Every month on The Staff Canteen we feature a selection of different chefs who we think our members will want to know more about. This month we have also spoken to those chefs to find out what they think about the chef shortage. Take a look at their responses - we would love to hear what you think so please comment below or follow us Facebook and Twitter and get in touch:
Tom Duffill, head chef, Bistrot de Luxe - Galvin Restaurants
It’s much tougher than it used to be ten years ago. We have tried to take a different approach by investing time and training into staff. We try to build people up with basic skills, into a good all round cook. Then we move them through the ranks when they are ready, and if they are looking for a promotion after a few years with us, we will make a place for them in another area in the group.
We are very much involved in apprentice schemes, we are running our fourth year of the apprentice scheme with Westerns College. The third years finished last summer, and they have been introduced into our kitchens - all of them have stayed! I can really see the benefits of being involved in these things, this year we are even more heavily involved in it and next year we hope to have a whole class of apprentices at the Galvin group!
You invest time in them and they give it back to you by staying, and as long as you keep giving it to them, they’ll keep taking it. We build them up slowly as well, the first year they do four shifts a week plus a day at college which we pay them for, the second year they do six shifts plus a day at college, and in the last year they do seven shifts and a day at college, so they work up to eight shifts which is what the chefs do anyway. I think that really does help. We don’t do five days a week, we do three solid days and two half days so they get two full days and two half days off which I think really helps as well.
At first I was sceptical, but I have four apprentices in the kitchen at the moment and I can safely say they are all guys and girls that I trust and I know they are dependable and they will turn up for their shift and they are going to learn and develop into good cooks.
Has the chef shortage affected you?
I definitely think it has affected us. We have had to change attitudes, how we deal with people, and the hours have had to be a little bit different. We have to nurture talent when we see some, you can’t expect to hit the ground running every time! You have to teach them and give them some time to find their feet as well as some confidence. The work force under management level in the kitchen, they are young people and they need a bit of discipline and direction and if we don’t give it to them they will just walk in and walk out again.
Also you have to filter the bad from the good. There’s a lot of bad still out there. We aren’t looking for the finished product, we are looking for somebody who is keen and motivated, who wants to learn. And if you have got that, that’s the best basis you can start with, we can teach everything else.
Cary Doherty, head chef, Little Social
Working long hours in a Michelin kitchen, did that effect you at all?
For me personally, working those hours was fantastic because the more you work, the more you learn. Obviously now, times have changed. People don’t work like that anymore. Everybody here gets three days off, four days on.
I felt that I was quite fortunate and glad to work those hours, because it gets you where you need to go, faster.
Even when I was at Zuma, it was 7 shifts per week, three and a half days off, but I always asked for extra shifts, and ended up working 5 doubles a week because I felt if I was out of the kitchen I would be wasting my time, I wouldn’t be learning.
So for me it was a very rewarding experience, it was very draining and very difficult, but it made me stronger and it got me where I needed to go.
Has the chef shortage affected you at Little Social? Do you think the attitudes of chefs coming straight out of college has changed?
As with anything, there’s some people that come in and want to push themselves, but like I said we try to provide a very good balance between work and life here. So at the end of the day we try our best to make sure everybody has three days off, sometimes if we are understaffed, certain individuals will ask to work. I think it
