Covid blamed as Staffordshire restaurant struggles to recruit

The owners of a new restaurant say they have struggled to recruit enough staff as people left the industry during the pandemic.

Adam Gregory and Brett Barlow took on Lockside, in Stockton Brook, near Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, after it closed in 2020.

But they said they had found it challenging to fill their vacancies.

"We have struggled to get front-of-house staff and thought it would be a lot easier," Mr Barlow said.

"People have had a break from the hospitality trade, they've gone into other avenues of work and probably found it more secure at this present time."

According to the Office for National Statistics, there were 158,000 hospitality vacancies between July and September 2022.

A recruitment drive has been launched by the organisation Hospitality Rising to get new talent into the industry.

Restaurant co-owner Brett Barlow says people appear to have left the hospitality industry during the pandemic and not returned

Mr Gregory said he had been a regular at the restaurant before it had closed and decided to take it on with Mr Barlow.

But having recruited some of the previous staff, he said they had found it harder to fill other vacancies ahead of their opening date on 1 December.

"My understanding was people were after jobs, needed work; especially with cost of living. People have applied endlessly but they are not showing up," he said.

Terry Rogers has been giving the duo advice and said the whole hospitality industry had struggled with recruitment

The pair have been getting support from Terry Rogers, who runs a hospitality consultancy firm in Staffordshire and manages a pub.

He said the pandemic had been a huge turning point for many staff who were in the industry.

"Some of the chefs went on to get other jobs, realised the hours were a bit more sociable and they've just stayed in that field, so we've lost quite a few," he said.