06 Oct 2022
Speaking as part of a panel at the Commercial Kitchen Show 2022, Mark explained how hospitality is still seen as an unattractive career choice describing: “At the moment, parents, teachers, etc, will never say to the students or their kids, go work in hospitality. They'll say go work in a bank, go do something that's more well paid.”
The comment from Mark follows findings collected by his organisation, which suggested only one in five people would consider working in hospitality, and only two in five would recommend working in it to someone else.
Highlighting what this represents for the hospitality industry, Mark explained: “You've basically got an industry that has a brand problem, it's also got a product problem in terms of the experience that a lot of employees get when they come into it, but we can't fix everything straight away.”
Looking at ways to encourage more talent and improve the image of the industry, Chris Galvin Chef Patron of Galvin Restaurants, highlighted that professionals within the industry need to change the culture for hospitality workers.
“We're working double hard now to make a better culture of less hours, more flexibility, more pay. They want to see their careers prospects [and] a clear path to their development,” Chris explained.
Addressing the industry’s image problem, Hospitality Rising’s Interim Chairman David Campbell, believes closer co-operation between businesses is the key to change.
David said: “It’s an opportunity for the industry as a whole to get together and change that image. I always look at it as a badge, we're all proud of what we do and what we've done because we've been in it.”
Summarising why hospitality is such a unique industry, David concluded: “The things you learned in the kitchen, the things you can learn in a bar, just the people skills alone cannot be matched in any other industry, we've just got to open that door and get people think about it.”