{"id":5567,"date":"2022-02-10T19:58:00","date_gmt":"2022-02-11T01:58:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/live-gordon-food-service.pantheonsite.io\/can-culinary-education-crack-labor-crisis\/"},"modified":"2023-09-05T12:32:09","modified_gmt":"2023-09-05T16:32:09","slug":"can-culinary-education-crack-labor-crisis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gfs.com\/es-us\/ideas\/can-culinary-education-crack-labor-crisis\/","title":{"rendered":"Can culinary education crack the labor crisis?"},"content":{"rendered":"

The labor shortage has many restaurants in a pickle. Finding employees is hard, retaining them is harder still. A solution may be as close as the nearest culinary training program, where people already excited about food could emerge as a new generation of foodservice professionals.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s our job to train potential employees for the industry,\u201d said Chef Werner Absenger, Director of the Secchia Institute for Culinary Education at Grand Rapids Community College (GRCC) in Michigan. \u201cBut it doesn\u2019t stop there \u2026 how do we make the industry sexy for those students?\u201d<\/p>\n

The answer: training. A number of experts echo this point, stressing that culinary programs can feed the desire for restaurant careers, but they won\u2019t relieve labor shortages and high turnover alone. The key to hiring and keeping employees is engagement and growth opportunities.<\/p>\n

Representatives from a middle school program, a high school ProStart program, a culinary school, and a work-release program all weighed in on culinary training and what comes next.<\/p>\n

Starting young\u2014a middle school perspective<\/h3>\n

Restaurant work is a first job for many young people. Common hopping on points include bussing tables, washing dishes or taking orders. It\u2019s not glamorous, and doesn\u2019t appeal for long to kids with dreams of becoming a celebrity chef.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou just can\u2019t pile responsibilities on 16-year-olds without giving them enough training,\u201d Holly Newman said. She\u2019s a family and consumer sciences educator who teaches a seventh-grade class at Kennedy Middle School in Rockledge, Florida. <\/p>\n

Students enter her program because they like food. They quickly learn food is a business with many career avenues. Newman\u2019s class is an elevated home-economics program, where she stresses food safety, food costs, portion control and restaurant service. \u201cBy the end of the year, we set up the classroom like a restaurant with kids in the front of the house taking orders and kids in the back of the house running the kitchen,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n

As a former hospitality worker and now a 22-year teacher working with middle schoolers, she has advice to operators dealing with today\u2019s youngest workers: Have patience and be tolerant.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf all you did was ask them to watch a video, then write them up for making one simple mistake, I have a problem with that,\u201d she said. \u201cIt takes many opportunities and second chances for them to learn, but they will get it if you give them enough training.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Quote<\/h3>\n

The next step\u2014the high school perspective<\/h3>\n

For restaurant operators dealing with every facet of business, training is time consuming. That puts a program like ProStart<\/a> in a position to prepare high-schoolers so restaurants can show them a career path.<\/p>\n

ProStart is a two-year program developed by the National Restaurant Association Educational Foundation that reaches about 130,000 students in high schools nationwide. For Alex Vernon, his own high school involvement led him to a career as ProStart Program Manager of the Wisconsin Restaurant Association Education Foundation<\/a>. He oversees Wisconsin\u2019s ProStart training and education, which focuses on \u201cThe Three C\u2019s\u201d\u2014curriculum, competition, and careers.<\/p>\n

Curriculum. With textbooks and course work, ProStart acts similarly to an advanced placement (AP) food course.
\nCompetition. ProStart holds a statewide competition where students are judged on everything from kitchen basics to cooking skills to management knowledge. Statewide winners advance to a national competition.
\nCareers. The ultimate goal is to open students\u2019 eyes to the many career sectors that await\u2014distribution, manufacturing, restaurant, hotel lodging, golf course, food styling, etc.<\/p>\n

\u201cProStart allows us to introduce high school students to the wide range of hospitality career paths and opportunities,\u201d said Connie Fedor, Executive Director for the Wisconsin Restaurant Association Education Foundation. \u201cI think perception is the industry\u2019s No. 1 obstacle \u2026 people don\u2019t see hospitality as a viable career path.\u201d<\/p>\n

What starts with culinary education culminates with operators finding ways to become preferred employers, whether it\u2019s with higher wages, work-life balance or providing training that opens advancement. \u201cEven if people love to cook or love the business, they will leave a bad manager,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Higher ed\u2014a culinary school perspective<\/strong><\/h3>\n

At the college level, GRCC\u2019s Absenger works with students financially invested in the culinary field. They choose from an associate\u2019s degree program in Culinary Arts or Pre-Major Hospitality Management, and can enroll to earn certificates in Baking and Pastry, Craft Brewing, Culinary Arts<\/a> and Personal Chef. <\/p>\n

The goal of any of GRCC\u2019s programs is for graduates to have a skill set that requires minimal on-the-job training to become productive employees. <\/p>\n

\u201cIf we do our job and make sure students stick with the program, then the industry will be kind to them and help them figure out what to do afterwards,\u201d he said. \u201cOur goal is not to produce executive chefs right off the bat, that\u2019s not realistic.\u201d<\/p>\n

For operators seeking to limit turnover, Absenger points out that employees are more likely to stay when they know the possibilities that await. <\/p>\n

\u201cPeople starting out need to know they may never become an executive chef in a mom and pop restaurant, but if you start small at a major corporation, you can grow from a line cook to a supervisor to a sous chef to an executive chef\u2014it could be a career that lasts your whole life,\u201d he said. \u201cSometimes employers fail to stress the potential.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cultivating talent starts right away, Absenger said. It takes effort on the operator\u2019s part to notice a dishwasher who has the desire to be a supervisor. That\u2019s when mentoring starts and doors open to new roles or even a new location at an affiliate restaurant.<\/p>\n

\"Quotation<\/h3>\n

Second chances\u2014an alternative perspective<\/h3>\n

The search for qualified restaurant employees is tough, and freshly minted culinary school graduates aren\u2019t the only answer. At the SMA Healthcare Reality House in Daytona Beach, Florida, a work-release program that\u2019s part of SMA Healthcare and helps prison inmates get back on their feet with foodservice education.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile I was working with inmates, the realization came to me that before they got in trouble, a lot of these people worked in restaurants,\u201d said Kirk Kief, CEC, CCA, CPC, Director, Food Service Operations at the transitional living center. \u201cI used to teach a culinary program that culminated with ACF certification.\u201d<\/p>\n

When budget cuts hit, his successful program was scaled back, and he now teaches a Food Safety Manager course. <\/p>\n

\u201cI only have them for a week and they have to go out and find a job or go back to prison, so I teach them a food safety manager course because that\u2019s a good card for them to have,\u201d Kief said, referring to the Certified Food Manager qualification. A certificate demonstrates understanding of safe storage, preparation and serving of food\u2014a basic skill set for starting out in the food business.<\/p>\n

Kief understands the skills employees need. His kitchen prepares more than 1,200 meals a day at six programs. Kief also understands what it means to start anew. After spending years as a photographer, he turned to culinary school at age 51. Now, 20 years later, he\u2019s an American Culinary Federation Certified Executive Chef who appreciates the value training brings.<\/p>\n

\u201cDoes [culinary education] help reduce turnover? Of course it does,\u201d he said. \u201cIf you know what you\u2019re getting into, you\u2019re going to stay with it a lot longer.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Young
\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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