There is a certain affectation when it comes to dining out at restaurants especially in this age of social media phenomenon with “Instagrammable” dishes that fill our social feeds. We follow food programmes like never before and even the non-hospo peeps feel like they are an expert in all things food. From the outside, it is indeed a very exciting industry.
Then comes the hard reality of the dining ecosystem – the emergence of the expansion of the on-demand economy via services such as UberEats (Kath tells us it’s got to be ‘noice’) and Deliveroo with increasing costs, fierce industry competition resulting in changing of consumer tastes to favour cheaper mid-tier dining options. The bushfires in Australia and global crises like the Coronavirus affect tourism and hospitality trade.
The hospitality industry is going through a challenging time. The domino effect of all the above have resulted in overwhelming and often confusing demands by both employers and employees.
Dinner by Heston’s (fronted by celebrity chef Heston Blumenthal) owned by Tipsy Cake Pty Ltd entered into voluntary administration on 20 December 2019. Following that, George Calombaris’ mAdE Establishment followed suit, entering voluntary administration on 10 February with its 12 venues closed until further notice.
We cannot help but to stop to think about staff members who have lost their jobs, suppliers who may or may not have been paid and the fallout that reaches much further than this little community. We will not jump on the bandwagon of blame as it is simply not helpful. Our thoughts are with the staff that in most cases have worked hard for the brand, the man and their own personal career that have been left in most cases with no prior warning or inclination. They have now been left in shock and jobless.
Let us know how we can help you at Pinnacle People. Let’s look forward to tomorrow. We will help you create these opportunities.