Hatch is a strategic advisory firm for hospitality, tourism and food systems. We help ownership and leadership teams close the gap between what they want to achieve and what their businesses, brands and guest experiences currently deliver.

Kate Colley brings more than 25 years in marketing communications, along with experience as an executive and operator. She works across strategy, brand, guest experience, project development and crisis communications, with campaigns and media relations often forming part of a larger mandate.

Ned Bell leads culinary strategy, sustainable food systems work, industry engagement and institutional partnerships.

Together, they connect senior strategy with practical execution, taking on a select number of projects where our experience, relationships and combined perspective can make a meaningful difference.

We work with ownership groups, hotels and resorts, destination organizations, public institutions, government ministries, restaurants, wineries, major events and hospitality brands.

Some clients are established organizations navigating change. Others are launching something new or trying to turn a strong idea into a workable business, program or guest experience.

Engagements may be project-based, fractional or ongoing. They are senior-level and built around a defined opportunity, challenge or outcome rather than a standard package of services.

Kate’s work goes well beyond media relations and press releases, although those can be part of a larger engagement.

She brings the senior strategic judgment that comes from a career spent inside hospitality businesses. She can walk into a property, conduct a Forbes Five-Star-style quality audit, identify the gap between the brand promise and the guest experience, advise ownership and operators on how to close it, or step into a senior leadership role when an organization needs experienced support.

The work is defined by outcomes, not activities.

Yes.

Ned served for three years as Buy BC Chef Ambassador for the BC Ministry of Agriculture and Food, working with producers, ministry teams and government leadership. He is also Creative Advisor for Okanagan College’s $61.3-million Centre for Food, Wine and Tourism.

Our work frequently requires coordination across the public and private sectors. During Canada’s 2025 G7 Leaders’ Summit, Kate led communications for host property Pomeroy Kananaskis Mountain Lodge while working on-site with Global Affairs Canada, the RCMP and other partners. She has also led tourism crisis communications through multiple wildfire, flood and extreme-weather events in British Columbia.

We understand the scrutiny, accountability and multiple stakeholders involved in public-sector and government-adjacent work.

Ned has spent more than 20 years showing how sustainable food choices can work in restaurants, institutions and communities.

He founded Chefs for Oceans, cycled 8,700 kilometres across Canada to advocate for sustainable seafood, serves on the Monterey Bay Aquarium’s Seafood Watch Blue Ribbon Task Force and has cooked at the United Nations. He also led the culinary development of Vancouver Coastal Health’s Planetary Health Menu Pilot, which expanded from Vancouver General Hospital to three additional hospitals.

Earlier in his career, Ned moved YEW seafood + bar at Four Seasons Hotel Vancouver to 100% Ocean Wise seafood while helping grow annual restaurant sales from approximately $6 million to $10 million.

Sustainability is not a separate credential for Ned. It informs his approach to culinary strategy, sourcing, partnerships, advocacy and operations.

It depends on what you’re facing. Kate works with ownership, executives and operating teams on the strategic and operational challenges that shape a hospitality or tourism business.

She may review a brand, business or guest experience; identify the gaps between what a property promises and what it delivers; advise on positioning, project development or partnerships; lead a major opportunity, campaign or event; or step in as a fractional executive when an organization needs senior leadership for a defined period. She is also an experienced crisis communications advisor when the stakes are high and clear judgment matters.

Marketing communications and media relations may be part of the work, but they are most effective when connected to a larger business, brand or guest-experience objective.

The first conversation is usually a quick way to understand what you need, where the opportunity lies and whether Kate is the right person to help.

Yes.

Kate has led major projects in Alberta and worked with hotel groups, destinations and tourism organizations across Canada. Ned’s work is national and international, from his cross-Canada Chefs for Oceans campaign to collaborations with the United Nations, the Monterey Bay Aquarium and culinary organizations beyond Canada.

Location matters less than the project, the people involved and whether our experience can make a meaningful contribution.

Send us a note and tell us what you’re working on, even if it isn’t completely formed yet.

We’ll consider whether our experience matches what you need, whether the timing works and whether we think we can make a useful contribution. We’ll tell you honestly if it feels like a good fit. If it doesn’t, we’ll try to point you toward someone who may be better suited to it.

No harm in asking.