Shortage of chefs to worsen this Christmas and thereafter

The Recruitment and Employment Confederation (REC) recently conducted a survey which concluded that 61% of hospitality recruitment agencies are of the view that they do not have enough chefs in their arsenal to fill forthcoming vacancies in the busy festive season.

The ever changing and fast paced nature of the hospitality industry and its employees’ turnaround is likely to be a factor. Restaurants therefore need to ensure that they are doing enough to maintain employee expectations in order to retain staff (which, by the way, in any industry can be easier said than done!)

Is this the case on the ground? I would be interested to hear thoughts and comments from recruitment agencies in this sector on this subject.

As we approach the festive season the shortage of chefs is causing real headaches for restaurants,' he said. 'Training and progression needs to be improved so that more people are encouraged to become chefs. That’s a longer term fix, but there’s an immediate skills crisis which needs to be addressed. Any restrictions on access to chefs from the EU, such as a salary threshold for work visas, will only exacerbate the problem.