First Dates Fred: Hospitality faces staffing disaster

Welcoming recruits: Fred Sirieix fears that Brexit will worsen staff shortages and that the fall in the pound had hit European workers
Lizzie Edmonds @lizzieedmo23 February 2018

First Dates maitre d’ Fred Sirieix has said the hospitality industry is facing a staffing “disaster” in the wake of Brexit.

The 46-year-old star of the Channel 4 dating series, who is also general manager at the Michelin-starred Galvin At Windows in Mayfair, said his industry was already in “crisis” due to a huge shortage of staff. The Frenchman, who now lives in Peckham, predicted “big problems” after the UK leaves the EU.

Speaking to the Standard, Sirieix said: “I work as a general manager and let me tell you there is no staff. And Brexit will be a big problem. Already I am seeing staff come in [to his restaurant] and be more half-hearted as they don’t know what their future will hold. They aren’t thinking about their careers long term, as they can’t. Then when the [Brexit] deadline comes, I have no idea what will happen. We are in crisis now, but we are facing disaster. A lot of European workers were coming over to earn pounds and then send them home, but with the exchange rate like it is there is no point in them doing that and being away from their families.”

Sirieix yesterday hosted an event at his restaurant with Work and Pensions Secretary Esther McVey for 25 London job seekers, aged 18 to 24. He added: “We have to look at creative ways to encourage new people to the industry.”

London restaurants with 2 and 3 Michelin stars

1/12

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in