Recruitment companies supply the hospitality industry with a steady stream of temporary workers and also vet candidates for more senior positions. Being at the sharp end of the market means recruiters not only have to stay on top of the job market, monitoring and matching demand as best they can, but they also need to look at the long-term picture in a bid to detect trends and make sure they're ready to provide the immediate service their clients expect when the time comes.
In short, recruitment companies often know what's going on within the hospitality sector before individual operators do. In order to keep you in the know, we asked a selection of companies to do some crystal ball-gazing on our behalf and to share their predictions...
There's clear evidence that the hospitality job market is now strengthening. The London hotel market is coming back, and it appears the important US corporate sector has returned to the capital. Restaurants and contract catering are following suit.
We're certainly in a much healthier position as an industry than six months ago, and the current outlook is probably the best it's been in three years, which was before the foot-and-mouth crisis.
Roddy Watt, chief operating officer, Berkeley Scott Group
Within the catering sector we're seeing the senior end of the market freeing up for the first time in months - there's definitely increasing opportunity there. Companies are adopting a bullish attitude about the future and creating, rather than simply replacing, positions.
I think, looking to the future, there's strong growth occurring in the Midlands and a trend leading away from London, where the contract catering market is at near-saturation. If you're joining the sector and you're good, it's a great time to do so. Caterers are crying out for good quality staff.
David Goldfarb, director, MaydayExec
This autumn, an awful lot of confidence has come back to the international market following the traumas of the Iraq war early this year. As a result, the Far East is now waking from its slumber, with Hong Kong and Shanghai close to the business levels they were at before the outbreak of conflict.
It's looking like being an extremely good time to be a chef, especially at sous and executive level.
Mark Manson, director, Simply Chefs by Hocaps
The East Anglia region is now experiencing an explosion of high-street restaurant chains. The challenge we now face is to encourage a new generation of candidates to enter the industry and take on the management of these newly launched concepts.
This also means we will have to attract a steady stream of people to meet demand from the growing number of quality restaurants and hotels within the region.
Catherina Scott, director, Bee-Recruitment
Bars and restaurants are such a vibrant, fast-moving industry at the moment. People such as Ask are continuing to recruit aggressively as they expand. The regions are catching London up, as the desire to relocate and have local leisure services continues - for example, our Bristol office is as busy as our London site.
It's a fantastic time to switch or start a career within the sector, as hospitality gives you such a flexible working life. There's plenty of opportunity, and nowadays you'll be rewarded for success as well as in any other career. Things are so diverse, and if you're good you can rise up far and fast. The world really could be your oyster.
Nicholas Charles, director, Lister Charles
Industry facts
How many people work in the industry?
The hospitality industry employs almost 1.8 million people in the UK, according to the Hospitality Training Foundation.
How many hotels are there in the UK?
According to Horizons/Foodservice Intelligence, there were 48,089 hotels in the UK in 2002. The figure has been pretty static over the past seven years, hitting a peak of 48,730 hotels in 1998.
How many restaurants are there in the UK?
According to Horizons/Foodservice Intelligence, there were 25,191 restaurants in the UK in 2002.
How many pubs are there in the UK?
According to the British Beer & Pub Association, there were 198,563 licensed premises in the UK in 2001.
How many contract catering outlets are there in the UK?
The British Hospitality Association estimates that there were 19,342 contract catering outlets in the UK in 2002.