Up to 90 percent of catering staff in Edinburgh could be made redundant by Gather & Gather

A vast wave of redundancies could see up to 90 per cent of catering staff employed by Gather & Gather made redundant in the capital in the foreseeable future.

Aberdeen Standard Investments are one of such businesses cutting back on catering staff

A whistleblower has claimed that 40 per cent of staff have already been informed that they would lose their jobs.

It is understood that several consultation processes are already underway with members of staff but senior management at the firm have refused to comment publicly on the exact number of jobs which are under threat.

On the redundancies, the source said: “It is absolutely heart-breaking for families to be facing redundancies right before Christmas. We have been told that they have done absolutely everything they can to try to keep us on but due to external companies cancelling contracts in Edinburgh, that has not been possible.

“There are folk who have worked for decades in catering for business in the capital who have been reduced to tears because of this decision.

“The level of disrespect for loyal employees at an extremely difficult time is just unforgivable and something has to be done about it. I know some have expressed a desire to hold a protest against the redundancies, so I guess we have to wait and see.”

Gather & Gather spokesperson did not deny the level of job losses in the pipeline.

A spokesperson said: “The impact of Covid-19 on the hospitality industry and therefore our business is significant.

“As a direct result of the pandemic and lockdown measures introduced by the UK governments, we have seen a substantial reduction in our operations across the country. Turnover has reduced by over 80 percent and we are therefore unable to support the pre-Covid structure.

“As we plan to rebuild the business in line with each government’s regulations and client requirements, we’ve had to review and change our business structure and align our cost base to the reduced operating levels. We’ve been doing all we can to minimise the impact on our teams, including the exec team taking pay freezes and managers taking pay reductions. However, the impact of the pandemic on the entire hospitality industry means that redundancies are unfortunately inevitable.

“The consultation process remains ongoing and we are doing all we can to retain as many colleagues as possible.”

Aberdeen Standard Investments (ASI) were identified as one of the companies that are reducing the amount of catering staff in their buildings.

It is believed that nine members of catering staff out of a team of 19 will be lost under the new arrangement. There is still uncertainty regarding the other Edinburgh businesses that may be impacted.

A spokesperson for ASI said: “We regularly review all our contracts with suppliers. Following a recent annual review, we have concluded that we will require a smaller number of catering and hospitality contractors to fulfil our ongoing requirements.

"While this impacts a very small number of people, we have worked closely with the supplier over recent months and continue to engage with them on a regular basis to minimise the effect on those affected.”

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