As the staffing crisis wages on, UK restaurateurs call for more government funding and patience from diners, says a new Global State of Hospitality Report from Lightspeed Commerce – the one-stop commerce platform for merchants around the world to simplify, scale, and create exceptional customer experiences.

VAT rates for hospitality and tourism businesses are set to return to the pre-pandemic rate of 20% in April, but trade bodies are appealing to the Treasury to freeze VAT at 12.5% to avoid further job losses*. According to Lightspeed’s 2021 report, 38% of UK merchants are already operating with fewer employees than needed, with 14% forced to reduce opening hours. 

Hiring and staff retention are the biggest challenges facing the UK hospitality industry (29%) and almost half of Lightspeed survey respondents (48%) report struggling to retain staff. In an attempt to attract and retain staff, 34% have boosted pay and benefits. 

Asked what would be the most helpful to their staff retention challenges, more government funding to raise wages and stabilise the business (47%) was one of the highest ranked, alongside technology that automates some staff functions, such as inventory and order-taking (48%) and more patience and empathy from diners (43%). 

However, when it comes to whether customers are being more understanding, the industry is split, with 48% reporting diners are more demanding while 46% feel customers are more understanding. And when it comes to the generosity of diners, 43% are tipping worse compared to 37% who say diners are tipping more. This is supported by consumer data, which revealed just 22% said they were tipping more to support their local restaurant. 

Rising food and supply costs was the second biggest challenge reported for the UK (22%), followed by accommodating higher demand from customers (20%) and inventory and supply chain (13%).