Staycation boom sees Rick Stein urge those looking for jobs to head to the coast

Rick Stein has urged hospitality workers looking for employment to head to the coast as the staycation boom sees his restaurant group launch a recruitment drive to fill 39 vacancies.

The group, which incorporates 13 food outlets and eight properties offering accommodation, is operating at near 100% occupancy throughout the summer and expects staycation demand to extend throughout September and October.

Stein said: "If you have found yourself out of work due to the Covid-19 pandemic, I urge you to consider coming to Cornwall. It's thriving and, with travel bans still in place, there is great hope that the staycation will extend through to early winter and bring some much-needed revenue to the locality.

"We are looking for chefs, waiting staff, housekeepers, kitchen porters and reception staff, there are jobs available across the board. I would love to see new members of the team coming from more hard-hit areas of the country, plus with a number of roles we even help with accommodation, so there is no need to worry about that."

As has been reported across the industry, the group has seen huge demand from applicants – more than 3,500 received in the past five weeks compared to 5,500 for the whole of 2019 – but recruitment has still been challenging.

Michael Rabone, head of human resources, said: "Although this was an increasing challenge before lockdown, we've seen a noticeable increase in the number of no-shows at all stages of the recruitment process.

"This included candidates that apply and cannot be contacted, candidates invited to interview that do not attend and individuals offered roles that do not start work. There are also some scenarios where individuals accept jobs and move to another role within the first week or two. These scenarios all appear to be a consequence of multiple job applications being made and the potential opportunity to consider a number of options."