Knives are out over World Cup catering

Does New Zealand have enough high end hospitality workers for the 2011 Rugby World Cup? Photo / Sarah Ivey.

The head of New Zealand's largest private front-of-house hospitality training institute says the country is setting itself up to fail at the Rugby World Cup because it does not have enough top-end hospitality staff.

Luella Bartlett, of The Professional Bar & Restaurant School, which trains 1200 workers a year, says the industry is short of 17,000 workers now.

The event will stretch the country to breaking-point unless something is done to lift the cap on the number of Kiwis able to train, or to bring in people who want to train, she says.

She estimates Eden Park will need an extra 2000 people to help with catering. "People who go to the corporate box at Eden Park will expect a high level of service but they won't get it because it will be casual staff. There is a lack of quality, trained staff in New Zealand at a corporate level."

In October the Government launched KiaOraMai, a programme to bring 7000-10,000 hospitality, accommodation, transport, tourism and retail workers up to a basic standard for the 2011 tournament.

But Bartlett says that is not enough to help at the top end.

The Government needed to lift the cap stopping training institutions from taking on more domestic students with student loans and allowances, and make it easier for people from countries like India to train here.

Hospitality Standards Institute chief executive Steve Hanrahan said the concerns were valid but it was putting in place more training to ensure workers were up to scratch.

"We have been working with the catering sector for about 18 months."

It was close to launching a programme to train up to 10,000 people to work at stadiums. He was confident Eden Park would be well-serviced.

But it was possible New Zealand would rely on immigrant staff because of the demand across stadiums, hotels and bars for a short time.

Hospitality Association chief executive Bruce Robertson said many institutes offered localised courses for which the Government provided loans or allowances.

"The Government funding should only be going where the training is to a national standard."