This is Pineapple and Sona puts UK hospitality turnover at 67%, meaning the sector is replacing roughly two in three team members a year. That is four times higher than the UK average, according to NatWest Mentor.
At the same time, the Access Hospitality 2026 Hospitality People Survey, in collaboration with KAM Insight, found that 93% of workers would recommend hospitality as a career, while only 52% say they are likely to stay with their current employer.
Among those already working in hospitality, the appeal is clearly still there. The challenge is retention. Recognition, good managers, proper team culture and a bit of fun are not soft extras. In a job that asks a lot of people, they help keep teams motivated, proud and connected.
No single gesture fixes that. Fair hours, fair pay and a strong team always come first. But some ideas do more than decorate a venue. This one publicly and plainly says: the people who work here matter.