What you need to know
YOU...are STILL a Fast Food outlet.
Ordering apps Just Eat, Deliveroo, Uber Eats etc. are driving the massive growth in ‘eating in' which is becoming the new 'eating out'. 'Take away' has always been an integral part of restaurant service especially in the case of Indian and Chinese food establishments. A recent Mintel survey reports 82% of young adults ordering restaurant meals for home delivery on a weekly basis. In April 2011 punitive immigration rules and a deliberate distortion of commercial reality were introduced to block access to non EU Chefs, the most damaging was the 'no take away' clause. Specifically, any restaurant which provided a collection or delivery service was barred from importing Skilled Chefs. The inference being that such an establishment was of low quality and therefore not skill based. After years of campaigning and upon review of the rules commissioned by a newly installed Home Secretary the clause was removed in October 2019.
Whilst the restriction has been removed for restaurant sector the immigration skill criteria for Chefs remains unfit for purpose for huge swathes of the hospitality industry including top hotels, prestige caterers and multi site restaurant brands. The official view of skill is where a single portion complex dish is made to order and served at the restaurant table. However if the SAME complex dish is skillfully prepared in mass quantity for events and gatherings it's classed as 'fast food'. A small or large restaurant produces a skillfully made to order specialty dish from scratch and meets skills criteria. However is the SAME dish made to the same recipe in it's other same brand branches it becomes a 'standard fare outlet'
The terms 'fast food' and 'standard fare' have both been artfully applied to block access to non EU Chefs due to perceived lack of skill needs. The rules continue to give Home Office opportunity for intentional or ignorance based prevention.
Brightest and Best?
(Computer says no)
In spite of a chronic shortage of talented Chefs the government have prevented access to ‘the brightest and best’ by manipulation and misapplication of blurred rules simply to assert an outmoded and inappropriate skill migration policy
The Home Office definition 'Specialist Chef' is NOT a universally recognised term in UK catering industry, nor is it commonly used anywhere in the world. The equivalent and formal definition is Chef De Partie which as everyone knows is the Chef who specialises in a particular cuisine or station. However Home Office do NOT recognise Chef De Partie as being equivalent to their definition of 'Specialist Chef'
Given the huge size and diversity of UK's catering industry a modicum of access to international Chefs is necessary to fill top tier skill gaps, introduce new craft, restore authenticity, enable business to function, and to pass on skills. On the latter point it is not possible to train Chefs without Chef trainers!
A post Brexit hospitality industry will simply be unsustainable let alone grow without immediate skill ready Chefs from the rest of the world.
Access to skills is also compounded by a perplexing and contradictory sponsorship system that often gets it wrong.
It’s a major problem
Draconian rules are causing misery and killing businesses
The government targeted the entire hospitality industry for removal and prevention of non EU skilled workers with the multibillion pound ethnic sector singled out for the harshest treatment. The Home Office used the Machiavellian ‘fast food’ narrative to prevent recruitment of urgently needed Chefs. Businesses have been stripped of their sponsor licenses and robbed of Chefs who themselves experience serious hardship and forced to leave UK due to the universal bar on further sponsorship. The removal and prevention of professional Chefs has caused erosion of culinary craft and authenticity.
The government refused to accept the exceptional need for imported skills. Much is said about employing local workers and training 'home grown' Chefs, and much is being done in spite a lack of resources however take up is very low in spite of high salary job prospects. Furthermore it takes years to fully train a Chef to the skill level required and for many its not an occupation of choice regardless of rewarding career prospects.
As well as shortages, circumstances outwith employers control undermine efforts to recruit UK workers. The gig economy has lured thousands of hospitality workers, including many Chefs into Uber and Amazon jobs. Parts of the catering industry have been a long standing gig economy luring many away from formal salaried employment.
Government policy has bred an illict counter culture that exploits skills shortages and ease of access to state income. The demand for partially declared 'cash in hand' has spawned a transient and fickle labour culture which the vast majority of employers simply cannot accommodate. The severe shortages and barriers to non EU recruitment have given rise to all manner of exploitation and unintended consequences piled on to already hard pressed businesses. Unfortunately many desperate employers are forced into unreasonable compromises and risks to keep their businesses running.
Till now the small minority of restaurants employing non EU Chefs had to STOP collection and home delivery, losing hundreds of thousands of pounds (incl.vat) in revenue. Unreasonable and unfit for purpose anti non EU skill migration policy continues to penalise the restaurant and catering industry.
The regulated employment of skilled non EU migrants would act as a competitive lever to bring UK workers into line and repopulate the formal labour market, thus limiting the need for non EU workers in the long run. However the government prefers to keep tax paying skilled migrants out preferring instead to facilitate and cushion clandestine recruitment for the sake of confounded net migration targets
For many single ownership businesses the chronic shortage of skilled Chefs and barriers to recruitment is also damaging personal welfare in many ways including stress, overwork, potential danger to mental and physical health, family work life balance in turmoil and perpetual worry about sustainability of livelihood.
Enough is Enough
In spite of pleas and sensible proposals the government has refused to listen. Many businesses were forced out of existence by reckless officialdom. The government has ignored the devastating impact on business and livelihoods. For some especially in rural locations, it’s been the end of the road.
Whilst the restaurant 'take away' restriction has been removed the much of UK's hospitality industry remains in the shadow of the ludicrous 'fast food' and 'standard fare' immigration narrative which can be applied intentionally or in ignorance. CLARITY IS NEEDED to affirm that hotels, event caterers, buffet dining, and speciality food producers are NOT 'fast food outlets' and multiple restaurants that serve freshly made to order dishes are NOT 'standard fare outlets.
The main aim of Chef C(l)ause is to amend definitions in the skills criteria that belittles almost the entire hospitality industry
If your sponsor licence was revoked resulting in loss of Chefs, or you are prevented from hiring Chefs due to the wholly inappropriate and irrational rules this is YOUR opportunity to put things right!