Touching Tables - The Quiet Storm

I recently posted on LinkedIn how increasingly difficult it has become to attract & recruit talent to the hospitality industry in what now is a candidate driven market, so much so that applicant managers are not even bothering to show up to the interview, sadly not even with decency of cancelling.

It opened up many comments and varying viewpoints, some sympathetic and understanding of the current plight, some not so much.

Amongst the ranging comments, even those I vehemently disagree with, there were some small grains of truth alluding to the underlying causes.

I thought I would respond, having built, and rebuilt our teams and restaurant business over the past 18 months, I feel very passionately about the subject.

The overarching truth is that recent events have been driven by the pandemic, whenever before has the whole industry closed on the same day, to reopen on the same day several months later? Nightclubs and event, wedding venues, later still, so its simple economics, supply, and demand, or is it?

Even the best companies that had gone above and beyond, furloughed everyone, topped up wages, video called teams every week, checked in on them, found that come April 14th, vast swathes of their teams were not coming back.

Things were bleak enough before with regards to finding talent, then quietly throughout the pandemic, the full force of Brexit & its dire consequences with regards to European employees and talent disappeared, having returned home, took other jobs, to supplement their furlough pay, decided, you know what we are not going back, some may argue who could blame them, but I’ll leave the politics to one side.

Some will say cheap European labour flooded the market, others will say they weren’t paid any less and they filled the supply in the market and were happy to do so and bought a fantastic worth ethic too.

The casual dining sector in particular was imploding way before the pandemic hit, with mass closures, administrations and companies scrambling to negotiate CVA’s with their landlords yet finding talent and in particular trained chefs remained extremely tough, people thought it was down to oversupply, it was not.

Some of the more negative the comments posted were, only people with low intelligence would accept working in a customer facing position, I am not sure if they meant only stupid people would do it, or you must be mad to want to do it, either or the implication is clear, its not an attractive job you would choose?

Pay more others said, we are and I know people offering ￡20hr for line chefs up to 60K per annum for Head Chefs yet no one is filling those roles, it’s also not sustainable in any event and is far from the only solution to a major problem. We would love to pay more, but will customers pay more for their bowl of pasta???

The industry as a whole, must come together and work incredibly hard to shake off the outdated perceptions and tired tropes, i.e., ridiculously long days, anti-social, poor pay and working conditions, dead end, the list goes on, its counter productive and basically counter intuitive for any business to carry on as they did in the year 2000.

Thankfully times have changed & with it so have leadership attitudes, and so they should, imagine explaining what an AFD is to someone today? ?? And rightly so, these sorts of practices belong to a bygone era. Just like the 9-5 working week and commuting should be consigned to the Victorian era, and with lockdown this has sped that up.

Hospitality has worked hard, yet still needs to do much more to dispel for what in many instances are myths.?Sadly, in my opinion 20 years of watching “exaggerated shouty male chefs” have done little to attract new chefs to the industry, the notion of the only way to cut your teeth is to work 16hrs a day in a Michelin start restaurant just for the privilege of working for a “name”

The age of the celebrity chef should have been a magnet in attracting mass talent, whilst I am sure it inspired many, (it certainly improved food quality in this country) despite some of these being people I admire greatly, as they have for the most part been great ambassadors for the industry in many different ways, it seems to have turned off more, enforcing some of the old steroptypes, the evidence for it is undeniable.

Whilst diversity and work life balance has improved, and the best companies are doing a fab job, this is one area I would agree is still an area we need to improve.

We must foster the need to develop a squad mentality with kitchen brigades, and FOH teams, 8hr max day, with sensible breaks, rotate weekends off, accommodate, rather than what is too often the case, a smaller team working 10am – 11pm every day, and then someone goes away, which heaps even more pressure and hours on tiny team do even more further exacerbating the problem.

The charge of pay has stagnated for many years, in some quarters I am sure this is true, but these days there are much better hourly rates for staff and salaries for management, however, its more than just the base salary that’s important to people these days, it is also how you treat your teams, develop opportunities, good LD is crucial, we have come a long way here, with hospitality companies routinely appearing in the Times top 100 companies to work for.

However, I do understand this charge as a young GM I earnt 32k back in 2001, plus a good pension contribution, bonuses, and rewards, I remember winning every quarter an overnight stay in Europe for me and my partner and the team a ￡750 party, back then this was rare and still is in some places, recognition and rewards play a huge part not just remuneration.

For me now, stability is key, I don’t see paying good salaries as a cost, it’s a worthwhile investment for continuity and consistency leading to great long-term performance.?

What we need to promote much better than we currently do, is the nature of the meritocracy and development opportunities that exists, where your hard work and endeavour is rewarded, progression and career advancement is based on what you know rather than who you know or where you went to school.?

Our industry should be the poster child for this as it boasts thousands of stories of people working from level entry positions to become the most senior leaders within the industry, opening their own places, the list of examples here is endless.?

In no other sector is this truer than of hospitality.? So how come the young talent are still turned off? Attracting homegrown talent has always been hard, I personally believe this is deep rooted, that in our psyche we equate hospitality with “service” in that Upstairs Downstairs - Downtown Abbey notion that this is somehow an inferior lesser profession, a stepping stone, earn a bit of pocket money, etc, ?whereas through being bought up in family ran businesses our European neighbours have seen it as a venerable, rewarding career choice and a way of working, earning good money and enabling them to travel.

I don’t think there is any one silver bullet to help change these perceptions overnight, paying people more is only one part of the problem, for front line waiters, the reliance of tips, etc, was further decimated by the furlough scheme not including this amount as earnings, despite being declared and taxable, (another thorny issue for another day)

In conclusion, there is still a mammoth task ahead, but as long as there are people wanting to frequent, bars, restaurants, nightclubs, wedding venues, events there will be a place for front facing teams, and there are just as many people, who would hate the idea of being couped up in an office, and actually love dealing with people, enjoy being hospitable, we just need more of them.

Hospitality is and always will be, a vocation, its hard work yes, but can be massively rewarding and has personally given me experiences that wouldn’t have been afforded to me had I worked in any other industry, but that’s a story for another day.?

We’ve a lot to give, and I implore all hospitality leaders to promote its virtues every day

In my next monthly article, I will tackle in more detail some of the solutions to the brain drain facing the industry and in particular transferable skills sets from one sector of hospitality to another.???????????–