30,000 lose their jobs in hospitality in 2020!

The COVID-19 pandemic has driven a 163% rise in restaurant job losses in the UK in 2020 and will make for a challenging start to the year for businesses.

Data compiled by the Centre for Retail Research (CRR) has revealed that 29,684 jobs were lost across fine dining, independent hospitality businesses and large multiple casual-dining chains during the year.

The sharp increase from 11,280 job losses in 2019, has been caused by two national lockdowns, local lockdown restrictions, curfews, changes to service rules and recently strengthened tier measures.

It paints a challenging picture for hospitality as the UK is in a third national lockdown.

The hospitality sector experienced rapid growth in outlets during 2014 to 2017 as successful chains added additional branches, but they frequently paid too much, while maintaining quality standards proved difficult. The need to cut costs caused by over-expansion, increased competition and weak consumer demand produced a crisis in the industry before the pandemic.