MAYFIELD Garden has had to resort to offering a substantial sign-on bonus in an effort to attract chefs after months of no luck.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The garden's Chris Muldoon said there is a national hospitality shortage and the central tablelands has not been spared.
As a result of the shortage, Mayfield is prepared to pay up to $6000 for the right candidates to join the team.
ALSO MAKING NEWS:
Fifty per cent would be paid at the commencement of the job and the second instalment will be payable after two months.
"It is no secret that there are currently more jobs than candidates in the hospitality sector, and we feel that we need to do whatever is necessary to attract the right candidates," Mr Muldoon said.
"We'd love to help local chefs and other hospitality workers who are not only looking for a good career opportunity but also a bit of a lump-sum financial boost.
"We would prefer not to expand our search outside of the region if necessary - our first priority is attracting local candidates, so hopefully our offer of an upfront payment will attract the attention of local chefs and kitchen staff."
Mr Muldoon said Mayfield has been looking for chefs since February.
While there is a head chef and other kitchen staff employed, more people are needed to keep the garden café running.
"We're open seven days a week, 363 days a year, so we need more," he said.
"The small amount of people we have working in the kitchen now are under extreme pressure, particularly when you consider the boost in regional tourism resulting from the closure of the borders.
"It's like a perfect storm in a sense: there's a reduction in hospitality staff available against an increased number of people visiting regional NSW."
It's the first time he can think of where Mayfield has struggled to find staff, and he attributed the situation to the closure of international borders and lack of international hospitality staff looking for work in Australia.
"Judging from media coverage, we're not unique in this. Most hospitality locations, not only in regional NSW, but throughout Sydney, everyone's struggling to find hospitality staff," Mr Muldoon said.
Mr Muldoon said working in hospitality can be a very rewarding career and he would encourage people to consider training to become chefs if they have a passion for cooking.
"If you look at some of the resumes of chefs who've worked at Mayfield over the years, they've had extraordinary careers," he said. "They've worked on luxury boats throughout Europe, they've worked overseas; there are fantastic opportunities for people looking to work in hospitality."
Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can access our trusted content:
- Bookmark www.westernadvocate.com.au
- Make sure you are signed up for our breaking and regular headlines newsletters
- Follow us on Twitter
- Follow us on Instagram
- Follow us on Google News