Hospitality Jobs Industry Update June 2020

This article purpose is to give a brief update Hospitality Jobs Industry in June 2020. The last few months have seen an immense strain on the industry and as lockdown is looking likely to be lifted in the coming months.

According to a report written in 2017 on 'The Economic Contribution of the UK Hospitality Industry' it says:

The hospitality industry is the 4th biggest employer in the UK, accounting for 3.2m jobs through direct employment in 2016, and a further 2.8m indirectly. The industry generated over £73bn of Gross Value Added directly to the UK economy, and a further £87bn indirectly.

Three years on since this report we know that these figures are much higher now. Therefore the industry has become overly important to the United Kingdom's economic health. This also means that there have been more than 3.2 million people out of work for the last few months.

So what does the future look like:

Latest guidelines suggest that everything will be able to reopen in July, but  restaurant, hotel, bar, pub owners and in-fact any business owner that has a business that involves close contact with people are wondering how they are going to meet the new social distancing rules. Pubs have been closed since 20-03-2020 and reports suggest that they maybe able to open this or next week. 

The social distancing rules obviously mean that there will be less people allowed in pubs/bars, this would suggest that it is not worth opening for that number of people. So how will the industry adapt?

Simon Wolstenholme, who runs the Bush Inn at Cockermouth, 

"We have about 30 tables in the pub, there's about 15 tables in at the moment, but obviously that will only enable 30, 40 people at any one time rather than 100 we would have in."

Some businesses like Pret A Manger have changed their business model to cope with this situation and stay in business. The store is expecting a lower footfall in general after lockdown is lifted. This is due to the likelihood that more people will be working from home moving forward. This has led them to look at their business model. When the reduced footfall is added to the high rental costs, the current setup doesn't make financial sense:

Mr Christou said the company was putting together a "clear plan" to address the issues and making good progress.

"While Pret may look and feel a bit different in the short term, if we take the right steps today, we'll make sure that Pret can thrive in the future," he said.

It comes after industry body UK Hospitality urged the government to find a solution to the rental problems facing many businesses in the struggling hospitality sector.

Frankie and Benny's have already confirmed that some of their sites will not reopen at all. This confirms that the bigger chains are also looking at their property network, and looking to optimise the assets that they own.

A big issue for hotels has been what to do with bookings that already exist or that are still being made and how to manage that going forward. Terms and conditions in most cases have been made more realistic temporarily with cancellation terms relaxed etc, but these are times where the organisations that survive will be the ones that can adapt the most to the current status, and move forward in the safest way possible.