SOMETHING TO RECOGNISE

SOMETHING TO RECOGNISE

Brexit and Covid have hammered the hospitality sector. After many months of closure and uncertainty many thousands of hospitality staff from abroad have left Scotland and headed back home, hastened out the door by the realisation that the new conditions set by the Home Office to allow them to stay on a permanent basis are set at salary levels not possible in London never mind Scotland.

Understandably because hospitality has been hit more seriously than most other businesses, staff who were unsure when or if their business would reopen, have sought and secured jobs in other sectors.

This has led to a real crisis for hospitality businesses seeking to reopen as the Covid regulations are eased. There is a massive shortage of chefs and other experienced waiters and waitresses.

This is one of the big differences between East and West Europe. In Eastern Europe jobs in hospitality are much sought after. Folk there recognise that if you are good at it, display personality and deliver good service it is possible to make a very rewarding career in the industry, particularly if you can secure a job in a busy restaurant offering a quality menu in very pleasant surroundings.

For whatever reasons people in the West don’t seem to find hospitality all that attractive. One of the reasons for this is the low basic wage but this can be transformed into a very good wage in many busy locations. Don’t blame the owners, restaurants face ludicrous over taxation, rateable values are ridiculous, to give an example my family took over a former bank which had been closed and transformed it at great expense into a lovely restaurant. Our reward from the local council was to see the building which had previously been occupied by a large multinational bank have its rateable value increased by more than 30% because it was now a family owned restaurant. So we had replaced a redundant building, created a pile of jobs, enhanced the desirability of the area and were hammered by the Council for doing so. We get nothing for these rates, the street lighting is pathetic, they don’t collect our refuse which we have to pay for on top. Like so much in Scotland nobody takes responsibility, the Council wring their hands and blame the Scottish Government and the rating assessors. The Scottish Government don’t listen because they don’t have a clue about finding a fairer replacement.

The rates are not even the worse problem that is reserved for VAT,before the pandemic it was set at 20%. The big costs for a restaurant are food and wages. Neither of these costs can be claimed against VAT. For that reason when you look at a restaurant bill understand that probably around 17% of that bill is going to the Government in VAT. This has a huge social impact, it limits what the restaurant can charge, particularly in working class areas as that 17% makes eating out a luxury too far for many families. It is the Government not the restaurant owners that ensures there are very few good restaurants in working class areas. Restaurants are for the rich only according to Westminster. Taxes however are for everybody, even if it knowingly destroys jobs and businesses in these less well off areas.

JOB OFFER

So diatribe over I have some good news, our very busy and lovely restaurant are looking for waiting staff. If you live in Renfrewshire and are able to work THURSDAY, FRIDAY AND SATURDAY NIGHTS, 16+ Hours per week please contact Rachel by email at admin@labancapaisley.co.uk. Look us up on Trip Advisor La Banca Paisley and see what our customers say about us. Experience would be an advantage but full training can be provided for the right candidate if necessary. Come and build or even start your career in a nice friendly family business where you will find friendly colleagues and lovely customers. If you live in Renfrewshire in particular please share and who knows you might help people get a job.

I am, as always

YOURS FOR SCOTLAND.