Retail candidates are being met with an increasingly warm reception in the hospitality sector.

“We’re calling on people in the retail industry to seriously consider a career in pub management,” said Jonathan Lawson, managing director of Greene King Local Pubs.

Lawson believes that retailing skills are a key asset to the running of Greene King’s pubs and would be interested in speaking to former managers of Principles, Woolworths, Zavvi, Marks and Spencer or, indeed, any retailer about the opportunities on offer.

Roddy Watt, founder of hospitality recruiter Berkeley Scott and who has been appointed to the board at retail staffing firm Retail HR, told Recruiter that retail store managers are comparable to managers of high-street coffee chains such as Pret A Manger in the hospitality sector.

“Retail skills are relevant inmany areas of the hospitality and leisure sector. Historically, businesses in the hospitality and leisure sector like people in the retail sector because of their retail and commercial skills and ability to get maximum poundage out of every square foot.”

This ability to control costs is due to retail professionals’ experience in operating within a lean management and staffing structure, says Rob Moore, owner and director of Xpress Recruitment, a recruiter that operates across both spaces.

“Employees in retail businesses have been used to working on very lean staffing and management structures for many years. They’ve kept their prices down and kept their margins tight.”

And Moore adds that retail professionals of all levels could find work in the hospitality sector: “We only look at management recruitment but there is no reason why someone who has been a sales assistant or a sales supervisor in a retail environment cannot use those skills in the hospitality sector within customer services.”

Louise White, director at retail recruiter Oyster Retail Recruitment, who has worked with catering firms in the past, told Recruiter that retail professionals’ proficiency with key performance indicators (KPIs) would be highly prized.

“I can understand why they want retailers because retailers generally run their stores on the basis of KPIs and KPIs drive sales, profits and average transaction value, and reduce stock loss. Within a pub/restaurant environment, it’s exactly the same. It is all about money in the till.”

In the end, management of costs needs to be allied with great customer service, according to the British Hospitality Association. A spokesperson told Recruiter that at a time of economic recession, when consumer spend is down, it was more important than ever to
understand customer needs and how to satisfy them.

“Both sectors are customerfacing industries and largely depend on high levels of customer service,” said the spokesperson.

“Selling beds and food is basically a retail skill, though one that’s more complicated than selling pots and pans. Depending on the hotel sector, any hotel company looking to recruit retail professionals needs to ensure they are keen to learn the idiosyncracies of the hospitality industry.”

• See Case study for more information on this trend.