The TV chef and food writer Rick Stein is urging unemployed chefs in other parts of the UK to consider moving to Cornwall to work in his family’s restaurant empire.
The restaurant and hotel group, which has 13 eateries, is trying to fill 39 vacancies, including for a pastry chef and junior sous chef at its famous Seafood Restaurant in Padstow.
“If you have found yourself out of work due to the Covid-19 pandemic, I urge you to consider coming to Cornwall,” said Stein. “It’s thriving, and with travel bans still in place there is great hope that the staycation will extend through to early winter and bring some much-needed revenue to the locality.”
With a number of local staff opting not to return to customer-facing roles, Stein said there was a need for new talent in the business. “I would love to see new members of the team coming from more hard-hit areas of the country,” he said.
Costa Coffee – 1,650 jobs 3 September: The company, which was bought by Coca-Cola two years ago, is cutting up to 1,650 jobs in its cafes, more than one in 10 of its workforce. The assistant store manager role will go across all shops.
Pret a Manger – 2,890 jobs 27 August: The majority of the cuts are focused on the sandwich chain's shop workers, but 90 roles will be lost in its support centre teams. The cuts include the 1,000 job losses announced on 6 July.
Pizza Express – 1,100 jobs 4 August: The restaurant chain plans the closure of 70 restaurants as part of a rescue restructure deal.
Azzurri Group (includes Ask Italian and Zizzi) 17 July: 1,200 jobs lost and 75 restaurants closed ahead of sale to private equity firm
Byron 31 July: 31 out of 51 restaurants closed in rescue deal, with 650 job losses.
Carluccio’s Collapsed In March. About 1,200 jobs were lost when just 31 of its 73 sites were taken on by investor Ranjit Singh Boparan.
Casual Dining Group (includes Cafe Rouge, Bella Italia and Las Iguanas) 2 July: Closed 91 of its 250 outlets last month, with loss of 1,900 jobs. Sold to private equity.
Chilango 22 July: Has admitted being on the brink of collapse, with the potential loss of 152 jobs.
Pizza Express Closing 67 outlets, putting 1,100 jobs at risk.
Pret a Manger 6 July: Closing 30 branches as part of wider restructuring that puts at least 1,000 jobs at risk.
The Restaurant Group 3 June: Has closed 61 of the 80 branches of Tex-Mex chain Chiquito and 11 Food and Fuel pubs, eliminating 1,500 jobs.Also closing another 120 sites, mainly Frankie & Benny’s, with nearly 3,000 jobs going.
Tossed Went bust in July. Its 20 stores are shut. 260 staff made redundant.
The group’s accommodation venues are also close to full occupancy for the summer season, and the company said there were jobs going across the board, including in front of house and finance.
Since the company started recruiting last month, it has received more than 3,500 applications for the jobs, which range from minimum-wage to salaried roles. In 2019 the group received 5,500 applications over the whole year.
One demi-chef position received 111 applications, which is 10 times the usual level, the company said. For some roles there is help with accommodation.
However, despite the high volume of applications, Michael Rabone, the group’s head of human resources, said it was struggling with a large number of “no-shows”.
“We’ve seen a noticeable increase in the number of no-shows at all stages of the recruitment process,” said Rabone. “This includes candidates that apply and cannot be contacted, candidates invited to interview that do not attend, and individuals offered roles that do not start work.”
The family-run group has not emerged unscathed from the crisis, which forced restaurants and bars to shut for several months. There were job losses at head office and at one point it was thought that two of its venues – Porthleven and Marlborough – would have to close permanently. However, the latter was saved after the landlord reduced the rent.
