Jade Craig - What Hospitality Can Learn From a Lifetime of Building Communities

Running your own pub at 18 is one thing.Running 25 sites by 23 is something else entirely.In this episode of Captive Conversations, Adam sits down with Jade Craig, founder of Inntegra and Gamechangers, for a warm and wide-ranging conversation about thirty years in hospitality and what it really takes to build a community people want to stay in.Jade shares her journey from her mother's restaurant in Camberwell, to her name above the door of a Clapham pub at 18, to becoming an area manager across 25 sites, through the supplier side and the trade bodies, and on to launching Inntegra in 2015 and running 42 events a year.The conversation explores why she spotted competitive socialising in 2016 when the industry called it a flash in the pan, how CompSoc grew from 500 people in Holborn to 1,585 delegates, why trust sits behind every introduction she makes, and why Gamechangers was built around helplines, support and mentoring rather than discounts.Topics include:Growing up in the Secret Garden Cafe in CamberwellBecoming a licensee at 18Running 25 sites at 23Learning both the supplier and operator sidesStarting Inntegra, and counting the light bulbsWhy trust comes before any introductionSpotting competitive socialising before the industry didBuilding CompSoc and GamechangersMentoring, trade bodies, and protecting your own headspaceGet your tickets now for Competitive Socialising: The Power of Play™ & Awards 2026, on Tuesday 15 September at the Lighthouse Theatre in London. Use the code captive25 for a 25% discount: https://www.inntegra.co.uk/events/compsoc26-the-power-of-play-awards