Bob owner Bob Ricard in Soho, London, has revealed he has yet to fill the coveted position of head chef despite salary increases of 15% over the past 12-18 months.

A fancy restaurant is struggling to hire a head chef – despite earning a whopping £91,000-a-year salary.

Bob owner Bob Ricard in Soho, London has revealed he has yet to fill the coveted position despite a 15% pay rise over the past 12-18 months.

The struggle to hire a chef is being blamed on increased competition for top hospitality talent, rising inflation and understaffing.

A tweet advertising the job sparked debate in January, at a time when many in the hospitality industry were raising salaries and struggling to recruit.

Leonid Shutov, owner of Bob Bob Ricard, has since told the caterer he has yet to fill the £91,000-a-year role at the upscale restaurant, which serves a modern British menu with Russian inspiration.

The number of vacancies in the hospitality sector has increased by nearly 100,000 since the pandemic began in early 2020, new figures show.

According to the Office for National Statistics (ONS), there were 178,300 vacancies in the accommodation and food service sectors between November 2021 and January 2022.

This is a major increase from the 84,000 vacancies seen in the industry between January and March 2020.

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There was also a 13.6% increase in vacancies between November 2021 and January 2022, compared to the previous quarter.

Emma McClarkin, chief executive of the British Beer & Pub Association (BBPA), told The Caterer the figures showed how “tough” the staffing situation was in the hospitality industry.

“Now and for the past 22 months, the hospitality industry has experienced severe labor shortages due to various factors ranging from the pandemic to Brexit,” McClarkin said.

“We call on the government to provide greater flexibility in current jobs and skills initiatives to enable the sector to meet the challenges of recruiting and retaining a skilled and motivated workforce for pubs and breweries to help economic recovery across the UK.”

Across the economy, the number of job vacancies hit a record high of nearly 1.3 million at the start of the year, with accommodation and food services seeing the largest increase in job vacancies.

The shortage of staff has led to an increase in reception salaries.

The number of chef roles with salaries above £50,000 has increased by 373% over the past year.

This is according to data from the recruitment site Caterer.com.