It used to be pretty easy for Alex Wrethman to find chefs. The restaurateur would stick an ad online and wait for the CVs to flood in. These days, he must work a lot harder — and even fight rivals for good staff. “It’s such a tough market, we need to get competitive,” he said. “You don’t necessarily want to walk into a restaurant round the corner and start dropping business cards, but if that’s what it takes . . .”

Wrethman estimates 10% of the positions at his three upmarket bistros are vacant, and describes marathon three-day sessions trawling LinkedIn for candidates. He draws parallels with the football transfer market, describing one of his managers as “a bit of a Mourinho” for his aggressive