A rebranding of restaurant group Tragus’s career site, best known for its chains including Cafe Rouge, Belgo, Bella Italia and Strada, has resulted in a 50% increase in applications since the site’s redesign in November, according to head of recruitment & policy, Claire Clarke.

Recruitment advertising and website design firm WDAD Communications was charged with spearheading the rebranding of the site. The result was the ’Get into food in a big way’ site which features a four-minute film showcasing both Tragus and its individual brands. The site simplifies the recruitment process by allowing candiates to upload CVs on the new system, populating application forms so they don’t have fill out the form to load their details twice. It also boasts a talent pool system which has enabled the recruitment team to see exactly who is on the system.

The new site, which has been supported by trade press advertising on hospitality jobs sites and restaurant magazines, will help Tragus staff six new eatery openings before June, including a Strada in Central London and Cafe Rouges in Wokingham, Reading and Leicester, creating more than 80 jobs. And Clarke says that Tragus will be recruiting for all posts from kitchen porters right up to restaurant managers at these sites.

Agencies will handle only the recruitment of general managers and head chefs. The chain has cut its use of recruiters from 22% of its jobs down to 10% since October 2008, according to Clarke.

And the new website has been instrumental in communicating Tragus’s core values to new direct recruits, Clarke says. “Every person that comes through the door of any of our restaurants needs the passion and wants to work for a particular brand, not just turn up on our door and say ’I’m here because you have given me an interview’.”

“What we expect is people to want to work for that brand and have gone in to a Cafe Rouge, had a meal and understood what it is about and then come to us and said they really want to work here. It is personality foremost. It is about personality and for restaurant managers to lead by example and lead a branded restaurant experience.”