Hospitality, catering and the licensed trade

Hospitality, catering and the licensed trade is worth £74 billion a year, employs 2 million people in over a quarter of a million different places, accounting for 4.5 per cent of gross domestic product, with thousands of new jobs being created each year in accommodation and wet (drinks) and dry (food) service in 3,750 small businesses and 110 large employers. It is now difficult to distinguish between pubs, clubs, restaurants and hotels, which sometimes offer similar services with different brands, themes, decors and chains. The advent of the ‘superpub’ is just one example of new-style aggressive business units where managers work to standards and targets, and must continually drive the business forward using management skills.

Salaries in hospitality are increasing faster than in many other sectors and opportunities for high-calibre people to progress are great. Movement between one job and another is usual and managers tend to work their way up through different departments. There is, for example, a shortfall of 8 per cent for chefs, despite there being well over 250,000 employed in the UK. Pub retailing is a £25 billion industry with over 60,000 pubs and bars employing 350,000 people.

A manager operates the premises as an employee of a company; this is the case with most high-profile town-centre chains, large family pubs serving food and many community restaurants, locals and hotels. Tenants are self-employed people who lease the premises from a company or other landlord for a short-term lease. Lessees take out a long-term lease up to 30 years or purchase an assigned lease, where the original lessee ‘sells on’ the remaining period of the lease – these can be expensive. Independent/free house owners and landlords own their premises (either outright or through a mortgage) and run it themselves or through a manager.

The industry has strict legislation. Any outlet must operate within a framework covering licensing law, food hygiene, employment, and health and safety of staff and customers. People serving alcohol need a licence awarded by the local magistrates. Applicants must prove they are ‘fit and proper persons’, understand their legal and social responsibilities, and are of good character and have experience or formal training.

Hospitality and catering in the Services

Each Service has its dedicated hospitality and catering staff with cooks producing food of an enormous variety, often under very difficult conditions. Some work in the houses of very senior officers, and all are trained to very high standards.

The Services also have mess managers, waiters and bar staff, who manage what are effectively hotels. As well as customer-oriented duties, they order supplies, manage stock rooms, run accounts and prepare rooms for functions. PMCs and other supervisory appointments within the Service mess system also have hospitality responsibilities: planning events, organising functions, managing finances and sometimes collecting debts, and dealing with suppliers.

Forces caterers increasingly deal with contracted services. In a garrison or station, uniformed staff work alongside their civilian counterparts. They can gain professional qualifications in hospitality and licensed retailing while in the Forces, through distance learning and even online.

Personal qualities

It is important to want to help people and to enjoy working with others. First-class customer care skills are essential, as is sound business management. Good customer service depends on good teamwork. The pressures can be considerable; everyone needs energy, enthusiasm and the support of colleagues to produce their best. Hospitality has always been a popular second career choice for Service leavers, but it is very demanding because it is open all day, every day and it affects family life.

Management requires the ability to think quickly and use personal initiative. Rules about health, safety and hygiene are critical aspects of the operation, the laws on alcohol are strict, and security is necessary with the presence of money and valuable stocks, as well as the property and personal safety of guests. New situations, changing customer requirements, and developments in equipment and work procedures require a constant willingness to learn and adapt.

Sector Skill Council development

The Hospitality Training Foundation was first established as the Hotel and Catering Training Board. It has now joined forces with the Travel, Tourism and Events National Training Organisation to lay the foundations for a Sector Skills Council for Hospitality, Leisure, Travel and Tourism, which will hopefully come into existence shortly.

Careers in hospitality and catering

Careers in hospitality and catering depend very much on what people want to do and what they have to offer. The enthusiast who wants to get on and does well can move quickly from a lowly, badly paid position into management. The Sector Skills Council for this area is presently being established, and qualifications and career routes are likely to be changed in the process. However, there are currently three main development routes, as described below.

· Going straight into the industry. This allows people to gain experience first hand and build the skills they need, with opportunities to work towards a National and Scottish Vocational Qualification available at four levels. Other employer-based training schemes lead to qualifications, while personal study and development can also lead to Higher National Diplomas (HNDs), degrees, postgraduate diplomas, MBAs, and so forth

· Training programme run by a local college or training company. Under this route the individual is not an employee, although many people become employees during or at the end of their training. They receive on-the-job training and experience, supported by regular attendance at the training centre or college, which concentrates on the essential background knowledge and practical work in areas they might not otherwise cover. People generally qualify with vocational qualifications.

· Full-time college or university programme. Choices range from a two-year course in general catering or hospitality, or one that focuses on a particular career route. Typically, there are no academic entry requirements for such courses. Options for full-time study include Vocational A-levels and HNDs in hospitality management. Over 30 hospitality and catering degree programmes take three to four years to complete. Most hospitality programmes include time in the industry gaining experience.

National Occupational Standards

NOS provide a common standard for the whole UK hospitality industry; describing what is done in the workplace and agreeing minimum best practice. They cover:

· reception

· housekeeping

· food and drink service

· food preparation and cooking.

Each NOS is split into separate areas, or units, of competence. Where necessary units are broken down into different activities, or elements, that combine to cover the competence, which is determined in three ways:

· performance (tasks that must be undertaken)

· range (situations where the competence of performance criteria differs)

· underpinning knowledge (knowledge required for the tasks).

Each unit is assigned a level depending on the nature of the skill.

Qualifications and training in the licensed trade

The National Licensee’s Certificate (NLC) is the most commonly accepted basic qualification in the trade, and is accepted by most magistrates as fulfilling the requirement for training because it covers law and social responsibilities.

The Certificate can be taken after a one-day course, but industry entrants may also complete the BII’s three-day Induction Certificate or its National Certificate for Licensed Retailing (a two-part qualification). Both include the NLC, together with further learning modules bringing the beginner up to a higher baseline knowledge. There is also a range of Advanced Qualifications, with other certificates available.

Careers

Career progression is entirely up to the individual. For the freehold landlord, tenant or lessee, it consists of building up a business and then either staying put or moving on to potentially bigger and better premises, and repeating the process. It may also be possible to install a manager to run a successful concern while building up the next one.

Many companies promote from within, although talented new blood is welcome. Training in some organisations is excellent including two-year programmes of courses interspersed with working in different parts of the business, fast-track and award schemes.

Salaries

For people working in large companies, typical salaries might be:

· waiter/bar person £11,000 (spread of 10,000 to £12,000)

· trainee/assistant manager £15,000 (spread of £13,000 to £18,000)

· manager £30,000 (spread of £19,000 to £40,000).

Overtime, bonuses and benefits can considerably increase the value of these basic packages.

Contact details

Hospitality Training Foundation, Second Floor, Armstrong House, 38 Market Square, Uxbridge, Middlesex UB8 1LH Tel: 0870 060 2550 Fax: 0870 060 2551 Website: www.htf.org.uk

bii CAREERS, British Institute of Innkeeping, Wessex House, 80 Park Street, Camberley, Surrey GU15 3PT Tel: 01276 684449 Fax: 01276 23045 Website: www.bii.org

Hospitality information and careers

Springboard UK, 3 Denmark Street, London WC2H 8LP Tel: 020 7497 8654 Fax: 020 7497 2466 Website: www.springboarduk.org.uk

Dawn House

Flight Lieutenant Dawn House spent 16 years as an air traffic controller at a number of RAF stations in the UK, leaving this month to ‘take the chance to change with confidence in my own ability to seek out a completely new career.’ Her resettlement consisted of a two-week cookery programme involving civilian attachments at The Orchards Cooker School which was ‘extremely well run and the course was brilliant.’

Planning to use the Regular Forces Employment Service ‘in the near future,’ her ‘long term plan is to buy a ski chalet in France and run that myself. In the short term and to gain more experience, I’d like to cook for people who run hunting, shooting and fishing lodges in Scotland. I’ll be able to remain totally flexible without tying myself down to a permanent job. The rewards are lucrative.

With no similarities between her RAF job and the career that she is starting, House says that cooking ‘is something I enjoy, and what better way to earn your money than doing something you love. I dislike washing up but then again doesn’t everyone?’ She expects ‘more flexible working hours with no night shifts and a slight pay cut.’