The business ranked third in the Restaurants & Pubs category behind Greggs and McDonald’s respectively. Also making the top 12 were Fuller, Smith and Turner; Young’s; JD Wetherspoon; Stonegate; Marston’s and Mitchells & Butlers.
Overall rankings 2021
Britain's Most Admired Businesses 2021: restaurants and pubs overall ranking
- Greggs
- McDonald’s UK
- Greene King
- Domino’s Pizza Group (UK)
- Fuller, Smith & Turner
- Young’s & Co
- Wetherspoon (JD)
- Stonegate Pub Company
- Marston’s
- Mitchells & Butlers
- SSP Group
- Restaurant Group
The awards, which are organised by reputation specialist Echo Research and Coventry University, saw some of Britain’s largest companies judged and scored across 13 categories including financial soundness, quality of management, capacity to innovate, quality of marketing, inspirational leadership, and competitiveness.
Attracting and retaining top talent
Greene King was recognised in the Criteria Winners section for its ‘Ability to Attract, Develop and Retain Top Talent’, with a score of 6.6, and ‘Commitment to Diversity, Equity and Inclusion’, scoring 7.7, while JD Wetherspoon was credited for its ‘Long Term Value Potential’ having scored 7.8.
The recognition for Greene King comes after the operator made several efforts over the past 12 months to help charitable causes and ensure inclusivity within its business.
For example, by raising more than £2m for Macmillan Cancer Support in 2021 and, following its pledge last year to become a truly inclusive and anti-racist company, Greene King launched its Reverse Mentoring campaign, which saw team members of Black, Asian and minority ethnic backgrounds spend six months mentoring its executive leaders.
Actions speak louder than words
This was not the first time Greene King has been recognised for its ‘commitment to diversity’; in November 2021 the operator won the CorpComms Awards 2021 for ‘Best Diversity and Inclusion Initiative’ prize for its ‘Calling Time on Racism’ action plan.
Speaking in November 2021 regarding the CorpComms award, Greene King corporate affairs director Greg Sage said: “Actions speak louder than words and so we spent time listening to our colleagues, customers and wider stakeholders and coming up with a detailed, target-led initiative that we will work towards over the next few years as we strive to create meaningful change in our company, our industry and wider society.”
