Who wants to work in hospitality? Debate at the Abergavenny Food Festival

Oct 5

The hospitality sector employs around 10% of the UK workforce, according to the Office for National Statistics.

Yet it’s not news that hospitality is facing a recruitment crisis and roles like chefs, remain challenging to fill which is restricting businesses from operating at anywhere near their full capacity.

61% of hospitality businesses are experiencing staff shortages and widely reduced their trading hours and days as a result. UKHospitality, the industry body estimates that vacancies are costing businesses £21bn in unmet demand and lost revenue.
ONS figures announced August vacancies in accommodation and food service activities fell for the fourth month in a row, to 127,000 - but still significantly higher than before the pandemic
British workers make up just over half of the workforce while staff from outside the UK have historically made up more than 40 per cent of the hospitality workforce - but we’ve lost nearly 200,000 international workers since the end of 2019.
Research from August / September 2022 of pubs/restaurants and hotels saw more people leaving the sector than during COVID-19.

Any successful hospitality business's most valuable asset is a committed team - so recruitment and retention are vital.

On 16th September, I hosted a fascinating panel discussion to a packed-out audience at Abergavenny Food Festival to discuss how to recruit and retain staff in hospitality.

We had fantastic contributions and different perspectives from brilliant panellists:

Jeremy Lee, Chef Owner of Soho institution Quo Vadis;
Pervin Todiwala co-owner of Café Spice Namaste which she founded with her husband Cyrus.
Murf - Anthony Murphy co-founder of The Beefy Boys which started as a hobby with four friends winning the best burger in the world before opening their first restaurant in Hereford, then Shrewsbury and if you’ve seen Tom Kerridge’s brilliant series Hidden World of Hospitality - opened in Cheltenham earlier this year.
David Chapman Director for Wales from UKHospitality. He is a champion of the sector, and regularly lobbies government and provides advice and guidance.

We explored the idea that in other countries, hospitality is seen as a prestigious career for life, a skilled job which is respected and well-rewarded. Yet, in this country, there is a deeply ingrained belief that hospitality is not a viable career. This perception is fuelled by media portrayals of shouty chefs like Gordan Ramsey, high-stress workplaces in The Bear and a hotbed of mental health issues and addiction as seen in Boiling Point.

One thing is clear: hospitality can offer a fantastic career, full of brilliant people but it’s tough.

Perspectives of the industry need to shift, and leadership behaviours and expectations of staff need to change. Sure, they are slowly, but there’s some way to go. It’s an immensely complex subject: we touched on Tronc/tips, VAT, Brexit and education- huge subjects in themselves. We could have talked all day.

25 Years of the Abergavenny Food Festival

This year Abergavenny Food Festival celebrated its 25th year. I think that I’ve been to at least 15 of those years!

It is always the highlight of my year, discovering wonderful new food and drink producers, tasting and enjoying amazing food, seeing old friends and making new friends every year. The Festisval is not just an excuse for a party though, at its heart it remains true to the ethos on which it was founded which is to celebrate the local food economy and to raise awareness of crucial themes around food from sustainability and the environment, food education, and eating for health.

The spirit of the Abergavenny Food Festival was captured in this brilliant BBC Radio 4 Food Programme “Abergavenny at 25” first broadcast on 25 September and available to listen to on BBC Sounds.