the full, Anna encourages her team to become parents - and to be active parents at that. Since becoming a mother herself, as a chef owner, she sets the rules, and shows that it is possible.
She lives close to the restaurant and has made the neccessary arrangements to ensure that she can continue to work without missing out on being a mother.
“I’m the boss, so I get to call the shots, no one’s going to give out to me," she laughed.
"If I'm doing a meeting or I'm doing anything that's during the day that I can take him to and it doesn't disrupt what I'm doing, I try to do it because it's really hard to juggle everything. If I have a meeting I can have him on my lap, within reason."
However, this is not the experience for many others in the industry, as old practices continue to dominate. She said: “I think that’s what makes it quite hard for other women. They’re not the boss so they don’t have the same support.”
“But I’ve told any of the girls that work in my restaurant that if they ever did want to have children, that I would definitely be a very flexible boss when it comes to hours and different things you need to take into consideration.”
Anna also brought up the point that hospitality is built for families, just as guests, saying: “We have an industry that is totally built for people with children in that you need chefs to cook all day long – it’s not just first thing in the morning and last thing at night – and, even if someone comes in and does quality work for four or five hours for certain reasons, I’d pay for that.”
“So, the old fashioned idea that it wouldn’t suit women, it’s just wrong. You just need to be able to adjust to your staff.”
Sally took her point a bit further saying, “We just need to scribble out everything that’s been done before and start with a blank piece of paper and say, ‘what’s the best way to do this?’”
Ultimately, she said: “We have to find a way to do it where everyone can be accommodated, otherwise it’s not very fair is it.”
