This week we are focusing on a recruitment crisis in the Harrogate hospitality industry as venues across the district report a serious shortage of staff. 

17 year old Josh Suddaby is currently with the Stray Ferret on work experience from Harrogate Grammar School.  With friends currently working in bars, restaurants and hotels we asked Josh to report on what they feel about a career in hospitality. This is his report:

Three of my 17 year old friends are working in Harrogate hotels, bars and restaurants to earn some money over the summer holidays.  I have learned that their wages are between £6.00 and £8.20 an hour. All of them are men.

None of my friends wanted to be identified as they felt they could be more open if they stayed anonymous.

I wanted to know if they’d consider making a career out of their current work.

Behind the Bar– £8.20 per hour 

My one friend is working 5-11pm shifts behind the bar in a large hotel.

 He told me “the responsibility I’m given makes me feel valuable” and that staff made him feel like he’s worth something in his workplace.

 I asked him what he enjoyed about working in a hotel his response was that the flexible hours are good and there was enough variation in tasks to make every shift different.

 He liked the social side of the job as he gets to meet a lot of people including colleagues and customers. 

So would he consider staying on there? He replied he would not as he felt it was “not something to stay in forever”, as he would rather go on to further education or an apprenticeship. 

Working in Housekeeping — £7.50 per hour

Another friend has worked in housekeeping for a large hotel for over a year and a half. He works evening shifts from 5-9pm.

I asked why he chose a hospitality venue he responded saying that they offered the hours of his choice and he can work after school. 

He told me he enjoyed it socially, he liked talking to the people who worked around him and getting to know them. But said that it can be stressful in a fast paced environment. 

Like my friend behind the bar though he also said that he would not consider the venue a future career, I followed up by asking why to which he replied “don’t think I could do it for life”.

He also has another job in the building trade, I questioned him on which job he would choose if he had to do one and he said he would rather work in the building trade it better suits him in life. 

Bar Work and Room Service – £6.00 per hour

Another one of my friends who works behind the bar and does room service in a large hotel in Harrogate for 20 hours a week.

He told me that’s he has “no ambition” to continue in that area of work as it doesn’t feel right for him.  

His reason for getting the job in the hotel bar was to gain money and life skills such as communication and experience in a fast paced workplace. 

After talking to my friends in detail,  I feel hospitality venues are not putting enough effort into showing my friends how a career in a hotel or bar could be right for them.

Offering higher pay, showing young people a career path and including good benefits will make more want pursue a career in hotels and restaurants –and not see hospitality as just a summer job.

Read More: 

• Recruitment crisis forces Bettys in Harrogate to close early 
• Harrogate unemployment falls by 30% in 6 months

Are you looking for a job or have a job vacancy you need to promote to as many people as possible? Take a look at the Stray Ferret jobs page to see the latest jobs or to submit a new one.  Every job is placed on our homepage and posted on our social media channels. 

Tomorrow we’ll be asking whether the high housing costs in Harrogate make it difficult for people to make a living in hospitality.

This column is written for The Stray Ferret by Peter Banks, the Managing Director of Rudding Park Hotel and Spa and Chairman of Harrogate Hospitality and Tourism Association

“I opened my eyes and realised it was all a dream….”

How many of us wrote a story that finished like that when we were at primary school? I know I did and I still remember with toe curling embarrassment how proud I was…..

When I look back on the last three months it does feel “otherworldly”, the first half of March when we weren’t affected at all, but we could feel the menace creeping  towards us, China, Italy, France, London, then us. Even the weather behaved itself, a beautiful spring. It almost felt like the Golden Summer of 1914 – the last hurrah before the world we knew was changed forever.

Sadly, this isn’t a dream, it is, to quote that dreadful new cliché, the new normal. This is now reality and we need to understand and manage it as well as possible.

Every day brings new challenges. If I can review a few of the most recent it will give you a feeling of a worms eye view from the sharp end of hospitality:

1.Track and Trace. The government has failed to create a system which tracks peoples movement. Therefore they have abdicated this responsibility to hospitality operators. We have to record everyone who comes into a pub or restaurant, contact details and time of arrival. I have had to introduce a “no track and trace, no beer” rule at our pub on the Holiday Park. Guests are very disgruntled at this invasion of their liberty, argue with us, abuse us and two guests even walked out as they “felt their rights were being threatened”. Please, it’s not our fault, we’re not being nosy, we are merely following the governments instructions and trying to help limit the spread of covid.

2. VAT reduction to 5% on accommodation and food in restaurants, cafes and pubs. On the surface a fantastic boost to the Hospitality industry as we will no longer be paying 20% tax on these items, just 5%. Why did Rishi take this sector specific action. The Government guidance states:

These changes are being brought in as an urgent response to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic to support businesses severely affected by forced closures and social distancing measures.

I believe that he wanted to throw a lifeline to the Hospitality industry, however – how many of you, dear readers, are going to expect to have the discount passed on to you? From a straw poll I have taken – the vast majority of my guests will want a discount. Therefore this 15% VAT reduction does not help the Hospitality industry at all, we will have the same level of demand (just because it’s cheaper doesn’t mean that nervous people will go to the Pub), and we will merely pass 5% of a lower price onto the government. We will make exactly the same profit (or loss more likely!). So, a plea from me – if your local chippy has not dropped their price by £1.00, or your Hotel has not decreased your room rate by 15%, please don’t give the owner or manager a hard time.

Rishi deliberately made it sector specific to help that sector, not to put money in everyone’s pockets. If he’d wanted to do that he could merely have cut income tax or national insurance. I cannot state clearly enough, there will be many hospitality businesses that will not survive this winter, (today I heard that the iconic Yorke Arms is closing as a destination Restaurant). Please help them to keep as many staff employed as possible. Every time you ask for a discount you will be increasing the number of redundancies in that business.

You will still be paying the same price as before, It actually makes no difference to you. The government is just trying to ensure that the pub will still be open in April by allowing us to keep some more VAT.

3. £1000 for every furloughed worker still in employment on January 31 2021. This is a wonderful gift for many Hospitality operators who will need every scrap of financial help they can get next winter. However, what Rishi is asking us to do is continue employing a member of staff for the next six months rather than making redundancies and receive £1000 for taking that risk.

For a seriously damaged industry like hospitality that equation doesn’t stack up. Right now every operator that I know is making “clear, reasoned decisions to save as many jobs as possible”. That is a euphemism for having to make redundancies otherwise the business will not survive. Some sectors have increased profitability in this crisis, supermarkets, logistics, some manufacturing, yet they will also receive this boon. A sector specific extension to the Furlough scheme would have been better, the money could then have gone towards helping Hospitality through to next Spring when the good times will return (I hope!).

These examples are not dreams, they look fantastical, but they are reality. Six months ago 5% VAT on accommodation was laughable.  These keep me and my fellow Hospitality leaders awake at night, trying to unscramble meanings and the future from our very cloudy crystal balls. We reopen Rudding Park Hotel (Accommodation and Restaurant only) on Monday 13^th July and I pray that I have made the right decisions and chosen the correct path.

The great news is that we are open, we have taken advantage of all of the government schemes, I have a fantastic team who have supported me through every challenge and we will be up, fighting and winning next spring when the good times come back.

We have to accept that the rules and mores that we used to work to have changed absolutely, and only those businesses that change will survive. It doesn’t matter how big and powerful you are, If you do not change you will become extinct.

The past three months has undoubtedly been the biggest leadership challenge of my  35 year career. The world has been fundamentally changed, and in my darker moments I wonder if I will ever be the same leader as I was before. That innocence of early March feels like it happened to a different person.

To quote LP Hartley in “The Go-Between” – “The past is a foreign country; they do things differently there…”

We all look forward to welcoming you back to Rudding Park, and do what we enjoy, caring and looking after our guests. See you soon!

Read More:

• Rush to book beauty appointments as Harrogate district salons open
• No plans to open Nidderdale Michelin starred restaurant

Bars and restaurants across the district are in full swing as they prepare for “Super Saturday.”

July 4 is a big day for the hospitality industry. After over 3 months of closure, they now have the green light to re-open their doors to the public.

The Stray Ferret has been speaking to some bars and restaurants in Harrogate as they prepare for what they say will be a “historic” day.

Manahatta, a buzzy bar and diner in the centre of town. Stephanie Welch who is the General Manager said no matter how much training they did it is still new for everyone:

” We are hoping the track and trace system will make people aware that we can get in contact with them and we do have their details, so hopefully that will make them consider how they are behaving, but once people have had a drink it will be hard… We still want to be that party place and try to maintain the atmosphere we had before, but people just have to follow what we are asking them to do, it’s for everyone’s safety. We will have the same style of music but it will just be quieter and we won’t have a DJ for now.”

Manahatta will be taking all orders from the bar, where there will be a glass screen between the customer and member of staff, they will also be running at a reduced capacity.

Despite a sense of relief after a very worrying few months for the hospitality industry, there appears to be a sense of nervousness across the district as restaurant owners prepare to work in a way they never have before.

Daniele Bovo, who owns Al Bivio, an Italian restaurant in Hornbeam Park told the Stray Ferret that it is almost like “starting from scratch.”

“We’re excited but anxious… We are running at around 50 % capacity so it will be quieter to start with. We are trying to keep away from tables as much as possible, without being impersonal. So we won’t be topping up wine glasses etc… We hope that over time things will start to return to how they used to be.”

Owners should take the contact details of one member of each party. This includes a name and a phone number. Their time of arrival and how long they stay for should also be noted. This should then be kept on file for 21 days.  People can refuse to give information, but owners can choose not to serve them.