Chef shortage: an analysis of the skills drain in the Irish hospitality sector of 2017

Abstract

So, you want to be a chef? Your hands will be continuously be cut, burned, skinned. An open book about your life in a kitchen. Your back will be painful all your life. You will always be under pressure, you will be anxious, stressed. You will always be asked to constantly give 110%. You will always be tired. Nobody around you will ever understand how difficult being a chef is. It looks so easy and lovely on TV. (Chauvet 2013). It is widely acknowledged within the hospitality sector that being a chef is a tough career path. Occupational stress modes such as long working hours/shift work that leads to fatigue, unpredictable shifts, few breaks, heavy physical demands, mental and emotional demands, low pay, poor working conditions and lack of resources (Lo 2005). These factors can be compounded by the leadership in the kitchen. In 1994, Famous French chef Eric Ripert took over the kitchen as executive chef and part-owner of Le Bernardin in New York City. Ripert’s style of management was that of the old school tough chef training. “I was trained in France, from a very young age, in the kitchen. And the way they were teaching me at the time was what they called the ‘old-school kind of teaching’ -- which was verbal and physical abuse” (Ripert 2015). He decided to change his leadership style completely, leaving behind the old system of ruling through fear. “One day, I was thinking, ‘Why am I so miserable? Why is everybody leaving?’ I realized it was all about me -- all about being angry and scaring the cooks, scaring the employees and making them miserable,” (Ripert 2015). Today, his kitchen reflects his belief in peace and kindness. There is an absence of the shouting, clatter and music that is typical of busy kitchens in award-winning restaurants, and the staff has been taught to treat each other with the highest respect. ix The current skills drain amongst chefs in the Irish hospitality sector can be resolved by adopting techniques similar to that of Eric Ripert. The Expert Group on Future Skills Needs (EGFSN) was commissioned to compile the ‘Assessment of Future Skills Requirements in the Hospitality Sector in Ireland, 2015-2020’. This report highlights the skills needed to service the increased demand from the hospitality sector over the coming years. Creating a healthy environment such as Eric Ripert in Bernadin may enable Irish hotels and restaurants to retain staff and make a career as a chef more attractive for those entering the industry,