With restaurant kitchens struggling to attract staff, Cliveden opens the door to young talent. Sandra Carter reports.

Trouble is brewing in the lively South Bucks restaurant scene.

Pubs, brasseries and fine dining restaurants continue to win national awards.

But industry pundits are warning that our favourite eateries are already struggling to get good staff and that the future looks even more grim.

“Catering colleges are seeing a drop in student numbers, and the hospitality industry is finding it hard to recruit and retain chefs,” explains Paul O’Neill, Executive Head Chef at five-star Cliveden hotel.

In a bid to enthuse and inspire young student chefs and waiters, Cliveden hosted a lunch on Monday which gave students a chance to work alongside four top chefs from Cliveden, Chewton Glen, 11 Cadogan Gardens and Lygon Arms.

“If anything we’ve done today can inspire just one or two chefs into our industry, it’s been worthwhile,” Paul said.

“All we need is young people with passion who want to learn.”

Catherine Farinha from The Chefs’ Forum, which organised the event, said: “These catering students may never have seen an English stately home such as Cliveden before, let alone cooked at one with such amazing chefs to mentor them.

The aim of the day is to show the students that they have every chance of working in a hotel like this if they knuckle down and pass their course.

“Projections suggest that at least 11,000 additional chefs will be needed over the next five years in the UK to meet growing demand and to replace existing chefs.”

Paul admits that one off-putting factor for those considering a career in hospitality is the traditional long hours.

This year he changed the rota for junior staff in his Cliveden kitchen to four (long) days at work followed by three days off “so they can have more of a life”.