Hospitality Industry vs. COVID-19 (*with Updates)
In this article, I will cover the recent hospitality developments surrounding the Coronavirus disease COVID-19. The virus which changed the lives of everyone, everywhere in such a short period of time. But first of all, a warm welcome to Lost in Hospitality – especially if you're reading this from self-isolation.
My initial plan was to update my previous article: Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) UK Crisis – Advice for Hospitality Employers and Employees (Link)
BUT everything is changing so quickly. It’s hard to keep up. From today I will try to provide daily Links you might find helpful. The collected Updates will be at the end of the article.
This article will be in 5 Chapters – Petitions and where to find help / Where and how to find jobs / Stories around the impact on the hospitality 
sector / Articles you might find interesting / Updates
The U.K. government announced on Friday the 20th of march an enforced closure of bars, cafes, pubs, restaurants from tonight. Takeaway and delivery services are still permitted. Essential services such as supermarkets and pharmacies will remain open.
From BBC:
“Following the government’s announcement that pubs, clubs, cinemas and theatres are to close from tonight, the Guardian’s data team have found this will affect some 1.4 million workers across the country.
There are some 39,000 pubs and bars across the UK employing 450,000 between them, all of which will be forced to close their doors from this evening while a further 75,000 people working in 7,600 clubs will be affected.
There are 63,000 licenced and unlicenced restaurants and cafes, employing some 820,000 people. Restaurants will still be able to offer to take out services so it does not follow that all of these people will be affected but it is impossible to know right now how many will continue to go to work.
There are 840 cinemas in the UK, according to the UK Cinema Association, and this industry employs more than 21,000 people.
The details of the government’s announcement that it will protect workers, by paying up to 80% of their wages with a cap of £2500 per month, is not yet clear but will likely include many of these employees.”
How The Hospitality Industry Comes Together In A Crisis (Forbes)
Most important article to read (especially if you are from the US)
Start here: https://www.hospitalityaction.org.uk/
Get involved! #wearehospitality
Petitions and where to find help:
With the outbreak of Coronavirus causing uncertainties and challenges for businesses as well as people’s health, it’s important to obtain the right information about your employment rights and what to do in different scenarios.
Ensure you are getting information from official and credible sources (i.e. trusted news websites or official government advice). Government information is being updated daily so keep an eye out for any changes.
Speak directly to your employer and if you need to, ensure that you have agreements in writing. I have shared a couple of useful links below and will update them as necessary:
ITV News interviewed an employment solicitor (there’s a short video) with some advice on holiday pay, the self-employed and zero-hour contracts:
https://www.itv.com/…/coronavirus-what-are-your-employment…/
Employee and employer information covering sick pay, time off and procedures if staff show symptoms at work:
https://www.acas.org.uk/coronavirus
NCASS advice related to running F&B events and some financial figures to understand the new budget, NI and duty:
https://www.ncass.org.uk/…/latest-advice-and-guidance—cor…
HMRC helpline concerning tax information for businesses:
https://www.gov.uk/…/tax-helpline-to-support-businesses-aff…
Government advise for employers
https://www.gov.uk/…/coronavirus-covid-19-guidance-for-empl…
Government employment rights and sick pay related to Coronavirus:
https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/…/coronavirus-employm…/
Petition: Include self-employed in statutory sick pay during Coronavirus
Tax helpline to support businesses affected by coronavirus (GOV Link)
Guide to claiming Universal Credit due to Coronavirus
Where and how to find (hospitality) jobs:
The companies that need workers (BBC NEWS)
Nursing Homes Irland (Twitter)
Apply to work on a British farm (Link)
Lidl to hire 2,500 extra workers to cope with high demand (Link)
Supermarkets Tesco, Asda, Aldi and Lidl go on hiring spree (Link)
Call for Brits to pick fruit and veg amid coronavirus outbreak (Link)
Co-op creates 5,000 jobs for people who lost jobs to coronavirus (Link)
COVID-19 Stories around the impact on the hospitality sector:
Coronavirus: Impact on the Hospitality Industry (hospitalitynet Link)
Best Western offers 15,000 hotel bedrooms to NHS
Coronavirus the positive industry moves (LINK 1 / LINK 2 / LINK 3)
HOTEL INDUSTRY (DISNEY INCLUDED) ASKS FOR $250 BILLION BAILOUT…
Coronavirus: The hospitality heroes fighting back
Chefs and restaurateurs fear they may go under after coronavirus closures
Articles you might find interesting:
COVID-19 UK Hospitality footfall tracker (Link)
Coronavirus: A visual guide to the pandemic (BBC Link)
Coronavirus Will Change the World Permanently. Here’s How.
Some of you reading this may have been infected with Covid-19 without knowledge. Global statistics show that MOST infected individuals below 30 will have zero symptoms (asymptomatic). For those who do develop symptoms, it takes 2-14 days for those to develop. During this time, you can be spreading the disease. The under 50s are not invincible to the virus and everyone is at risk of being a carrier and infecting anyone they come in to contact with.
Do not underestimate the rate of infection by being in contact with members of the public, friends and family. Staying 2 meters away from people is not a guarantee against infection.
Also, make sure to boost your immune system. The stronger your immune system is, the better.
Get more sleep
Keep a good diet
Take vitamins and nutrients
Meditate to reduce stress
Do some physical exercise
In the meantime, please be kind to each other. Be generous to each other, be patient. We'll get through this together.
If you have any ideas or suggestions, then please do not hesitate to contact us directly at admin@lostinhospitality.com Rest assured, we will read and respond to these messages personally, with the greatest of attention, so do not be afraid to share with us the difficulties that you are facing at the moment. We will do all we can to help you. Your health and well-being are our number one priority at LostinHospitality.
Stay safe!
Yours,
Dan Draper #wearehospitality
Updates
30/03/2020
Hospital haute cuisine: the Michelin-star chef feeding doctors and nurses in Burgundy (The Guardian)
Like many small and medium-sized businesses in France hit by the lockdown – about to enter its third week – Vandendriessche hopes the government will come good on its “solidarity fund” to guarantee loans and its promise that none will go out of business. The hotel’s 30 low-season staff are on “partial unemployment” with 86% of their salaries covered by the government. Vandendriessche says the hotel is making up the difference plus four hours of overtime staff normally work each week.
Here to stay? How the UK hospitality industry is responding to the crisis (The Times)
The Co-op is to create 5,000 store-based jobs in a bid to provide temporary employment for hospitality workers who have been laid-off during the Coronavirus outbreak.
Coronavirus: Rough sleepers in London given hotel rooms (BBC News)
But Steve Folk, who walked around central London on Saturday handing out £400 he had received in donations to homeless people, said he was concerned many were struggling from the lack of donations now that people were distancing themselves from central London.
“Usually when I go out you have homeless people amongst working people and people who are housed, but now it's unreal. I'd say half the people you see outside are homeless people. They are left unable to self isolate,” he said.
He added a Big Issue seller had told him he knew people that had been given a hotel room but were not using them.
Coronavirus: The hospitality heroes fighting back (The Caterer)
Lockdown to spell disaster for thousands of pubs, restaurants and shops (The Guardian)
Peter Kubik, a partner at UHY Hacker Young, said restaurant chains were likely to be the hardest hit from the coronavirus crisis. “Most other businesses can shift their staff to home working or sell through the internet. Clearly that is not possible for pubs,” he said.
The Restaurant Group has said the majority of its Chiquito restaurants will not reopen when movement restrictions are lifted, and nor will its 11 London-based Food & Fuel pubs, leading to the loss of 1,500 jobs.
02/04/2020
Covid-19: How The Hospitality Industry Can Find A Way Through (hospitalitynet)
Although difficult times lie ahead for the hospitality sector, businesses must plan ahead for when normality eventually returns. For the time-being, retaining both staff and customer loyalty is a must. The continuity and commitment of staff will prove crucial when normality returns. Additionally, customers will look to how local businesses have contributed to the the local community during a period of crisis, so keeping customers engaged throughout the process is critical for when their regular social lives begin again in earnest.
Uber Eats beefs up its grocery delivery offer as COVID-19 lockdowns continue (TechCrunch)
Uber Eats has previously said it will provide 14 days of financial support for drivers and delivery people who get diagnosed with COVID-19 or are personally placed in quarantine by a public health authority due to their risk of spreading the virus, with the amount based on their average earnings over the last six months or less.
The UK’s largest hospitality jobs board has listed 26,000 jobs related to the UK’s Coronavirus crisis response to help an estimated 500,000 displaced hospitality workers find short term jobs.
I will post their regular updates as well, please give it a Like.
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07/04/2020
Coronavirus Business Shutdown Continues to Hit Restaurant Industry Hardest (Eater)
Coronavirus: Big events cancelled and fears for the tourism and hospitality industry (ITV News)
Valerie Light has a cottage she rents out on the Isle of Wight.
With the festival cancelled, her booking for that week is cancelled along with many others.
“We've still got bills to pay, we want the guests to get their full refunds because we think that's only fair but obviously that leaves us with no income.”
Coronavirus: Out-of-work leisure and hospitality staff showing “strong interest” in farm jobs (Link)
Anthony Gardiner, marketing director at G’s, said: “We’ve had a strong interest from students, people from the hospitality and leisure industry who were hit first and some people who were independent contractors and sole traders who may have seen their work dry up.
“We’re still not clear from government at the moment if furloughed workers can come in and harvest crops. That’s something that we’re currently looking for clarity on and we’ve had a bit of conflicting advice from different government departments.”
“When the crisis phase is over, the hotel industry is not simply going to return to the pre-virus world as if none of this ever happened,” said Wade. “Too much has already changed, and more changes may well be coming, too. Right now, people are understandably in survival mode. But if you're running a company – no matter how big or small – you need to think about how the crisis could yet continue, and how your business landscape could continue to evolve further. More importantly, you also need to think about the post-crisis landscape, because it's in this new terrain that you will have to deploy modified strategies and implement new ideas, for the longer term.
Tech Firm to Help Hospitality Sector Survive Impact of Coronavirus (deadline)
ePOS Hybrid, which raised £400,000 from private backers and a successful crowdfunding campaign last month, believes a switch to digital will empower more hospitality businesses to serve the home delivery market, generating extra revenues and allowing businesses to retain staff and cover overheads in this uncertain time.
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12/04/2020
Don't let coronavirus destroy the UK restaurant industry (The Guardian)
Even in normal times, we mustn’t forget, restaurants are vibrant community institutions. They are hubs of social interaction, they are centres of knowledge and creativity, they often lead the way in progressive and sustainable ways of cooking and serving food, and they pay wages to hundreds of thousands of people.
Sadly, our beloved restaurant industry now has a very dark cloud hanging over it. All it has created is now threatened.
“Since March 16, 38,000 people in hospitality have come to us for support through our online benefits calculator,” says Pip Johnson, insight and impact manager at Turn2us. “15,200 of those people are receiving no pay at all since their place of work closed. A further 15 per cent are receiving reduced wages.” Furthermore, 54 per cent of those people are earning less than £20,000 per year, and 43 per cent are self-employed or on zero-hour contracts.
To help hospitality workers find short-term key work, industry jobs board Caterer.com has teamed up with UKHospitality and the charity Hospitality Action to set up a Hospitality Redeployment Hub. So far, 26,000 roles have been made available at companies such as Lidl, Superdrug, Amazon, Hermes and Co-op – but thousands will be unable to take up replacement work.
Gary Vaynerchuk: Now, more than ever, is the time for businesses to think about innovation (CNBC)
As another example, an executive at a hotel brand could start a content series where they talk about, say, the master sommelier that they employ, or interview the head of a department to share some interesting insights about a part of the company most people never get to see. They might also interview the people who do room service and share some of the most fun experiences they had interacting with customers or the craziest things people tried to order.
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17/04/2020
The charity called The Drinks Trust, also formerly known as The Benevolent, is now offering help to their friends and colleagues in the drinks trade. Their services offer health and wellbeing advice, including a helpline and free therapy services, grants and financial support, and career development consultation. It also offers guidelines to businesses and individuals.
The Licensed Trade Charity (Link)
The LTC is researching and constantly updating its trade workers on the current updates regarding the COVID-19 crisis. The charity gathers information on where one might find help and what the government might be offering to help out the people in need. They also give advice on workers’ rights, debt, housing, employment law and benefits, and offer six free counselling sessions.
Springboard UK works with training people looking for a career in hospitality. They offer a free four day course, spread out over three months, for people who want to broaden their prospective career in bartending. The graduates of the course earn qualifications and skills enabling them to move into a full-time employment in the industry.
What is the Impact of COVID-19 on the Global Hospitality Industry? (hospitalitynet)
The change will also apply to the players in hospitality industry on the employer level. With the new approach to remote working, the businesses shall have to adapt to the emerging trends in the work practices. The efficiency of current work models will have to be reevaluated and the employee wellbeing should be put even higher in the priority list. With the long-term confinement starting to show effects on people, “permanxiety” — the near-constant state of anxiety travelers experience due to geopolitical events, climate change and other local issues – will have to be taken into account when asking staff to get back to traveling to the countries recently recovered and previously considered as high risk.
How can the hotel industry recover after COVID-19? (hospitalitynet)
….
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23/04/2020
Wuhan’s 11 Million People Are Free to Dine Out. Yet They Aren’t (Bloomsberg)
Xiong was already under pressure from rents that have doubled over the past five years, reducing his profit last year by 3 million yuan. This year he expects to lose 2 million more because of the shutdown. The total operating cost for all of Xiong’s restaurants is about 50,000 yuan a day, he says, of which about 23,000 yuan is rent. He’s had to let at least 40 employees go.
Xiong is trying new ways to keep his business afloat. Betting the trend to order in will continue, he’s begun importing high-tech food packaging machines from Taiwan to sell to other restaurants. He’s also trying to start a livestreaming channel featuring his cousin—a former model—cooking in one of the restaurants and eating the food. “There definitely will be restaurants sifted out,” he says. “The market just follows natural selection, and only the fittest will survive.”
Will Britain's restaurants survive coronavirus? (Guardian)
“Many have survived the closure,” says Sam Hart, who co-owns 11 restaurants in London including Quo Vadis and the four-strong Barrafina group. “The question is how do you survive the reopening?” Or, as Will Beckett of the nationwide Hawksmoor steakhouse group puts it: “Everyone is nervous about what happens when ministers go on television and say, tally-ho, let’s get on with life.” As Beckett says, the scheme to pay 80% of staff wages up to £2,500 a month will seemingly be turned off. Costs will return. The big question is, will the customers?
A Comprehensive Guide to Novel Coronavirus’ Impact on London Restaurants (EATER)
To Survive Coronavirus, Restaurants Can Never Go Back to ‘Normal’ (EATER)
Every restaurant is different even in the most predictable and stable of times — and there is no tried-and-tested playbook for restaurants to deal with the enormous uncertainty created by the novel coronavirus. What works in corona time will depend nearly entirely on the particular context of the given restaurant — whether that’s a 10-cover wine bar in a part of London where many young singles live, an 80-seat mid-market restaurant in a New York neighbourhood filled with prosperous families, or a 25-seat cafe in a part of Los Angeles without a grocery shop or supermarket.
In figuring out a corona-time strategy, the first question restaurants need to answer is whether they should just close for good. For most restaurants in major city centres — Mayfair, the City, Covent Garden in London, much of prime Manhattan — that used to pay their enormous rents and wage bills with high foot traffic from tourists and office workers, it will probably make sense to cut losses early. With no plans yet to reopen international travel at scale, and without any certainty on when offices will reopen and how many workers will be allowed back in under less-intense lockdowns, these restaurants should assume these customers won’t return to city centres in the same numbers until a vaccine is available. There will always be exceptions, but most of these city centre restaurants will not have access to enough customers to be viable.
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30/04/2020
5 Ways European Restaurateurs Can Use the Internet During the COVID-19 Crisis ( Entrepreneur)
Restaurateurs are offering prepaid “gift vouchers” on their websites that will be valid for two years and will give loyal and potential new customers priority in future bookings. These vouchers can be used not only for fans but as birthday gifts or ways to contact friends and relatives to support their local restaurateurs and delivery services. Offer a “Pay it forward option!”
‘London is so strange and sad': the sacked hospitality workers sleeping rough (Guardian)
Adrian Potcki, 24, from Poland, also had his phone stolen while he slept in a restaurant doorway, in St Martin’s Lane, next to the now-empty Coliseum. He was working as a night cleaner for a bank, an agency job, before being sacked when lockdown was announced. He found himself unable to continue paying for his room in a flatshare in north London. “I think the bank closed, and didn’t need cleaning,” he said, but he is unsure, because the agency simply told him the job was over. “I couldn’t pay the rent for my room. I tried to ask the landlord to give me time, but I couldn’t work it out with him,” he said. He was finding his first exposure to homelessness very difficult. “It’s a really tough time. I don’t feel safe.”
Five Reasons The Hotel Industry Will Overcome The Pandemic (FORBES)
For an industry that’s usually so full of passion, inspiration and light, one glance at my LinkedIn feed reveals a grim reality that few of us ever could have imagined. As of early April, nearly 80% of hotel rooms in the U.S. are empty, most hoteliers are estimating revenue losses of more than 50% for the first half of 2020 and unprecedented layoffs are leaving our colleagues and friends without jobs at alarming rates (70% of direct hotel employees have already been laid off or furloughed). The impact on small businesses is equally dire — as an agency that specifically serves the hospitality industry, we are working harder than ever to stay afloat. Simply put, it’s the most devastating crisis that has ever affected the travel and hospitality space.
That's the end of my weekly updates. I will start a new Blogpost soon. Please let me know if you have anything relevant to share! Stay safe
X
Dan
