Soutine temporarily closes due to staff shortages

Corbin & King is the latest hospitality group to be hit by recruitment issues after having to temporarily close its London restaurant Soutine.

A post on the restaurant’s website said the venue had shut due to ‘critical staff shortages’ across the wider business. It is expected to reopen on 4 October.

Soutine, which is inspired by Parisian cafés, opened in London’s St John’s Wood in 2019.

It appears all other Corbin & King restaurants, which include Brasserie Zédel, the Wolseley and the Delauney, remain open.

Soutine is one of the latest restaurants forced to close due to recruitment issues. In July the Michelin-starred Walnut Tree restaurant near Abergavenny in Monmouthshire temporarily shut due to staff shortages, while last month acclaimed barbecue restaurant Hang Fire Southern Kitchen in Barry closed permanently after struggling to recruit.

Michel Roux Jr has been forced to cancel lunch service at the two-Michelin-starred Le Gavroche restaurant in London's Mayfair and go dinner service-only since mid-June due to the staffing shortage.

Last week the Office for National Statistics (ONS) published research that revealed hospitality businesses are more than twice as likely than other industries to be experiencing challenges in filling vacancies for this time of year.

The study found that 30% of hospitality operators said it was more difficult than normal to find staff, compared to 13% across all other sectors.