Service Stupor
An interesting thread of thought that ran seamlessly — sometimes in the forefront, sometimes behind-the-scenes — throughout the answers of the Head Chef Survey was service and the challenge behind finding professional staff members.
According to 72.3% of the chefs, good customer service was the most important for the success of their operation. However, finding people who could seamlessly deliver impeccable service seemed to present a hurdle.
One chef said that while the region is currently seeing “tremendous competition” and international brands, the one thing that still lags behind in the quality scale is the service culture where it is a challenge to find professionals.
| Advertisement |
Another said: “More and more respected chefs are looking to open here, food quality overall has improved drastically, but food service is in a state of spiral.” Downward, we think he meant.
Labour shortage could be a cause, with 42.6% chefs revealing this was a major concern for their outlets. On the wish list for the head honchos was to have “skilled labour” which would help them carry out their job better.
Interestingly enough, the rise of technology in the kitchen did not seem to curry favour with chefs who want skilled team members.
While 67.3% of our respondent chefs think using technology improves kitchen efficiency and 38.8% said it raises the quality of cuisine, 36.7% said young chefs now lack basic skills due to this development, and 10.2% said technology makes them lazier.
One chef said: “I believe the basics are the foundation for us to be successful, and new technology is just another technique to learn; it does not replace skill.”
Indeed, Caterer Middle East has, on recent visits to various restaurants, seen some chefs go ‘old school’ and revert to using machines and/or techniques from simpler times and still produce quality food.
Article continues on next page ...
Search our database of more than 2,700 industry companies
