For Part Five of our Deep Dive Series about how the national ‘hospitality crisis’ has impacted the Isle of Wight, News OnTheWight spoke a chef at a high-end hotel.
Craig (not his real name) has been involved in catering since his teenage years, having worked his way up the ladder and is now heading the kitchen for a prestigious Isle of Wight hotel and restaurant.
“I’ve missed my kids growing up”
As we’ve heard from other staff within catering and hospitality, the benefit of furlough during Lockdown enabled many people the time to think about what they were doing in life.
Craig believes a lot of people – inside and outside of hospitality – have realised what they’ve been missing,
“I certainly have, I’ve missed my kids growing up.
“You’re never at home and I think people are just realising there is more to life than working.”
“Trapped” in the industry
Over the last 12 months the industry has seen staff abandoning careers they’ve trained years for to find other work elsewhere.
Craig told us that he’s seen people leave in their droves, but is himself feeling trapped,
“I know many people who are leaving. They don’t care what industries they go to, but are using it as a stepping stone.
“There are people on the Island, who have been cooking in successful restaurants, that have packed it in and are going into the building game.
He went on to add,
“I seem to be trapped. I don’t think there’s anything else I could do: certainly nothing that would pay me the money.
“You get to a point where you’re in a certain position, which demands a certain amount of money and you live to that.”
Reverse Brexit
Getting straight to the point when asked what action could be taken to reverse the current hospitality crisis, Craig replied,
“Going back into Europe – not just for the staffing, but also for products – it’s right the way through.
“The geniuses who voted for Brexit are now reaping what they sowed.”
Craig explained that a lot of Europeans working in the industry have gone home since Brexit, leaving a huge void of skilled staff.
“You go back twenty odd years when I first went to London and it went through fashions of what nationalities were in. But now, nobody has the confidence to come here.
“I have friends have gone home because they are so unsure of what’s going to happen.”
More support needed for farmers
Craig believes that the Government can do more to support UK farming, which in turn would alleviate some of the problems kitchens are facing with rising costs of imported produce, he told News OnTheWight,
“People don’t understand that we can’t afford to take that hit of the price of products going up.
“But what have the Government done to support farmers? To make them grow crops that would cheaper for us to buy?
“Produce still has to be imported.”
Skilled workers
In the early days of Covid and furlough, there were several reports in the media of those working in catering being referred to as “low skilled”.
Craig explained to News OnTheWight how he found that “massively offensive”.
“If we weren’t skilled, everybody would be doing it and there’d be no crisis.
“Despite what a lot of people seem to think, not just anyone can walk into a kitchen and produce food for 90-100 people.”
Are pay and conditions a factor?
Pay and conditions are two issues that keep coming up in our discussions with people working in the industry. We asked Craig whether employers could afford to pay more for staff and take a hit on their profits. He replied,
“It’s always been notoriously badly paid and it’s a shame because it is a great trade.
“If you split the brigade between working early and late, then your wage budget doubles, they’re still skilled workers, whichever way you look at it.
“Everyone works in such tight teams in kitchens now, with budgets being cut and cut and cut.”
“Our partners are heroes”
It was clear from our discussions with Craig, and from looking at this track record in the industry, that he has a great love for the trade, but he questions the value of that, “when that trade takes over your life to the detriment of your family”.
He explained,
“The partners of people who do this are heroes.
“What they do to look after our families when we’re not around … And then when we are around, we’re generally too tired to do anything.”
“Be nice to people”
A change in the attitude of customers is something that has arisen several times when speaking to those in the hospitality industry, from restaurant owners to Front of House staff.
Craig’s parting words are a message for customers,
“Please be nice to people in restaurants.
“I do not understand, it makes me so angry. Yes, you are an important customer, but there are another 70 customers sat around you who are just as important.
“It’s on the news everyday that there’s a crisis in catering, but then people come in and treat members of staff like sh*t and think it’s alright and it is not.”
More to come
News OnTheWight has been telling the story of the hospitality crisis from all angles.
See previous editions and look out for the next part in our Hospitality Deep Dive series.
Image: Michael Browning under CC BY 2.0
