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London restaurants are struggling to recruit British staff because home-grown waiters do not see it as a “real career” and lack training, insiders revealed today.

Emmanuel Landre is the general manager of Le Gavroche, owned and run by Michel Roux Jr. It employs 25 staff who deal directly with customers — but only two are British.

Mr Landre, a 38-year-old Frenchman, said: “For too long catering, and especially front-of-house, has been seen as a student job in the UK. But for people from Europe it is a real profession that you study for many years."

He added: “There are not enough English people in the industry, and too many foreigners.”

While its image is said to be improving, waiting is still seen as a stop-gap to a “proper” career, which is “very much looked down upon”, according to Richard Cossins, front-of-house manager of Fera at Claridge’s.

Mr Cossins, from Hertfordshire, said: “It’s seen as a part-time job between school and university. When I was at Pétrus with Marcus Wareing, the most common question from diners was ‘what university are you at?’

“In Spain, France, Germany, Italy they have grown up with service, families have restaurants, and there are world-class catering colleges. We are some way off that.”

Bosses at Fera wanted “as many British staff as possible” to reflect head chef Simon Rogan’s low air-miles food. But restaurant director Ben Hofer, who is Austrian, admitted only eight of the 35-strong front-of-house team were from the UK — despite interviewing hundreds of candidates.

"Some of them had just come out of catering college, and I think they thought they could get into management positions that they weren’t ready for,” said Mr Hofer, 34.

MORE VIDEO: Why is there a lack of British waiting staff?

Ed Baines, chef-owner of Randall & Aubin in Soho, admitted he did not employ any British front-of-house staff. “It’s not a policy, it’s just that they don’t come through the door,” he said, adding that “reservedness” can count against native waiters. He added: “The difference is in the training. The Italians are the best.”

Baines, 45, who was a regular on Ready Steady Cook and Britain’s Best Dish, said diners in Britain have a poor view of servers. “It’s a two-way thing,” he said. “We’re not a nation that is comfortable with service. We still see it as, ‘I’m better than you’, or that kind of nonsense, whereas overseas they are very much a part of the evening.”

But while high-end service is slick, standards in mid-range restaurants remain below those in America and Europe, he said — and will improve only if diners complain more. “People here find it hard to discuss in a calm way why they weren’t happy with the service — but all you’ve done is highlight an issue,” he said. “But what happens in the UK is no one says anything, then they get outside and they’re straight on TripAdvisor.

“People aren’t demanding enough. If an Italian was given the coffee or the stale old paninis they serve up near where I live, they’d send them back.”

Le Gavroche’s Mr Landre added: “The quality you need to be a good waiter is to be invisible. You must read the mind of your guest, without asking anything. If they require anything they should have it before they ask.”