Hospitality 'on a knife edge’ as numbers self-isolating rise

Matt Snell, chief executive of Gusto Italian, told ​​MCA​​ - BigHospitality​'s sister site - the the situation is 'very difficult', with around 40% of its staff off at some point over the past month. And at its peak, 20% were off at the same time.

“The business has been on a knife edge for the last month," he said.

"For example we opened our new restaurant in Nottingham, traded it for eight days and had to close it for 10 days due to a severe Covid outbreak, with smaller closures throughout the business’ 12 other sites."

Snell said the closures were costing the business tens of thousands of pounds in lost sales per week.

Heydon Mizon, joint MD of McMullen, which operates more than 130 pubs, restaurants and bars, described the current situation as 'a rollercoaster'.

“One minute we are flying along and recruiting teams for eight new pubs… the next sales have slumped and then the team started testing positive in their drove and we are struggling again – you couldn’t make this up if you tried,” he said.

The shortages due to staff self-isolating have been 'painful' and really impacted the general managers and teams and schedules are having to be changed at short notice. However, Mizon is thankful that testing availability has been fine for its team members.

In order to meet the shortfall in staff, he said business has chosen to adjust trading hours, and, in a few instances, close pubs for a few days rather than work its remaining team too hard.

“Without doubt more of our team were positive than ever before, previously we had a tiny number off with Covid, this might be the infectious nature of Omicron but I suspect that daily testing is also giving us the results more quickly.”

Bakery chain Greggs has also experienced a 'sharp rise in absence' as a result of more of its staff testing positive since infection rates increased, with numbers of staffing off climbing each week.

Speaking during a press conference following its trading update yesterday, chief executive Roger Whiteside said that it was 'obviously a matter of concern', but said that it managed during the previous 'pingdemic'​​ and its team are doing a great job of coping with it again.

While the problem is localised, he said that around 70 of its shops were currently operating reduced hours or were temporarily closed due to shortages of labour.

“It is very disruptive for our people, but we are not calling it out as a significantly large financial element in our results

“Labour challenges were at their peak during the 'pingdemic' and now they are on their way back there,” he said, adding that the challenge wasn’t only related to its shops but its supply chain as well.

“Right through the infrastructure, right through the network, we are anticipating that things are going to get worse again.”