MAYFIELD Garden has had to resort to offering a substantial sign-on bonus in an effort to attract chefs after months of no luck.
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The garden's Chris Muldoon said there is a national hospitality shortage and the central tablelands has not been spared.
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.