STONEGATE GROUP
“ The sheer volume of technologies, tools, applications and systems that we need to support a business of our complexity and scale is massive,” Ashlie reveals.
Stonegate operates through three distinct business units: the Pub Partners estate, the fully managed estate and Craft Union. Each has its own technological requirements and compliance considerations.
Beyond its internal complexity, Stonegate must also navigate an industry that has historically been resistant to collaboration.“ Hospitality as an industry is massively behind retail. We’ ve historically been quite behind the curve,” Ashlie says.
“ It’ s also challenging in its nature as well – it’ s always been a very closed-door industry with competitors. It’ s always very secretive regarding what everybody’ s up to, even though everybody’ s having the same problems and challenges. We don’ t come together as a cohort to try and solve the problems together as a unit.”
The pandemic accelerated the need to overcome these challenges, as customer expectations shifted dramatically.“ There was a huge technological shift coming out of COVID in the way that our guests wanted to interact – pre-booking, pre-planning, knowing exactly where they were going, ordering at table,” Ashlie explains.
154 May 2025