MANAGEMENT
Restoring a Post-COVID Workforce An open letter to colleagues on the labor crisis facing the culinary profession.
By Scott Craig, CEC, CCA, WCMC, Director of Culinary Operations, Myers Park Country Club, Charlotte, N.C.
WHILE IT’S ALWAYS BEEN ON THE horizon, we have finally encountered the “perfect storm” of hiring in the food-and-beverage industry. Some will say our labor shortage was created by COVID-19 and perpetuated by enhanced unemployment benefits and stimulus checks. I only agree in part. After all, I remember sitting with esteemed chefs at the 2019 Chef to Chef Conference discussing our respective labor challenges before most of us had ever heard of coronavirus. What brought us to where we are? Here are my thoughts:
1. RISING COST OF EDUCATION First, the disproportionately rising cost of education over the past twenty-five years, especially in private culinary schools, has created an extraordinary burden on students and parents alike. While there are some incredible low-cost options for formal education on a local level, some potential cooks have simply felt shut out of the industry by the prohibitive cost of entry. Others were driven out 24
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by the combination of debt and low wages. I was one of them. After attending a four-year college, I did not feel I could take on the additional burden of student loans associated with culinary school, so I apprenticed.
2. OLD-SCHOOL MENTALITIES The disconnect between the generations continues to contribute to the lack of participation. I know plenty of chefs who reminisce about the rough-andtumble days of old-school brigades. Some still cling to those sensibilities. But the modern generation does not respond to this type of leadership, and railing against the faults of millennials, and those younger than them, only serves as a barrier to the development of needed new talent. I, for one, believe the younger generations have dozens of strengths that we should embrace and celebrate. Their ability to multi-task, their desire to serve a larger purpose, and their capacity for empathy are all extraordinary attributes that we must harness and direct. www.clubandresortbusiness.com
