01/02/2022
UKHospitality launches guidance on new calorie labelling legislation
Trade body UKHospitality has produced guidance on the new calorie labelling legislation that is set to come into force from April. The guidance, which can be accessed here, is intended to help affected businesses and to ensure consistent enforcement post-April and is therefore available to anyone in the sector, not just UKHospitality members, advises Big Hospitality. New calorie labelling regulations will require businesses with more than 250 employees to display calories for food and drinks under 1.2% abv.
95% of operators still not received 'inadequate and misjudged' Omicron grants
Just one in 20 operators have received the Omicron Hospitality and Leisure grants so far, a snap poll by the Morning Advertiser has revealed. Of the 143 operators surveyed, 95% (136) said they had not yet received their grant, while 5% (7) had received the grant.
Petition launched to extend skilled visa programme
A London bar operator has launched a petition to extend the Skilled Worker Visa programme to include non-managerial hospitality positions. Diogenes the Dog founder, Sunny Hodge, has raised the petition in hope that the Government will recognise the skills needed within the industry and make skilled, non-managerial hospitality workers eligible for the list to meet pressing labour shortages, reports Pub & Bar.
More hotels to house NHS patients to free up hospital beds
More hotels across the country are to be turned into temporary care facilities to free up hospital beds in Buckinghamshire and Dorset. University Hospitals Dorset NHS Foundation Trust is transferring up to 16 patients to the Village Hotel in Bournemouth as severe demand across hospital services continues. The trust said it was a "temporary measure to help ease the flow of patients throughout the hospitals", advises The Caterer.
Concerns over food shortages as CO2 deal ends
UK food and drink firms say they remain concerned about supply shortages as a deal which ensured carbon dioxide (CO2) supplies came to an end yesterday, reports the BBC. The Government had stepped in to subsidise a major CO2 producer in October after its shutdown due to high gas prices threatened food supplies. "We are continuing to work closely with both the hospitality and food and drink industries, and do not expect any significant disruption to essential food supplies," a spokesperson from the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy said in a statement.
And Finally...
Ikea is set to open their first high street store in Hammersmith. Their new store will open to the public on 24th February and feature product lines available to take away on the same day, as well as a Swedish deli, advises the Evening Standard.