Hospitality industry hit by staff shortages
BARS and restaurants across Bristol are having to cut their operating hours and new venues are delaying launching because of a shortage of staff in the sector.
Posters can be seen on walls and windows advertising vacancies, while a search for chef jobs on jobs website Indeed reveals more than 1,000 results.
Restaurant operators in Bristol and hospitality bosses UK-wide have blamed the dearth of workers on Brexit, which they say has caused skilled European workers to return to their native countries, and the pandemic forcing people to retrain.
This is on top of an increasing number of employees across the industry having to isolate for 10 days after coming into contact with someone with coronavirus, or testing positive themselves, adding to the scarcity.
Business owners in Bristol say they are receiving far fewer job applications than they used to, and people are sometimes not even turning up for interviews.
Bristol Loaf founder Gary Derham hoped to open his newest cafe and wine bar in the foyer of Bristol Beacon this month, but was forced to push the launch back to mid-July as he cannot recruit a full team.
He still needs to find around seven employees to fill the team of 25 required to launch the site successfully, including kitchen porters, chefs and waiting staff.
“I’ve worked in the industry for a very long time and I’ve never seen a staffing crisis like this,” he said.
“The pool of people applying for jobs is so much smaller than it used to be and I’m finding that people aren’t even turning up for interviews. It’s a real challenge and a really nervous time right now.
“We want to make sure we open with people who are right for the site and care about what we do, but it’s proving very tricky to fill the team needed for the launch.”
Mr Derham thinks the shortage is down to the “perfect storm” of Brexit, hundreds of venues opening at the same time and people leaving hospitality to work in less-pressured sectors amid the pandemic.
He fears the industry will be even less sustainable than it already is if wages rise to entice fresh blood.
“It seems like the only way places will be able to get new people in is by increasing wages, but that would make the sector very unsustainable as the margins are incredibly tight as it is.”
He hopes to be in a position to launch his new venue on July 12, a month later than planned, but this could be pushed back again.
While a handful of new venues are delaying their opening, other existing restaurants are having to close when they would usually be open due to depleted teams.
Cotham Hill tapas restaurant Bravas, which is hiring for a number of roles including a waiter and chef, is now open six days a week instead of seven, closing every Sunday.
Kieran Waite, co-founder of the Season & Taste hospitality group, which owns Bravas, said: “We’re now closing one day a week and have removed some of our outside tables because demand has been really high but there’s a shortage of staff. This is the case with many other sectors associated with hospitality too, for example our suppliers are all struggling with drivers, which adds to the struggle.”
He added that while the furlough scheme worked well for supporting people’s income, it has not achieved what it was created to do - retain jobs.
“Lots of very skilled workers have retrained and left the industry while their income was supported and they were unable to work,” he said.
A post on Bravas’ Facebook page states the restaurant, as well as
other brands in the Season & Taste group, is looking for students who want part-time work during the summer, with “no experience necessary”.
Mr Waite thinks the Government should introduce a short-term European visa for hospitality workers, similar to the two-year visas those who work in Australia need to obtain, to fill gaps in the sector.
He also believes vaccinated staff should be allowed to continue to work while taking daily tests if they come into contact with someone who tests positive, and that there should be more promotion of the industry, including “better apprenticeships and longer-term training” and a continued reduction in VAT.