The pandemic made it clear that restaurants are not some get-rich-quick scheme. And it’s underpaid staff who bear the brunt
A few weeks ago, a restaurant in London’s King’s Cross emailed its regular customers, with a special offer. It wasn’t the standard come-hither promotion: a free glass of fizz or two main courses for the price of one. It was a £100 voucher for anybody who recommended a new employee who then went on to work for them for at least a month. Around the same time the Manchester Evening News reported that the city’s hospitality staff were in such short supply that pub and restaurant operators were aggressively attempting to poach key employees off each other. A recent survey of hundreds of businesses by industry body UK Hospitality has found that more than 80% have vacancies both front and back of house. The message is clear: as it emerges from the pandemic, the beleaguered restaurant sector has a serious staffing problem.
Most restaurants, weighed down by the rutted dysfunction of the British economy, cling to financial viability by their fingertips
