OUTLOOK ON…

Catering and Hospitality

QUICK FACTS
 Catering and hospitality workers prepare and serve food and drink
and provide accommodation that is usually temporary
 Long hours, shifts, weekend and holiday working are common, as is part-time,
seasonal and casual work
 It is possible for people from all backgrounds to succeed in catering and
hospitality, sometimes at an early age
 Skill and qualification levels need to increase to improve recruitment and retention
levels and raise standards
 Catering and hospitality may be the world’s fastest-growing industry - it employs
nearly 2 million people in the UK alone
 There is increasing public interest in food and drink and demand for higher
standards in catering and hospitality

What are the jobs?

There are lots of jobs in this industry, at different levels. Providing catering or
hospitality services is a minor element of a number of other job areas.

Typical job titles include:

 chef or cook
 food service staff
 hotel receptionist
 waiting staff
 catering or restaurant manager
 bar staff
 housekeeper/concierge
 kitchen porter/assistant
 publican/licensee
 hotel/accommodation manager
 hotel porter
Related job areas include:
 travel and tourism
 sport and leisure
 event management
 cleaning and personal services
 gaming and gambling
Working hours
People in this industry are often working while their customers are at leisure.
Hours of work can be long and ‘unsociable’. Working weekends, holiday-time
and shifts (sometimes ‘split’) is common, as is part-time, seasonal or casual
work.

Pay
There is a wide range of skill levels and many jobs are part-time or casual, so incomes vary
enormously. Tips, uniforms and accommodation may be part of the package. There are television
‘super-chefs’ and restaurant owners who are paid large amounts - but only a few! As a rough
guide, typical pay levels are:

Bar staff, kitchen porter/assistant £6,000 - 9,000, rising to £16,000

Food service staff £9,000 - 12,000; supervisors up to £15,000
Waiting staff £8,000 - 12,000; supervisors up to £17,000
Hotel receptionist £9,000 to start, then up to £17,000+
Hotel porter £10,000 to start, then £12,000 - 22,000
Housekeeper/concierge £9,000 to start, then £14,000 up to £22,000
Kitchen supervisor/chef £13,000 - 23,000 and more
Publican/licensee £14,000 to start, up to £35,000

What are employers looking for?

Skills
People who like: People who are:
dealing with all sorts of people adaptable, flexible, imaginative
variety in their work good communicators
to be smart and clean good with figures
being well-organised honest and reliable
working under pressure able to handle problems or
using initiative complaints
making decisions physically fit

Shortage areas
 Managerial, sales, entrepreneurial and supervisory skills.
 Managers with management level qualifications.
 There are too few students on FE and HE courses to meet future needs.
 14% of all vacancies notified to Jobcentres are in this sector; most in demand are chefs, cooks,
bar and waiting staff, housekeeping staff and catering assistants.
 Indian restaurants are short of trained chefs and waiters.
 More people with IT skills are needed for the hotel sector.
Qualifications
Level Job examples Qualification examples
1 Bar staff GCSE, language skills
Few or no Kitchen porter/assistant Barperson’s National Certificate (BII)
quals Waiting staff CIEH Foundation Cert. Food Hygiene
Food service NVQ 1 Preparing and Serving food
Hotel porter NVQ 1 Food Preparation and Cooking
Apprenticeship
NVQ 2 Bar Service
2 NVQ 2 Food & Drink Service
NVQ 2 Hospitality Service
BII National Certificate (various)
Chef/cook Advanced apprenticeship
Kitchen supervisor CIEH Intermediate Cert. Food Hygiene
3 Hotel receptionist NVQ 3 Hospitality Supervision
Housekeeper/concierge BII Advanced Certificate or Diploma in
Licensed Hospitality
Hotel manager CIEH Advanced Cert. Food Hygiene
Restaurant or catering HNC/HND and degrees, including
manager Foundation degrees, in subjects such as
4/5 Publican - Hospitality
Professional - International Hospitality
level - Hotel and Catering
- Culinary Arts
(Sometimes in combination with Business,
Tourism, Languages, Food and so on).

 A review of occupational standards by People 1st, the sector skills council for this industry, may
affect the names and levels of qualifications.
 The British Institute of Innkeeping has introduced a number of new qualifications aimed at
anyone working on licensed premises.
 Many managers in this sector are not qualified to management level.
 Many jobs in this sector do not need formal qualifications, at least at first - personality and
attitude, sometimes including a willingness to move around the UK, are seen as more valuable.
However, qualifications that are only ‘useful’ now may become ‘required’ in the future.
 Some people enter the industry without qualifications; others after graduating. Promotion
prospects are generally good; it may be possible to reach a responsible position relatively
quickly.
 Management training schemes may be open to graduates in any subject.
 Human resources, research and development, marketing and food science graduates, among
others, work in the hospitality and catering industry or related industries.
The current picture
 Employment has grown over the last decade and should continue.
 Most of the workforce is aged under 25, although there are more employees aged 30-49 than
there used to be.
 Not everyone looks on this kind of work as a long-term ‘career’ and training may not be seen as
a priority by employers or employees.
 ‘Ethnic cuisine’, offering food from a widening range of countries, forms a significant part of the
sector.
 The hotel industry employs around 250,000 people. Of these, 150,000 or so are female and
about 18,000 are from ethnic minority groups; most people work full-time but hardly any are
self-employed. Nearly one job in ten is temporary or casual.
 Nearly 40% of the hotel sector’s workforce is aged less than 25. Many hotel workers (about
35%) are unqualified or have a Level 1 qualification.
 Slightly more women than men work in the 63,000 or so pubs, nightclubs and bars in Great
Britain. Few employees are from minority ethnic groups. 20% of the workforce is aged between
20 and 24. Many people work part-time or casually, often as a way to earn while studying.
 Over 80% of pubs are small businesses, run by tenants, freeholders or independent owners.
 Pubs and bars have been changing steadily. Wine bars and more food-orientated outlets have
replaced some old style pubs. More women, especially young women, visit licensed premises
than before.
 Although most jobs in pubs, clubs and bars are basic level (only 16% of staff are managers)
most employees are qualified to Level 2 or 3, perhaps because about one in five of the
workforce is also a full-time student.
 Companies and organisations such as schools, prisons and hospitals that supply their own
catering and accommodation services make up the hospitality services industry.
 Over 40,000 people, nearly all female and working part-time, provide hospitality services in the
UK. Many are aged 16 to 19 but most are over 35. Almost half of the workforce is qualified
below Level 2.
 The contract food service sector has grown steadily since 1997 and now employs about
180,000 people (over two-thirds of them women). Most staff work full-time and about 9% are
self-employed.
 Most of the 10% of the contract catering workforce who are from minority ethnic backgrounds
describe themselves as Asian or British Asian.
 Most people in contract food services are qualified to Level 1 or 2 but one in seven is
unqualified. Three-quarters of the workforce is aged over 30.
 Over half a million people, many of them from ethnic minority groups, work in restaurants.
There are as many men as women and as many full-time as part-time workers; one in ten is in
a temporary or casual post.
 Most restaurant workers are aged under 30; many are poorly-qualified or have no qualification
at all.
 12% of restaurant workers describe themselves as Asian or Asian British and 6% as Chinese.
Others are from Vietnam and the Philippines.

Future trends
 The 2012 Olympic Games will need a huge amount of accommodation and catering to cope
with visitors and participants, promising more jobs.
 Before, during and after the Games, the industry will need to increase the level and improve the
quality of services if it is to meet demand.
 Moves to improve the poor standard of catering (in schools, motorway cafés and generally) in
the UK have been growing, as people such as Jamie Oliver spread the word and the
Government makes changes.
 Coffee shops are becoming an ever more familiar sight in high streets and shopping malls
throughout the country.
 Changes in licensing laws allow more flexible opening times for pubs and bars but, so far, few
establishments have applied to extend their hours.
 Restrictions on smoking in restaurants, pubs and bars could affect employment. Job losses may
result if customer numbers fall and some places may change how they operate, for example by
not serving food.
 New technology, such as chip and pin and DDA, may cause problems for smaller outlets that
have been slow to set up systems and train staff.
 Changes to the Disability Discrimination Act, requiring service providers to improve access, will
affect catering and hospitality establishments.
 Attitudes to training need to change if the industry is to attract more career-minded people.
 As tastes change and expectations grow, opportunities are increasing for businesses offering
quality, variety, novelty and good customer service.

Focus on the Local Area

Key Points

 The Hotel, Leisure and Travel and Tourism (HLTT) is a major employer of people in the Humber
area and it is forecast that more jobs are likely to be created. At the last count in our area,
around 25,000 people were employed in this sector. This doesn't take into account the
thousands more employed in 'servicing' the sector through sales and distribution.
 Latest forecasts suggest that local employment in the hotel and catering industry should have
risen by around 4.7% between 2002 and 2010. This represents about 580 new jobs overall and
doesn't reflect other opportunities due to people leaving the industry and needing to be
replaced.
 The following figures give some ideas of the numbers of people employed locally in the hotel
and restaurant sector of the HLTT industry. It does not include people employed in leisure or
travel and tourism businesses.

North East North

East East North North
Hull Hull East Humber Humber
(2004 Figures) Riding Riding Lincs Lincs
(Jobs) (Jobs) Lincs Lincs (Jobs) (%)
(Jobs) (%) (Jobs) (%)
(Jobs) (%)
Hotels &
6,198 5.73 3,704 5.69 5,274 4.5 2,963 4.68 18,139 5.13
Restaurants

 There is a rising trend for VAT registrations in this sector which suggests more businesses are
being created. These are the latest figures for HLTT businesses in our area.

Area ‘HLTT’ establishments % of all establishments

East Riding 939 8%
Hull 682 9%
North Lincs 496 9%
North East Lincs 420 8%
York 738 11%
Yorkshire and Humberside 14,863 9%

The following gives an idea of the local 'marketplace' for jobs in the Hotel Leisure and
Travel and Tourism industry

 Hull has over 140 restaurants and cafes, over 100 pubs and around 100 takeaways. It has
around 50 hotels and B&Bs. It also has 15 night clubs and over 20 health clubs. There are just
under 50 travel agents. Hull is starting to develop the sort of 'cafe culture' now identified with
places like Leeds. New shopping and residential developments also encourage the growth of
HLTT businesses. As well as employee opportunities there are also likely to be opportunities
for self-employment.
 Grimsby and Cleethorpes have 90 restaurants and cafes, over 80 pubs and nearly 150
takeaways. They have around 50 hotels and B&Bs. It also has 5 night clubs and 7 health
clubs. There are around 50 travel agents in the area. Cleethorpes has a 'traditional' holiday
economy which tends to be quite seasonal.
 Scunthorpe has 50 restaurants and cafes, over 60 pubs and nearly 100 takeaways. It has
around 20 hotels and B&Bs. It also has 4 night clubs and 7 health clubs. There are around 20
travel agents in the area.
 Beverley has 25 restaurants and cafes, over 40 pubs and nearly 15 takeaways. It has around
20 hotels and B&Bs. There are 7 health clubs and 10 travel agents in the area.
 Bridlington has 75 restaurants and cafes, 35 pubs and 45 takeaways. It has around 80 hotels
and B&Bs. There are also 7 health clubs and 9 travel agents in the area. Again, Bridlington has
a 'traditional' holiday economy with a lot of seasonal work.
 Goole and Howden has 18 restaurants and cafes, 20 hotels and B&Bs, 50 pubs and 28
takeaways. There are 2 health clubs and 8 travel agencies. It is possible that additional
opportunities may develop if plans for a new business park go ahead as a 100 bed hotel and
leisure amenities are planned for the site.
 As can be seen by the above figures there are still a substantial number of travel agencies
operating in the area. However, the 'shop front' travel industry has been hit by a huge rise in
internet holiday booking. IT skills are particularly highly prized in the travel agency sector.
 Over three quarters of hospitality, leisure, travel and tourism establishments in the area employ
between 1 and 10 people, while a further 22 percent employ between 11 and 49 people.
 Research has indicated that the following skills are in short supply amongst employees in the 
industry in our area:
Customer handling skills
IT skills
Communication skills
Basic skills (literacy and numeracy)
Team work skills
People thinking of entering Hotel, Leisure and Travel and Tourism jobs could make themselves 
much more marketable by working on developing these 'transferable' skills, through training or 
work experience, as well as skills specific to the industry.

Local Labour Market Sources:  Experian, Yorkshire Futures, Humber Forum, LSC Humberside, Humber Skills and Cluster Brokers, Nomis

Need more help?

For further information and advice on job hunting, careers, education or training ring
0800 138 5995 for details of your nearest nextstep Humber service.

Labour Market Sources: www.ypn.co.uk; BBC News http//news.bbc.co.uk; www.yorkshire-forward.com news;

Bradford Telegraph & Argus; www.connexions.gov.uk; www.prospects.ac.uk; Learning Skills Council;
www.people1st.co.uk; www.bii.org; www.hcima.org.uk www.springboarduk.org.uk; National Guidance Research
Forum; Lifetime Careers Wiltshire Ltd; www.learndirect.co.uk; The Times

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