Brexit: Restaurants Are Being Squeezed

British restaurants are already struggling to recruit staff in the wake of the vote to leave the EU, even though the post-Brexit immigration restrictions could still be several years away.

Hundreds of restaurants say that they have had to increase their existing staff’s hours while resorting to hiring untrained staff and setting up their own training programs. A survey of British restaurants found that after the dip in customer confidence following the Brexit vote, the number of people eating and drinking out of the home had marginally increased. The problem has been the shortage of staff, many of them foreign nationals who have left the UK or stayed away because of the fall of the pound after the Brexit vote and uncertainty about their future status in the UK.

To celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay, the one upside of losing the foreign staff is that it will be “a big kick up the ass” for the British industry. Ramsay accused British workers of being “lazy” while those from abroad “work twice as hard for less money.”

He made the comments in an interview with the Radio Times in which he said cutting immigration would create more jobs for locals.

“The level of influx of multinational workers in this country has sort of confirmed how lazy as a nation we are, when individuals from across the seas are prepared to come and work twice as hard for less money, “ he said.

Ramsay’s views contrast with those of rival television chef Jamie Oliver, who is a vocal Remainer and has blamed Brexit for the closure of six of his restaurants. Oliver believes that clamping down on EU workers would have such devastating effects that the Government will not be able to go through with its promises immigration cuts. Ramsay accused Oliver of being too political “and no disrespect but we’re chefs, not politicians.”

Where the celebrity chefs do agree is on the recruitment problems caused by Brexit.

Feeling the Pinch

Oliver said businesses were starting to “feel the pinch” of leaving the European bloc. “Prices for food in the High Street and in restaurants, in my experience, have only gone down, not up,” he said.“The cost of the food and labour and rents and rates has only gone up. So, I think many businesses will be starting to feel the pinch now and we have to react to that,” he said.

“The truth is, and the reason I believe nothing will change with regards to foreign labour, is that the NHS, doctors and restaurants and hotels and farms in Britain are mainly if not probably more than 50% staffed by European workers. I do not have a queue of British kids wanting those jobs. “

The survey on the effects of Brexit on the catering industry was carried out by Nisbets’ Pulse Survey. Most of the 800 businesses surveyed (52%) said they remained “unsure of the impact of Brexit” on their business, with 28% saying they expected it to have a negative impact and 19% predicting a positive impact. Some 65% said they had already had to deal with the increased costs of raw ingredients brought on by the dip in the value of the pound.

More than a third (35%) said they would need to increase their prices to cover costs while 19% indicated they would buy more products from local suppliers. In the areas of recruitment, the restaurant owners indicated that most of the staff shortages were either “front of house” – serving staff – or those described as “other kitchen staff.”

Nisbets marketing director Simon O’Mahony said businesses that adapt well to change in order to meet customer demand “will be best equipped to ride the wave of Brexit.”

“Many of those who commented positively in the Nisbets’ Pulse Survey identified that they had reacted quickly to food trends and healthier options which they felt would help to see them through the challenges that may lie ahead,” he said.

 

by Bob Graham

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