Rick Stein Restaurants has launched a flexible working scheme where team members can work as little as one shift a week to help combat the chronic staffing crisis facing the hospitality industry.
The pioneering scheme is being spearheaded by co-founder and company director Jill Stein OBE who wants to welcome those with no or little experience of hospitality.
Taking a more inclusive approach to recruitment, Rick Stein Restaurants hopes to attract talented people from all backgrounds and combat the challenge of industry-wide staff shortages following the combined knock-on effects of Brexit and the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as a growing desire for flexible careers.
Jill Stein said the scheme is designed to welcome people from all walks of life without personal circumstances getting in the way of them taking up a role.
She said: "I am so proud that we’re broadening our horizons, moving with the times and offering people the chance to join our team on a basis that works for them. Welfare is so important to us, and we understand that for some people a day or two a week is all that’s needed, so we’re ready to offer that with some amazing roles across the restaurants and shops.”
She said that her sister, Roni Arnold, who lives in Cornwall, continues to work two shifts a week as a sommelier at The Seafood and her friend Teri Walter, who retired from running her own successful homeware shop, does two days a week in the retail shops.
She said: "They both love the social aspect of meeting and working with new people, and the feeling they get from the rewarding nature of the industry."
The flexible working scheme applies to all its restaurants in Cornwall, London, Hampshire, Dorset and Wiltshire.
Roles across a range of the sites include chefs, hosts, retail assistants, hotel receptionists, waiting staff, porters and kitchen porters.
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Part-time and flexible members of the team will enjoy all the same benefits as those working more hours, including service charge, paid holiday and 50% discount in the restaurants.
The launch is in response to a drastic shift in approaches to work in recent years, and a need for hospitality – the Ƶ’s third largest employer – to continue adapting.
