Is the rise of celeb chefs harming the industry?

Today’s celebrity chef culture may have changed the way consumers view food for the better, but how has the glamorisation of life in the kitchen impacted the F&B industry itself?

Thanks to numerous TV cookery shows, foodie magazines and books, the last decade has seen the role of chef glamorised hugely, particularly in the west.

Indeed, some of the world’s top chefs are also top celebrities (or is it the other way round?) Gordon Ramsay, Jamie Oliver and Marco Pierre White are all household names, as are many others.

This new culture of culinary celebrity has undoubtedly had a positive impact on the consumer market, with the public becoming far more willing to try new things, both when dining out and in their own kitchens.

But how has this phenomenon affected the world’s chefs?
At Atlantis, The Palm — where celeb chef-backed outlets include Nobu, Ronda Locatelli, Rostang and Ossiano — vice president, culinary Mark Patten noted: “The effects [of celebrity chefs] in general are an increase in the quality of restaurants and dining experiences, and through media coverage of these celebrity chefs, more people are drawn to work in the industry.”

Mike Nalborczyk, general manager at Hilton Dubai Creek, home to Gordon Ramsay’s Dubai outlet Verre, added that restaurants had been forced to raise their game in the wake of celeb chef fever.

“People come in having higher expectations and want to be delighted,” he said. “They are also more adventurous with their dining options.

“It has also helped open young minds to the industry,” continued Patten. “We now have a new generation who are ever more enthusiastic about developing themselves in the culinary world.”

According to Vineet Bhatia, the first Indian chef to receive a Michelin star and the patron-chef of Indego at Grosvenor House Dubai, the more exposure the industry gets, the better it becomes.

“As more people come into the field, the industry grows, more jobs are created and more hotels open up,” he reasons.

“What happens as part of the bargain is that more staff are coming in and getting trained better, the competition increases and there’s more choice for the consumer.”

But is there a negative side to the media glamorisation of this extremely tough role?
Speaking as one accustomed to the limelight, Indego’s Bhatia agrees “there are negative aspects to everything”, but says the impact very much depends on how the chef in question handles his newfound influence.

“I don’t consider myself a celebrity chef at all, I still say I’m a cook and that what I like to do,” he insisted.

“It’s the media that puts you up on that pedestal — how things go from thereon depends on whether you want to accept this ‘star status’ and how much goes into your head.”
 

But Angela Hartnett, a Ramsay protégée and now a Michelin-starred chef in her own right, has seen a more negative side.

“People look at Gordon [Ramsay] and Jamie [Oliver] and think ‘oh yeah, I can do that, it’s only a bit of cooking’, and then you have people going into the restaurant business with the idea not of running a restaurant, but of becoming famous and use cooking to get there — which of course is the wrong way to do it,” she told Caterer Middle East in an exclusive interview last year.

“Now you see these youngsters coming in saying ‘I want to be on TV, I want to be the next Jamie Oliver’, and you think ‘OK, but can you run a restaurant — can you make money, can you deliver the product, can you get customers coming back?’

“Because if you can’t do that, forget TV — you might get your five minutes of fame, but after that what are you going to do? So in that respect, I think this whole celeb thing’s been a bit negative.”

However Hartnett admitted the glamorisation of the industry had also brought benefits.

“These chefs have brought cooking to light, they’ve made it a much sexier career move than it would have been ten years ago,” she pointed out.

All the same, some celebrity chefs have come in for criticism over recent years for spreading their culinary empires too thinly.

So what is the impact on a kitchen team when such a figure becomes ‘patron chef’ of the outlet but isn’t working in the kitchen — as is the case for several restaurants in this region?
Indego’s Bhatia commented: “You cannot spend time at each outlet — what’s important is that the guest shouldn’t notice the difference when you are not there.

“If you ever get to the stage where you feel you can’t control your restaurants, then you shouldn’t take on more projects,” he asserted.

According to Atlantis’ Patten, any chef with his name over the door “must always have a close eye on day-to-day operations”, while the team in place must be able to consistently deliver the product and experience.

“It’s a bit like being a manager for a world class football team; their name’s associated with the product, even though they don’t actually score any goals,” he explained.

Hilton’s Nalborczyk added that a close partnership was key for this chef-patron business model to succeed. “Our core team is an extension of Gordon’s team and we stay in close contact with them,” he revealed.

“Even a simple change of dish requires input from Gordon and the team. It is paramount to ensure that you remain true to the patron chef’s values and concept.”

Even for outlets that do not have a celebrity chef’s name over the door, occasional associations with such public figures can still be extremely beneficial.

According to Jorrit Gerritsma, F&B director at Six Senses Hideaway Zighy Bay in Oman, where Pierre Gagnaire recently guest-cheffed, the kitchen team found it “inspiring” to be able to work with such a world-renowned figure.

“It gives them pride and inspiration, and generally boosts the level of cooking,” he asserted. Indego’s Bhatia agreed such promotions could create “a lot of buzz”.

“It motivates the staff immensely, as getting a guest chef coming down is a big boost for them,” he noted. “They also get to learn a lot from somebody who’s recognised in the industry, who has achieved a certain status for what they have done.”

Ultimately, restaurants operating in this competitive region must constantly offer new ways of engaging with their clients, as noted by Hilton’s Nalborczyk.

“Guest chefs are a great way of adding value to the dining experience — but any such tactic must be compatible with the existing positioning of the restaurant and enhance the customer experience,” he warned.

Today, many famed chefs have been persuaded to open outlets in the Middle East — and with gourmet fairs such as Gourmet Abu Dhabi and Taste of Dubai coming up, there may be more announcements to come.

But is there room in the market for more celebrity chef outlets?
Six Senses’ Gerritsma said he believed both Abu Dhabi and Dubai “could do with a few more”, but emphasised: “They need to be small — by UAE standards – and the location needs to be picked very well.”

Similarly, Hilton’s Nalborczyk said celebrity chef-endorsed restaurants were “a great way to raise the profile of the region, keep standards in check and generally enrich the customer experience”.

As Indego’s Bhatia pointed out: “There’s lots of room — and the more chefs come here, the better the Middle East’s F&B scene will become.

“People get scared and say there is too much competition between celebrity chefs,” he mused.
“But I say no to that: the more the merrier, and the better for the industry.”