Service please!
By Steve Sharp
Unless you only visit high end restaurants where it’s still difficult to get a table unless you book three months ahead it seems, you might have noticed a distinct absence of staff in catering establishments across the board. So much so that some are not bothering to open until later in the week and perhaps then on only reduced hours.
Customers blame it on Brexit, and the subsequent loss of European labour skilled in hospitality, especially the French and Italians who tend to take the notion of service as a desirable career. Of course, the rest of Europe provided hundreds of thousands of workers across the hospitality sector as well as the caring profession, building sector, drivers, and almost everywhere. But if it’s really about Brexit, how come we can’t get served in New Zealand?
Our first encounter was in Picton, where most of the restaurants only opened for lunch or dinner, not both, and those open were fully booked leaving us with a choice of one. The Thirsty Pig. Not exactly what we had hoped for.
We were further discouraged by the notice that met us as we set foot inside.
To be fair the food was decent and the staff delightful, but everywhere we go we see a similar story.
The Art Deco city of Napier the Masonic Deco Hotel, once frequented by The Queen and Prince Philip has a restaurant called Globe. The hotel accommodation itself manages to hold it together but restaurant can only run to breakfast as the hastily worded notice shows.
From high end hotels to little independent coffee shops, it’s the same story.
Some people here blame Covid, and the draconian lockdown imposed by the departing prime minister Jacinda Aderne, dubbing the country The Hermit Kingdom, but we all had Covid lockdowns and New Zealand didn’t have Brexit so why the same problem?
Economics and lifestyle choices appear to be the answer, particularly as it relates to younger people.
It used to be that that the notion of “going plural” was something you did after your career by gathering a couple of non-executive directorships or a bit of consultancy, but now it seems you can start when you are eighteen. This is, on the one hand a lifestyle choice, where you can fit your hours of work to suit you, and on the other hand, the economic benefit over the low pay and antisocial hours of the catering industry.
The Bay of Plenty Times points to the fact that it pays $30nz an hour to work in hospitality and $60nz to pick kiwi fruit! Little wonder young people might choose the latter option.
It is difficult to see how this might get resolved at home or abroad without a massive lift in wages or a transformational shift in how hospitality works. Maybe a return to the ‘80’s passion for dinner parties at home.
On the reverse of this coin, I was knocked out by the service we received at Mitre 10, a massive DIY store chain across the country.
At the one we visited in Tauranga; we were looking for lots of different things including cut to size panels for some improvements at my wife’s mum’s house.
The place was swarming with staff, all anxious to help and offer advice. Down every aisle there was a friendly and knowledgeable assistant or two and, in the wood cutting department a patient and helpful expert.
The thing is, they were almost all older people, many of whom appeared to have worked in the building trade and knew their stuff. They found working in retail a pleasant experience where they could pass on their knowledge.
A far cry from our local Homebase where if you are lucky enough to find an assistant, they will be avoiding eye contact and hoping you don’t ask any technical questions or ask where anything is!
Ngā mihi
Steve