EXECUTIVE SOUS CHEF SANJAY KUMAR INSPIRES WITH HIS STRATEGIES FOR INSPIRING CHEFS: A REPORT IN CONVERSATION WITH KHATIBAH REHMAT.

Chefs who work in the industry often have difficult, demanding and unpleasant jobs, where they work long hours, on the weekends and even on holidays. They frequently deal with bosses and kitchen staff who have harsh dispositions. This helps to explain the high turnover rate in the food service sector. Thus, to preserve the mission of your workplace, how can you incentivize line chefs? How do you encourage cooks to grow and become outstanding chefs? Nobody can deny the difficulty of finding a competent chef. These days, it’s critical to figure out how to keep the cooks you employ on board, given the fierce competition in the hospitality sector. High employee turnover is one of the largest costs for any firm. In addition to losing a person’s knowledge and expertise, hiring and training a replacement takes financial resources when an employee departs. Especially when you have to hire substitute cooks regularly, this can be a costly endeavour. The guidance may assist you in cultivating staff members who have the necessary aptitude to thrive in the cutthroat culinary industry, even if there are no easy answers to these queries. Here are some tips on how to attract and retain staff:

1. SELECT THE IDEAL APPOINTMENT:

A productive kitchen functions like an efficiently functioning machine and for it to operate effectively, all of its components must work together harmoniously. Recruitment managers should be aware of this while hiring staff in the kitchen. It could be tempting to simply hire the first qualified candidate who shows up, doing so can sometimes lead to problems down the road in the future. Hasty selections can result in inefficiencies, personality conflicts, divergent career goals and a general lack of coherence. Therefore, it is essential that you instead take the time to establish a thorough and well-organized hiring plan as part of your recruiting process. The prerequisites for the role should be discussed in great detail in the job descriptions. Finding the ideal candidate requires carefully crafting the finest roundtable talk to get the most pertinent information from candidates.

2. PROVIDE INDIVIDUALISED RATES, INCENTIVES AND PROTECTIONS:

Experienced chefs are highly sought after; it’s no secret. Fine dining has become increasingly popular as a result of the rise in popularity of culinary programs and celebrity chefs. Restaurants are thus having to fight harder to hire outstanding chefs. Starting with high base pay is one approach to attracting the best chefs. The easiest approach to avoid high turnover rates is probably to follow this advice. Verify that the salaries you are giving are commensurate with the market rate for your region. Bonuses, pension schemes, health insurance and other enticing incentives should be offered. In particular, in a large city, this will assist in balancing the rising expense of living. Bonuses should be connected to the unit’s total profit and loss. This will guarantee that chefs are encouraged to create high-quality dishes that will increase revenue. You can employ the best chefs and position your restaurant/hotel/food factory for success by providing a competitive compensation and bonus structure.

3. OFFER AVENUE OF EXPANSION:

A chef’s lifetime goal is to grow professionally and nurture their culinary talents. So sometimes offer them to pay for courses or certifications that will enable them to advance their careers. Give them a chance to handle bigger responsibilities in your company too. By providing such professional advancement opportunities, you can prevent them from getting bored and looking for a new job as well.

4. ENCOURAGE A POSITIVE ATMOSPHERE AT WORK:

The hospitality sector is a very stressful and demanding place to work. Due to their lengthy work hours, demanding deadlines and finicky customers, culinary professionals frequently suffer from burnout and overload because they spend so much time in the kitchen. To encourage positivity and teamwork, it is crucial to make sure they have time to unwind, promote open discussion and collaboration amongst your current employees and make sure the kitchen fits with business principles and is suitably furnished and set up.

5. LET CHEFS HAVE A VOICE IN MARKETING MORE:

Restaurant owners are aware that excellent cuisine is simply one aspect of running a successful business. The other is marketing. The fact is that even with excellent food, it will be impossible for prospective patrons to appreciate it if they are unaware of the restaurant. That’s why it makes sense to pay your chef to do more than just create delicious food; they should also actively participate in business promotion. Chefs will be directly impacted by the business’s success and will be incentivised to guarantee that the food and marketing are of the highest calibre using bonus systems that tie performance in the kitchen to promotions. Chefs may contribute greatly in this way and enjoy the restaurant’s accomplishments.

6. PROVIDE ADAPTABILITY:

Chefs also have families; therefore, it is important to provide them flexibility in terms of working hours and show empathy if they need time off for personal or family reasons. They should also be given the flexibility to set their timetable at times so that they can also fulfil their family responsibilities.

7. IMPROVE AND REVITALIZE:

There are numerous advantages to being employed in the hospitality business. You might develop professionally by taking on additional responsibility in addition to learning new skills and accumulating valuable experience. As the leader of the team, one of your primary duties is to provide training and development opportunities for your team members. By offering them the chance to gain new skills and deeper knowledge about managing a business, you can help them progress professionally. Offering chances for training and development can also help you create a more supportive and engaging work environment for your entire team.

8. EXPRESS YOUR GRATUITY:

Rewarding your cooks for their efforts is a crucial duty of unit management. Simple gestures like a thank-you note or a lunch date are often much appreciated, as can a simple “yes.” You must communicate to your chefs that you appreciate their contributions since they are essential to the success of your company. You may create a productive workplace and maintain your chefs’ motivation by taking the time to express your gratitude.

INPUTS AND PICTURE COURTESY: CHEF SANJAY KUMAR.