Cornwall cafe boss tells customers to not be rude to staff

A business owner in Cornwall has told customers with "self entitlement" to stop being rude to her staff.

Tania Daniel, from the Brown Sugar Cafe in Fowey, said the hospitality industry was "struggling" because of a lack of staff but they were doing their best.

She said on social media a small minority of customers over the bank holiday weekend had been "difficult" and she asked people to "be kind".

Other businesses across the county also said they had had staffing problems.

An estimated 120,000 visitors were in Cornwall over the bank holiday weekend, Visit Cornwall said.

Ms Daniel said in a Facebook post that Fowey, "very much like the rest of Cornwall", had been "buckling under the strain from visitors".

She said in her post on Monday: "I will not tolerate any one being rude to my staff, when they [are] pushing themselves to the limit to provide you with your food and drink and the best service possible."

She also added "Tripadvisor warriors" should "back off" after negative reviews were posted.

She said the hospitality industry was "struggling with a severe lack of staff" and she did not know where "this self entitlement [has] come from".

She told the BBC reviews had said people had complained about waiting for 40 minutes for orders when her till showed it was less than 20, and people needed to "slow down and look at the bigger picture".

Ms Daniel also said she had had many messages of support after the post.

The new owner of the Halsetown Inn, St Ives, said he was having to bring in staff from elsewhere.

Paul Walton said he was "stunned" he could not get anyone locally for full-time live-in posts.

He said: "I do try to recruit locally, but it appears I'll have to ship people in from Sussex."

In May, UK Hospitality said there was a shortfall of about 188,000 workers, with the shortage of front-of-house staff and chefs being "particularly acute".

The sector has been has been hit hard by the pandemic, and is also facing shortages due to Brexit, the trade body said.

Follow BBC News South West on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. Send your story ideas to [email protected].