UKHospitality highlighted that the sector had chef shortages ranging from 10% for head chefs and up to 21% for production chefs.

Kate Nicholls, chief executive of UKHospitality, said: “While the sector continues to invest significantly in growing its own talent, there needs to be changes to our immigration system to enable businesses to fill essential skills gaps. The Shortage Occupation List is a critical part of that and adding chefs to the list is a simple move that can have enormous benefits.

“In our evidence submitted to the MAC, we highlighted how a quarter of members told us they would restrict their trading hours if this level of chef vacancies continued. This is likely to be on top of cutbacks many businesses have already been forced to make.

"I’d urge the MAC to recognise the value hospitality can bring to the economy, when it’s operating at full strength, and grant our requests to help alleviate the devastating shortages that continue to plague our sector.”