Restaurateur Llyod Rooney said streamlining visa variations for overseas workers already in New Zealand would help reduce staff shortages. Photo / Michael Cunningham
Restaurateur Llyod Rooney said streamlining visa variations for overseas workers already in New Zealand would help reduce staff shortages. Photo / Michael Cunningham
Northland restaurateurs have welcomed a hospitality training programme which will be expanded to Northland for the first time later this year.
But they say more needs to be done at a Government level to save a "messy" industry that is struggling with severe staffing shortages in the wake of Covid-19.
The Restaurant Association of New Zealand is expanding its training programme Hospostart, which has been run in Auckland for five years, to Northland, Waikato, Christchurch, Gisborne and Nelson.
The programme prepares job seekers for a career in hospitality and hopes to make it easier for restaurants to find skilled workers.
"We're very short-staffed. Over summer we had to close half the restaurant down.
"Chefs don't exist, there are none, front of house staff we can train but they don't hang around long.
"Kiwis don't want to do the work; the reason overseas people do it is because they can do it for a month and move on. It's a messy industry."
Llyod Rooney who co-owns The Quay and Number 8 restaurants in Whangārei, The Dune in Mangawhai and The Cove in Waipu Cove – said staffing was "horrendous" at the moment.
Hospostart training offers practical and hands-on learning in hospitality, customer service, barista training and food safety training. Photo / File
"It's a merry go round of people leaving and starting; we're constantly chasing our tails.
"It hasn't yet impacted too much on service, we have a lot of strong staff talented at what they do, and they can help ensure service remains where it needs to be."
Rooney said though teenagers reply to job advertisements, they need people aged 22 to 27.
"We just don't seem to attract the kind of people we want to attract, they don't seem to choose hospitality as a career.
"We get a lot of interest when we post jobs on Facebook, but nine out of 10 won't show for an interview."
While Rooney said he doesn't blame the government for the current situation, streamlining visa variations for overseas workers already in New Zealand would help.
"Visas are tied to the restaurant, and if they want to change for better money or a new position they have to apply for a variation to their visa to allow them to work in another restaurant.
"At the moment, the process is taking 10 to 14 weeks.
"The process for people to move freely within the industry without such a huge mission would go a long way to reducing the shortage we have."
The hospitality sector continues to rate a lack of skilled employees as one of the key challenges facing business operators.
Recent Restaurant Association member feedback indicates 92 per cent of businesses trying to recruit skilled workers were finding it difficult.
Hospostart is a three-week intensive training course introducing students to the basics of hospitality, followed by eight weeks' job-seeking support.
The training offers hands-on lessons in customer service, food safety training, barista training, food preparation, beverage service, a licence controller qualification and a hospitality first aid certificate.
It is funded by the Ministry of Social Development.
Restaurant Association chief executive Marisa Bidois said trainees gain valuable insight into a career in the industry, along with key skills for entering employment.
"Upon completion, we actively help to recruit the graduates into employment and our programme will continue in the form of pastoral care and mentorship in the first three months of their employment.
"We are working with a number of establishments that have employed young Hospostart candidates with great outcomes on both sides.
"Not only is it important to find new recruits for the industry and ensure they are work-ready but we also know it's important to give people the opportunity to have a meaningful career in our industry."
MSD's industry partnerships director Amanda Nicolle said Hospostart would support job seekers get the skills they need to fill the range of vacancies in the sector.
"This is a successful programme that's highly relevant for the hospitality sector and our job seekers, building confidence and skills to get into work."
