It has been very apparent the devastating impact that the past few years have had on the hospitality sector.
Many restaurants, bars and hotels have been searching for staff while their bills continue to rise, resulting in the closure of many local businesses across Northern Ireland.
However, a team of Derry creatives are hoping that their new start-up will 'revolutionise' the hospitality industry and help in its recovery.
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Co-founders of SwiftShift, Christopher Shiels, Paul Leonard and Mark Biddle saw the devastating impact that the COVID-19 impact had on staffing levels within local hospitality venues.
SwiftShift was created to help alleviate pressures of staffing within venues and allow workers to pick up extra shifts in combating the cost of living crisis.
Speaking to MyDerry, Christopher said: "Our business was created on the basis to bridge the staffing shortage within hospitality currently. Since the COVID-19 pandemic the hospitality industry has failed to recover, a lot of workers have left the sector to pursue other careers and never returned.
"Our platform allows businesses to find casual staff for when and where they need them. It also allows individuals to pick up extra work that fits their lifestyle during a cost-of-living crisis."
The co-founders hope that this new innovation will have a positive impact on both businesses and individual workers.
Christopher said: "This will revolutionise the hospitality industry by ensuring that businesses can fill the roles that they are currently unable to fill.
"There are currently over 174,000 job openings in the hospitality sector according to the Office of National Statistics. Our platform bridges the gap between hospitality businesses and workers by giving control over businesses and workers.
"There is no platform currently out there that is offering what we offer. We are able to provide the needs of both businesses and workers by providing qualified staff for businesses and providing the work for individuals that either have their hours cut or looking to pick up an extra source of income.
"Our platform is unique as it provides a notification system that alerts users when shifts relevant to them are posted, so they no longer have to continuously look on social media or job boards."
The team have seen success and support for their start-up since the initiative was born, as they set up their new city centre office at 16 Bishop Street.
Christopher said: "We have had a huge amount of positive feedback since launching early this year.
"We won the Start-Up Launch Pad competition during Derry City & Strabane District Councils Enterprise week. We have also gained a huge amount of experienced individuals signing up for our service, with over 7 businesses onboarded currently, and in talks with a number of other businesses currently."
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