UK Hospitality Conference Has Positive Atmosphere

UK Hospitality Conference: Challenges remain but sector is ready to build back better and stronger

A stellar line up of business leaders, industry experts and policymakers joined operators and suppliers from across the sector at the UK Hospitality annual conference yesterday to discuss and share insights on the opportunities and challenges that lay ahead after the huge impact of the pandemic.

Under the theme ‘Recovery & Beyond’, delegates heard from keynote speaker Hospitality Minister Paul Scully MP, as well as Ian King, host of the eponymous daily business programme on Sky News; Karl Chessell, Director at CGA; Alex Robinson, Senior Manager at STR; and a panel of sector leaders made up of Karin Sheppard, SVP & Managing Director Europe, IHG; Nick Mackenzie, CEO Greene King, Robin Mills MD Compass Group and Steve Richards, CEO Parkdean Resorts and Chair of UKHospitality.

UK Hospitality chief executive Kate Nicholls welcomed delegates and called for additional Government support to help safeguard the sector’s recovery and rebuild resilience in the form of a permanently lower VAT for hospitality and tourism.

Paul Scully MP, Minister for Consumer Affairs, SMEs, Labour Markets and London, promised that the Government will continue to listen and engage with the sector, acknowledging that hospitality’s recovery was critical to underpinning the UK’s wider economic recovery.

He also extolled the recently published Hospitality Strategy as a blueprint for future relationships and dialogue between Government and businesses across all sectors.

Ian King provided an economic overview both globally and for the UK specifically, telling attendees that the economic recovery is ‘different this time’ compared to post-2008 crash with both business and household balance sheets not suffering from the same ‘economic scarring’.

Further insights from CGA and STR highlighted the opportunities available to the sector over the weeks and months ahead, for restaurants and bars a new hybrid model of working from home offered opportunities for premiumisation in suburban locations.

Whereas the hotel market has had an encouraging recovery but there is still are significant amount of work to be done for a full recovery in London.

The panel discussion saw leaders in the industry look ahead with positivity despite grappling with a number of ongoing challenges, including staff shortages and supply disruption.

Kate Nicholls added: “The pandemic has had a devastating impact on our sector. The last 18 months have seen hospitality lose over two thirds of its normal revenue, 10% of its businesses and headcount fall by almost 30%. But it is also true that the situation could have been so much worse and the team at UKHospitality has worked tirelessly, 24/7, to secure the support the sector needed from Government. We know it has not been enough to offset the losses but it has undoubtedly saved jobs and livelihoods. Crucially, that support and engagement is continuing beyond reopening and into recovery as we have measures to rebuild resilience.

“We will aim to consolidate the profile the crisis has given the sector as a critical part of the UK economy and the perception of the role we can play as a vital partner with Government to deliver on the broader agenda needed to help UK Plc recover, build back better and stronger. With the right support we can get back to doing what we do best – bringing life, light and heart back to our communities – and return to our decade long record of investment and job creation.”

The original version of this article was first published on Boutique Hotelier

We are a hospitality and catering recruitment company. We can support you to find a new role or the staff you need to grow your business.

Brexit to Blame for Chef Job Shortage

A hostile immigration policy is threatening the viability of the UK economy

The UK Government’s Brexit denial is costing this country its greatest treasure – people. To continually deny that Brexit isn’t to blame for the Chef job shortage plaguing the country right now beggar’s belief, despite a hostile immigration system which wants to close the door to vital overseas workers.

We have an immigration policy which pushes for highly skilled and high-wage jobs, but which is out of touch with the way our economy works and the variety of vital and often unsung roles needed to keep it afloat.

Industry leaders are crying out for an audience with the Home Office to negotiate more access to overseas labour markets, whilst the businesses they represent begin to crumble under pressure. But they are being dismissed by a Government concerned only with saving face and too proud to admit that Brexit is in large part to blame.

I attended a labour crisis meeting last week which heard from industry representatives reiterating the scale of the problem impacting sectors such as haulage, horticulture and hospitality. Their sobering accounts hit home the severity of the situation, as well as their sheer frustrations with a Government that isn’t willing to listen.

The CEO of the Scottish Tourism Alliance, Mark Crothall, reported some sombre figures from his members, many of whom are being held to ransom over pay and working conditions.

He revealed that there are currently 100 vacancies at Gleneagles, 100 vacancies at Crieff Hydro, while Auchrannie Hotel and Spa, on Arran, is incentivising guests with £1,000 gift vouchers to try to recommend employees. Before Covid, Crieff Hydro had 1,000 staff on its payroll but now has only 425 and, last week, the manager had to sit 400 people for breakfast with only four staff on the rota. This gives just a small taste of what is a truly worrying situation for businesses nationwide.

According to the Office of National Statistics, the vacancies within tourism and hospitality are twice that of the economy as a whole. Competition to find staff is driving wages through the roof and, although addressing poor wages in certain roles is long overdue, it is not sustainable at current levels.

I heard that a 17-year-old chambermaid at Prestonfield House was earning £28,000 a year and bar tenders in Glasgow were being offered £30,000. In rural areas, an even smaller labour pool to recruit from has resulted in some restaurants reportedly paying waitresses £14 an hour.

Hotels are having to answer to increased demands for flexible hours from new and existing staff, with some individuals only willing to work one or two shifts a week. I know of countless hotels and small independent restaurants who have had to dramatically change their opening hours and close their doors on certain weekdays, due to both food supply issues and a lack of staff.

There is a chef job shortage globally, let alone in the UK, but this has artificially driven up wages and, according to Marc Crothall, “chefs could literally hold the world to ransom right now”.

In Scotland, there is currently a 3,000 chef job shortage being advertised and I was told that one well-known hotel has just recruited 15 chefs from abroad, paying £2,600 in recruitment costs for each of them, as well as picking up the tab for all associated costs of them coming over, without any guarantee of their skills or whether they will stay with the business.

Every single relief chef is working and many are being promoted into positions of responsibility without having to acquire the leaderships skills which come from working their way up the business.

One restaurant owner revealed that, pre-Covid, their head chef was on £26,000 for a 50-60 hour week but is now on around £40,000 and only wants to work 30 to 35 hours a week and not a Saturday or Sunday. They have gone through four head chefs in the last four months.

The tourism and hospitality sector has written to the UK Government asking for the introduction of a Covid recovery visa for at least two years to allow adequate time to train up chefs in the UK, but their demands have fallen on deaf ears.

UK consumers may be slightly more sympathetic to the burden facing the hospitality sector right now, but when international visitors return in their droves, there will be an expectation by high-paying customers for the delivery of the quality service which has come to be associated with the UK.

COP26 is coming to Glasgow in less than a month and The UK Government will be expecting us to roll out the red carpet for our global visitors but, realistically, how are we going to accommodate their demands without people?

The three-month visa which has recently been granted to recruit up to 5,500 poultry workers in a bid to “save Christmas” ignores other sectors which are crying out for labour. By the time employers’ factor in organising visas, accommodation, bank accounts and travel, realistically, they would only be bringing over workers for six weeks.

It is a slap in the face to EU workers who have returned home following Brexit, feeling unwelcome in the UK, to then be told they are needed to save Christmas – but must be out before Christmas Day. Take a moment to recognise how absurd this is!

The UK Government cannot continue to bury its head in the sand and must realise that, by keeping the doors sealed to overseas workers, vital parts of the UK economy simply can’t function. This is not just about saving Christmas but ensuring the long-term survival of UK businesses before it is too late.

The original version of this article was first published on Herald Scotland

We offer a service for chef recruitment in West Midlands. We can support you to find a new chef job or hire a Chef in these difficult times.

UK Hospitality Industry Crisis

Labour and materials shortages drive up foodservice price inflation by 1.2%

The UK Hospitality Industry has widespread supply problems caused by increased demand causing price increases of 1.2% in August, the new edition of the CGA Prestige Foodservice Price Index reveals.

The report highlighted the damaging impacts of acute shortages of labour, and of HGV drivers, pickers and manufacturing and production staff in particular. The UK Hospitality Industry had job vacancies that hit a record high in the third quarter of 2021, and foodservice has been the hardest hit, with nearly six vacancies for every 100 employees.

The labour crisis has led to insufficient manufactured stocks, with problems compounded by post-Brexit difficulties in the imports of goods. Shortages of packaging materials and harvest issues in some parts of the world have further contributed to supply chain problems across the foodservice sector.

August also brought the first full month of restriction-free trading for UK hospitality businesses since March 2020. The sustained return of customers to restaurants, pubs, bars and other premises increased demand for many food and drink items, and further fuelled price inflation.

Price rises were significantly higher than 1.2% in some key categories, with soft drinks rising 8%, and breads and cereals up 6.1%. As staff, logistics and import costs continue to rise, the Index predicted continued inflation over the remainder of 2021 and well into 2022, with the rate of rises likely to increase sharply in the short term.

Shaun Allen, chief executive of Prestige Purchasing, said: “With Christmas approaching fast it is essential that operators are well in control of their supply chains in advance of what will be a bumpy period for both cost and availability of product. Good planning and communication will be critical to maintaining supply and profitability in this, the most critical trading period of the year.”

Andy Hodgson, client manager at CGA, said: “Hospitality is making a robust recovery from the Covid crisis, but these inflation figures threaten to stall the momentum that businesses have achieved. While consumer demand remains strong, the likelihood of steeper inflation puts already vulnerable businesses under renewed pressure, and reinforces the case for sustained support from government on tax, labour, supply chain and many more issues.”

The original version of this article was first published on The Caterer 

We are a Catering Recruitment Agency. Are you struggling with your Catering Recruitment? Maybe we can help or if you are looking for a hospitality job, take a look at our latest vacancies.