Project reference · Hospitality
Staffing a restaurant floor from four continents.
A luxury restaurant and lounge in the Gulf needed hostesses, waitresses and bartenders from abroad, and needed them quickly. A year later the same owners were opening a second, internationally branded restaurant and asked for 68 people, from general manager to food runner. We ran both searches, and learned what decides whether a candidate actually gets on the plane.
68 positions in the opening brief
Scale
60 candidates presented
Shortlists
4 days from signed brief to first CVs
Speed
9 weeks to the first hire on shift
Arrival
The numbers behind the search
What the employer offered, and what candidates expected
Before the second search we priced the market. The gap explains most of what followed.
The brief
What the client actually needed
At first, a small team for the restaurant floor: three hostesses, five waitresses and three bartenders, on two-year contracts with shared accommodation, meals, flights and a work visa paid by the employer. The salary was modest by international standards and the tips were pooled, so the right candidate was someone early in an international career who wanted the Gulf experience.
The second brief was a different scale. For the new restaurant’s opening the owners wanted a full team: managers, hosts, waiters, bartenders, bar helpers, food runners and a kitchen brigade from commis to sous chef, all on board a month before the doors opened.
Where it gets difficult
Six things that decide whether people arrive
The visa is paid before anyone travels
In the Gulf the employer applies and pays for the work visa, which needs a signed contract, a medical form, a police certificate and about three weeks. In the first campaign one of the hires took another offer the day her visa was issued. From then on we reconfirmed each candidate’s commitment before the employer paid for the next step.
Pay set for the local market
Salaries that attract staff already living in the region are not always enough to make someone move continents for two years. Our study put numbers on that gap before the search, so the employer could decide where to flex.
A brief that keeps moving
Eastern Europe first, then North Africa, then South America, then South-East Asia; one nationality only for the managers; shisha service added halfway through. Every change means new job boards, new languages and new salary benchmarks.
Feedback within a week, or the candidate is gone
Good hospitality staff accept the first firm offer. Shortlists that wait more than a few days for an interview slot lose their best names, and when the opening date approaches employers start hiring locally in parallel.
An opening date that moves
The new restaurant’s opening slipped twice, by about a month each time. Each slip reopened the search for people who had to be on site a month ahead.
Many hands on the employer’s side
General manager, executive assistant, bar manager, HR assistant and, for the opening, the brand’s own team. Offers, contracts, visas and flight bookings came from different people, and we kept one timeline for all of them.
What we did
Two searches, one market study
- Brief and launch (October 2015). A structured questionnaire on pay, tips, housing, hours, contract and visa rules, answered by the employer before we started. First CVs four days after signature, candidate information packs on the country and the venue, Skype interviews with the general manager and the bar manager.
- Offers to arrival (November–December). Offer letters, medical forms, police certificates and signed contracts collected for the visa applications; flights coordinated with the employer’s travel agent. The first bartender was working shifts nine weeks after the brief.
- Market study (June 2016). Salary expectations for waiters, hosts and bartenders in seven South American countries, with the practical obstacles: English level, time difference, cost of flights and visas.
- The opening (July–December). Job ads and job-board campaigns, CV screening across Eastern Europe, Asia, Africa and Latin America, and weekly reports to the employer. Twelve candidates shortlisted within nine days of the brief; a revised brief of 22 front-of-house posts in November.
In their words
“So far I have only positive impressions, of the restaurant and of the country as a whole.”
A bartender we placed, four days after arriving (translated).
Lessons
What we would tell the next restaurant group
- Benchmark the salary against the source country before the search starts, not after the first refusals.
- Name one person who decides on candidates, and hold interview slots within five working days of each shortlist.
- Keep a second candidate warm for every visa you pay for, until the first one has landed.
- Start line-staff recruitment for an opening three months ahead, managers earlier.
How we work
We do not show you another company’s name
The client, its restaurants and its people are not named here, and they will not be named in a meeting either. We are glad to talk this project through in detail. What we will not do is discuss the last client that way with you, or you with the next one.
Next step
Opening a restaurant or hotel outlet in the Gulf?
Thirty minutes is usually enough to tell you which source countries fit your pay scale, and how long the hiring will really take.
