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Britain’s restaurants and bars can serve indoors again for the first time in five months on Monday. Many of them are struggling to find enough staff after Brexit and three lockdowns in a year drove workers out of the industry.
Chefs, waiters and bartenders needed for everything from fast-food restaurants to fine dining are in short supply, with industry executives and recruiters saying that many of their most experienced people have left for other jobs.
“The people just aren’t there anymore,” said David Moore, owner of Pied à Terre, London’s longest-standing independent Michelin-starred restaurant. The industry is facing a “fairly massive, very serious skills shortage.”
It’s a sign of scars on the U.K. economy that may hold back a rebound from the worst recession in three centuries — or a spark for inflation that’s already starting to concern investors. It’s a trend that already hit the U.S., prompting…
