The Brexit-induced shrinkage of our talent pool has left hospitality in dire straits. But there is one last recruitment avenue for international talent, says Kevin Armstrong of Satan’s Whiskers.

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But the days of Europe being the cradle of Britain’s bar talent are – for now – over. Brexit saw the talent tap turned off, and now it’s been tightened even further. Sponsorship of any overseas worker was always expensive and bureaucratic but it is now a total non-starter for bars.  

Bartending (or generic ‘bar staff’ as the UK government refers to our occupation) was never on the qualifying list of roles that can be sponsored, but in July, a raft of changes pulled what was left of the rug from under the feet of hospitality. Roles that were deemed ‘medium skill’, higher-level hospitality roles in hotels, restaurants (including chefs), bars and catering have also been removed from the list of jobs that could be sponsored. Only a government-agreed temporary shortage would make these roles viable for sponsorship again.

Falling, as bartenders do, below the threshold of ‘medium skill’ means our recruitment is limited to homegrown talent or, for managerial roles, training from the ground up. With many young people finding their first jobs in hospitality, it is, in part, understandable that our work could be deemed low or even unskilled, but this only tells part of the story. These first-time workers are not the ones competing for the critical roles in the UK’s most prestigious bars.

These bartending and management roles often require extensive experience; the skills required to facilitate a good modern beverage programme being the perfect example. The fact that we have a World’s 50 Best Bars, just as there is a World’s 50 Best Restaurants, should give some indication that we are not just taking the caps off Bacardi Breezers and assembling vodka & lemonades.

With many businesses still living off legacy hires from Europe, there’s real concern for where the next wave of talented bartenders or operators will come from, especially when that last generation of primarily European workers outgrow their roles, start families, or move into other sectors. The talent pool is small and shrinking, in part due to our legislatively imposed drought.

There is local talent, of course, but the volume of supply is well short of what is needed and, as the avenues of recruitment continue to close, it will get only harder to facilitate our businesses the way we want to. The more challenging that becomes, the greater the likelihood those future talents will find themselves making cocktails elsewhere on the world’s stage, and wouldn’t that be a shame?

Youth mobility schemes

The ability for our sector to be diverse, dynamic and provide opportunities for young and engaged bartending professionals from anywhere in the world, is what made us thrive for so long, and although the talent tap has been mostly closed off, it is still gently dripping. Youth mobility schemes exist to varying degrees in Andorra, Australia, Canada, Hong Kong, Iceland, India, Japan, Monaco, New Zealand, Republic of Korea, San Marino, Taiwan and Uruguay. They can be a way of recruiting young overseas talent (18-30 or 18-35 depending on the country), who can stay for two years (sometimes three). Indeed, two brilliant members of our current Satan’s Whiskers team are working under these arrangements, adding exceptional value and depth to our operation.

Recruiting from so far away when we have Europe on our doorstep is far from ideal. There are practical limitations around employees being so far from home and family and being less able to test the waters ahead of time, which means many won’t take the plunge in the first place.

While European hires would commonly attend a job interview in person, this is impractical for those coming from as far as Japan, Australia, New Zealand or Canada. Interviewing digitally is far from ideal, as is taking someone on who you know you’re going to have to replace in a few short years. There are other administrative costs involved too for the candidate, not least that they must make an NHS contribution, something that could be covered by the employer.

But with all other avenues of overseas recruitment now a thing of the past, we need youth mobility schemes to work. They must be wider-reaching and more nuanced. It’s hard to build a team on semi-permanent hires, but they can be a part of your overall recruitment strategy, which might include homegrown talent and hanging on to those legacy European hires. 

It’s frustrating how short of options we are, when a few years ago we had so many, but if we are to maintain our position as a leading bar scene, we need to exploit what access to talent we have, as much as humanly possible