Candid Hospitality

Candid Hospitality is the dating app for hospitality careers, founded by Sam Brown and Nick Holroyd-Doveton. Candidates browse anonymously, match on culture and skills, and only reveal who they are when they’re ready.

The problem it solves

It’s an old problem. In hospitality, names, ages, accents, postcodes and photos still shape who gets a chance, usually before a conversation has even happened. On the other side, operators are drowning in unqualified applications while the people they actually want are already in a job and not looking.

Fixing both ends

Candid fixes both ends of that. Candidates explore undercover, without their current manager finding out, and are matched on the strength of a culture quiz called the Candid Snapshot rather than a CV written late at night after a long shift. Employers define a role around culture, competencies and package, get matched with anonymous candidates, open a private conversation when the interest is mutual, and push straight into their existing ATS.

The numbers so far

27,122 hospitality professionals signed up, 2,128 roles added, 10,861 matches made, 1,858 candidate reveals and 43,927 anonymous messages sent.

Who uses it

Over 100 brands have gone Candid, among them Loungers, GAIL’s, Popeyes, Honest Burgers, The Alchemist, The Botanist, Flight Club, Turtle Bay, Young’s, Prezzo, Market Halls, Six by Nico, Tonkotsu, Ole & Steen, Butcombe and Bill’s. Talent leaders at Nando’s, GAIL’s and Popeyes have all pointed to the same thing: quality over quantity, and hiring on merit rather than assumption.

Pricing

Pricing is a flat monthly fee based on headcount, with unlimited roles, matches, seats, hires and support. Budget-proof, which is how it should be.

Why I’m involved

I’m Chairman because this is the rare bit of hospitality tech that fixes a fairness problem and a commercial one at the same time. Nobody in this industry believes the current way of hiring works. Sam and Nick have built something people actually want to use.

Visit candidhospitality.co.uk, or get in touch if you’d like an introduction, or email me directly at dan@candidhospitality.co.uk.