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| Hospitality Today | Oct/Nov 2016
Arena’s Brexit debate and
‘Face2Face’ interview
At the end of last month Arena, the hospitality industry networking
organization, hosted a debate on Brexit, followed by their annual
‘Face2Face’ interview and lunch, at the Landmark London hotel.
The Brexit effect
A panel of industry experts discussed the
impact that this seismic shift for British
politics could have on foodservice and
hospitality. Chaired by James Bielby, CEO
of the Federation of Wholesale Distributors,
the panel (above) included Ufi Ibrahim,
CEO, British Hospitality Association;
Ian Wright CBE, Director General, Food &
Drink Federation; Phil Sermon, MD, Vapiano;
and Ranjit Mathrani, Chairman, MW Eat.
Our industry employs 4.5 million
people nationwide, and the BHA
estimates that 15% of the workforce
is from the EU – that’s 700,000 jobs.
A percentage that is significantly
higher in London. Even taking into
consideration ‘churn’ (migrant workers
choosing to work in the UK for a finite
length of time), there could be
a workforce shortfall of 350,000.
With no confirmed plan from Government,
and clearly more questions than answers,
what are the implications and opportunities
for our industry?
At a time when the skills gap is already
an industry issue, this is not a welcome
scenario, and there are simply not
enough UK nationals to make up the
numbers. Concerns were also raised
by some of the panel that there is not
a desire within Britain to work in our
industry, and that the authenticity of
our celebrated multiculturalism of food
could be undermined without migrant
workers to support it.
The biggest concern centred on immigration
and a possible labour crunch. Immigration
had been a primary focus of the Brexit
campaign and it will be very hard for the
Government not to take a hard line on this
issue to show the Leave voters that they
have taken note.