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Wales Online
Wales Online
Entertainment
Nino Williams

The Swansea business offering free pizza and cocktails to potential recruits to try to solve a staffing crisis

One of their venues enjoys some of the best views from a restaurant that Swansea has to offer.

Another is due to open later this year in the city's Copr Quarter right next to the exciting new Swansea Arena.

And yet the team behind four Swansea eateries are struggling to find staff, so have resorted to a novel approach to recruitment - by offering free food and drink.

Read more : The beautiful, natural 'Blue Pool' which people are jumping in and getting injured

Ryan Hole, who with sister Lucy make up the brains behind the popular Secret Beach Bar & Kitchen on the seafront by St Helen's, have decided to host an evening of free pizza and cocktails in a bid to enlist staff to help run their businesses.

Ryan said: "Hospitality has been really struggling with staff through the pandemic. People who were working in the industry were forced to retrain because nowhere was able to open, so in Swansea we had lots of people going to Amazon and Admiral for example.

"It was understandable, but not everyone is coming back, so we have been struggling to get people like everyone else. The traditional ways of attracting people weren't working, so we decided to think outside the box."

The businesses are far from the only ones struggling to find staff following the pandemic, with the bar manager at one Gower pub having to double up as head chef because of the shortages. You can read more about that here.

The siblings running The Secret are looking to recruit between 50 and 70 staff to work in numerous roles at their businesses, also including The Optimist Bar and Kitchen, Yosei Japenese Street Food and their brand new venue opening in the Copr Quarter in the autumn.

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The lack of staff means they have yet to re-open The Optimist in Uplands, despite a relaxation in lockdown restrictions.

They are inviting both experienced and aspiring bar tenders, servers, runners, chefs of all levels and kitchen porters to join them at the event at The Secret on Monday, August 9, from 6.30pm to 9pm.

Ryan and Lucy Hole (Adrian White Photography)

Ryan added: "We are having an evening where people can come and meet us, bring a friend if they like, and have an informal chat, and learn about the positions coming up - and enjoy some pizza and cocktails, or a soft drink if the prefer."

Minimum age for the event is 16.

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