Coventry food boss calls for urgent support amid staffing shortage

Esmie Stewart fears her restaurant will have to close due to a lack of experienced staff

Hospitality firms across the country are facing struggles to recruit staff with shortages attributed to a fall in the number of foreign workers in the UK. As industry officials and the government try to find a solution, some firms have already predicted a bleak winter.

There's a wonderfully expressive mural on the wall of Esmie's restaurant, depicting joyful family life in the Caribbean.

"That's my mother," founder Esmie Stewart says, pointing proudly at her smiling face, the inspiration for her cookery, who she watched intently in their kitchen on the small island of St. Maarten.

In 2009, after moving to Coventry, the mother-of-two started her dream job of a Caribbean food business from a refurbished trailer.

However her first restaurant venture, Esmie's in Fargo Village, faces closure if she cannot find more experienced staff.

"I have many nights of crying and crying and crying because at the end of the day, the bills don't change and they're getting higher so when we're not open to our capacity, it's going to affect me and my family life," she said.

After 12 staff kept the business going during the pandemic, most have moved on with just two remaining

The 12 staff that carried her business through the pandemic have all but moved on. Only two of them remain to run the restaurant and they can only staff it for four days a week.

Ms Stewart has been managing it while receiving chemotherapy for breast cancer and after twice contracting sepsis.

"I have a long-term illness so I cannot be here in the restaurant [for] the long hours that are required. The chefs have moved out of the field because of Covid and I can't get any apprentice," she said.

"I've had not one single application from a local college food course plus good talent are being poached because bigger companies can pay more money than independents."

A mural at the restaurant includes Esmie Stewart's mother alongside depicting family life in the Caribbean

Analysis of Office for National Statistics data in September suggested almost 40% of hospitality businesses in the UK have struggled to recruit staff at a time of recession, high inflation and rising energy bills.

Speaking to BBC Midlands Today, Michelin-starred chef Glynn Purnell joined calls for more support from the government to enable businesses to recruit and train more staff.

"I think looking at lowering VAT, adjusting the business rates maybe will give us a little bit more breathing space because that really helped coming back from the pandemic," he said.

"Looking at the energy bills - all these that people at home are struggling with, businesses need help too, otherwise if we don't use it, we'll lose it".

The Learning and Work Institute forecast the UK skills shortage would cost the country £120bn by 2030 amid a shortfall of 2.5 million highly-skilled workers.

Esmie Stewart said young people have been knocking on her door asking for cash in hand for work but she can't take them on

A summit in Coventry on Thursday is looking to offer practical advice to hospitality and events companies but there are no quick fixes to this recruitment crisis.

"We have some great people from within the industry in the city and wider region who will be contributing to the discussion and debate," Corin Crane, chief executive of the Coventry and Warwickshire Chamber of Commerce, said.

"We are working with Destination Coventry and Coventry City Council to deliver this event as part of a wider package of help for businesses who we know are being held back from growth by this incredibly complex issue."

A spokeswoman for the Department for Business told the BBC it was a difficult time for hospitality businesses and "we remain firmly on their side".

"That is why we have acted to deliver the Energy Bill Relief Scheme which means they will pay less than half the predicted wholesale cost of energy this winter," they added.

Esmie Stewart said young people have been knocking on her door asking for cash in hand for work.

"I can't do that, everything has be properly accounted for. We try and pay above the minimum wage but what's been demanded now is way higher than what we can afford," she said.

"If we can have more young people trained and then help so we can afford to pay them, well that would be a start."