One restaurateur claims his business will become 100 percent Bermudian staffed by the start of next month-a rarity in today's hospitality industry - and hopes that others will follow his lead as the sector begins its long road to recovery.

Greg Wilson, owner of Greg's Steakhouse, said he had received an average of 20 applications from Bermudians looking for work per week since the start of this year as more employees are made redundant and the jobs market becomes more competitive.

He said that Bermudians could no longer afford to pick and choose what work they wanted to do and were now going for positions that guest workers had previously filled and the locals didn't want to do in the past-a trend the industry as a whole has faced.

"I get an average of 20 people a week looking for work, both filling out applications and bringing in resumes," he said.

"I have certainly noticed a big difference this year -since January rolled around it has been prolific.

"I understand it too because Bermudians are the ones who suffer when there is an economic downturn and they lose their jobs, as do the guest workers because they have to leave when they are laid off.

"But I am happy that we are able to meet our goals by providing employment for Bermudians where we can."

Mr.<\p>Wilson and co-owner and executive chef Colin Lloyd have been training young Bermudians in the industry over the past eight years and have now achieved their goal of producing an all-Bermudian team of chefs, servers and bartenders, as well as back office and support staff - a fact Mr. Wilson is very proud of.

"Our goal has always been to provide a quality environment with great food and we have always had the dream to provide 100 percent Bermudian service," he said.

"It seems out of the ordinary today, but when Colin and I started in this business it was the norm -it was unusual to see a guest worker working in the hospitality industry in the 70s and 80s when I came through the restaurant business and almost all of the restaurants were owned and operated by Bermudians, such as the Longtail, the Pickled Barrel and Clyde's Café in St. George's.

"But since then Bermudians have moved into other professions which has taken away them from the hospitality industry, so now my goal is to teach young Bermudians the art of the hospitality industry."

A number of employees have been working at the restaurant and learning the trade during their education over the past five to six years and have since graduated and have come on board full-time.

>Dakia O'Brian, 22, has just completed her associates degree in Culinary and Pastry Arts at Johnson and Wales University and hopes to fulfil her ambition of being a chef, as does Mashalene Moniz, an outstanding youth award winner and day release student, who is working under the tutelage of Mr. Lloyd, and Joshua Le May, a trainee chef, who harbours ambitions of owning his own restaurant one day.

Gary Pitt, 21, who has been working at Greg's Steakhouse since high school when it was based at Port Royal Golf Course and is another university graduate, also has a passion for the entertainment industry -a field he hopes to enter in the future. Maurice Pringle, a 20-year veteran of the hospitality sector since graduating from the Bermuda College Hotel division, worked alongside Mr. Wilson at the Loyalty Inn when it first opened and has been key in training the youngsters.

Janea Lowe, is a trainee bartender and server, who Mr. Wilson describes as having the "ability and dedication" to work in the hospitality industry and "eager to learn", and Copeland and Valerie Smith and Adrian Benjamin, are all porters, who work behind the scenes to keep the place clean and tidy, as well as a team of dedicated part-time and experienced professionals including Quinton Dill and Wesley Tucker.

Mr. Wilson said it was his and his counterparts' duty to encourage the public to support such up-and-coming talent to pick the hospitality sector as their chosen career path and he has grand plans for the future of not only his own business, but within the wider reach of the whole community to make the industry great once again.

"It is a wonderful industry and it employs all of Bermuda, because for me, there would be no international business without the hospitality trade and there is no distinction between the two," he said.

"Eventually I would like to turn this restaurant into a school to teach children at the middle school level and get them interested in the hospitality industry, but it needs to be a collaborative effort on everybody in the industry's part -I am already doing my bit.

"For me it is really a personal passion that I have for the industry and I just feel that by encouraging the youth of Bermuda to participate, it is just my small way of giving something back.

"A lot of the problems that we are facing today on the Island with violence and shootings is because there are elements of our youth who need some direction and guidance to get into a trade like the hospitality industry and to use their hands and their minds and do something constructive with their lives.

"I was fortunate to have the opportunity to get into the hospitality industry and it changed my life and I know how it can change others' lives."