Hospitality bosses' concern over staffing crisis as Christmas nears
A lack of staff has meant he's had to reach out for European workers
Last updated 3rd Nov 2021
With Christmas party season fast approaching, hospitality bosses are warning Liverpool faces a staffing crisis with many chefs and bar staff failing to return after the lockdowns.
Many chefs and bar staff were out of work during the pandemic, and many haven't returned after finding jobs with more competitive pay elsewhere.
Paul Askew runs the Art School restaurant in town, and has told us he's been left with no other option but to apply to the Home office to bring workers in from Europe.
Askew said: "We're now moving towards having to look at international staff. We had to apply for a licence from the Home Office, which we've now got, but if British people don't come back in and don't want to do the job, what else can we do?"
"We still need to get our heads around the fact in this country that these are respectable jobs"
The restaurant owner believes that a change in mindset on how hospitality workers are seen by the UK's public is needed.
The Art School owner said: "Let me tell you, the need for great front of house, for great chefs, great bartenders, all of these jobs that are an absolute joy and a dream in the rest of the world, but we still need to get our heads around the fact in this country that these are respectable jobs with qualifications. When they are done properly they are an artform.
"The industry has been glamorised more than its ever been before, because of TV shows. What hasn't happened is the glamorisation of front of house.
"Go to Spain, France, Italy, America or Australia, if you're a really good bartender, or really good front of house operator, or a really good pastry chef, whatever it is you are absolutely respected. You are someone with a trade, someone with a skill - off the scale skills actually."
"A perilous position"
Figures show only 1 in 5 new restaurants make it through their first 2 years in the face of rising business costs and spiralling rent bills.
With low numbers of staff and rising costs of transport and produce, Paul is concerned as to how he can improve staffs salaries while maintaining an affordable price for customers.
The restaurant owner said: "Allow us to thrive and reinvest in our staff. There's a massive call for increased salaries, which is quite right, but we have to be able to afford to do it. I'm not driving around in a Bentley, this is about survival and that's what people need to understand.
"We can't reinvest in our staff and improve salaries in the face of increasing other costs, like transport and produces going through the roof. Otherwise, what you'll see is menu prices going incredibly higher. Of course, that puts us all in a perilous position because it starts to make clients think twice before they come to dinner because it starts to get expensive."