The following comment was made in the early hours of this morning. It was added to my post of a few weeks ago about the possible crisis in the hospitality industry here in Hobart........
Hi all, just thought I would post my views on the downward direction we seem to be heading in.I'm a hospitality worker, have been all my working life. i have worked in many of the "better" establishments around hobart and have taken a deep interest in the lack of understanding that both customers and some hospitality workers have with the industry.Thankyou amy for noting for one thing, that chefs are in general paid considerably less than waitstaff. In general hospitality staff are paid LESS than many other professionals... i say professionals because those of us that have a passion and love for what we do are professionals.
Chefs:for a Chef to qualify they must endure four years of training (an Apprenticeship, equal to say Uni). Four years is not a long time really, especially when you are looking at a life long career.
However to be employed Front of House, you need no real qualifications... well nothing major, gone are the days when you were trained for years to wait a table and give proper, discreet or otherwise service on tables...
Nowdays a RSA Certificate and the ability to carry two or more plates is good enough.
To sum this up, in two weeks i could get a job waiting tables and earn a minimum of $15.00 per hour, where as a first year Apprentice chef starts on $7.00 per hour, this wage increasing by a percentage over the next 3 years until at a qualified chefs wage (about $15.00 and hour award)
To be a chef your either stupid or bloody passionate about food and hospitality.Most chefs are paid a salary (40 hrs a week), They don't get overtime or penalties in general and may end up working in excess of 55 hours a week... as i said, stupid or passionate.
Compare this to a waitperson, paid hourly, with penalty rates. or compare this to say any other worker in another profession, they wouldn't have a bar of it... but its ok.... ITS NOT OK
enough rant about our undervalued, overworked hospitality staff and on to the establishments and customers.
Costs:Over the last few years basic costs have increased substantially, as many people have previously posted... any dish on a menu is generally priced so that the total cost to produce the items is 33% of the value listed, or as close to as possible.(e.g Duck Breast $30, would cost about $10 to produce) the 33% should cover all costs like base food, wages for the tome to create, electricity, gas, waitstaff to serve, washing of the plate after e.t.c.
Customers need to understand these costs and accept price increases, sure money is becoming harder to come by and even harder to hold on to.. interest rates, living costs e.t.c are all increasing.
I believe the main problems in hobart's restaurants are caused by the customers, in a chain effect. Establishments are scared to "overprice" (or price correctly) incase we scare customers away.
Accept costs are rising, and understand that by refusing to pay the appropriate cost for items you are destroying our establishments.
Less money coming in with higher base costs, on top of staff costs makes less profit, which after time causes a business to close or CUT COSTS.
there are several ways to cut costs, each delivering the same result... LESS QUALITY.
we can employ staff with less training that accept lower wages, put them on as trainee's and leave them unsupervised...
take on apprentices and leave them alone at times to run the kitchen, be it for an hour or for a breakfast or a lunch shift.
Or we can cut down the quality of our food, cut the quantity of staff we employ (making service slower and less attentative).
all of the above are becoming more and more common place in establishments all around hobart. which leads to customers being unhappy and not returning, which makes these situations worse again.
It seems to me that we are falling in to a never ending black hole of a failed system.Thats all i have the concentration to type tonight, hopefully some of it makes sense.What happens when our passionate food and wine loving staff have had enough? when those that stick at it because they love it decide that a call center will bring in more money to cover living costs? we are all human here.
February 19, 2008 2:55 AM
Tuesday, 19 February 2008
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29 comments:
Oh dear... this is where our friends the pin striped bean counter chicks come in handy...
It comes down to what do you want to do (passionate wise) and what do you have to do in order to survive.
Carefully selected (based on research) target market (ie customers and willingness to pay), corresponding quality and service.
In, tas we have such a seasonal market place that it is imperative that we position our product/service to the repeat customer...
wouldn't it be wonderful to do and achieve all we are passionate about?!
LT
Second that LT.
I guess the underlying point trying to be made is simple really;
Costs are increasing and everyone has to accept this, we also need to accept that just because we are paying a few dollars more for a dish nowdays, does not mean that it will be better... it may just cost more to produce.
we all seem to be expecting more for our money and not understanding that by doing so we may be breaking an already pressured industry.
I recently heard that many suppliers are now charging a "fuel levy" on deliveries... is this another cost that a restaurant must just absorb?
It's fine to say we just have to accept that costs have increased and we need to accept it...but what about people who don't read these blogs, and walk into the door of a restaurant, or read the menu outside, and decide not to go in and eat there (as they would normally have done previously) because it's too expensive? They're not going to think "oh, poor restaurant owner's costs have risen but I want their food so I'll go in still and eat there".
They'll go next door where it's cheaper, even tho said 'poor restaurant owner' is probably using quality ingredients but has unfortunately had to add the extra costings to those menu items.
LT- Are you saying that its unrealistic to achive that what we are passionate about? Is it an impossible dream? What makes you so sure? Perhaps in your experience this might be so but without the dreams of people in this industry we'd have no Pecora's, no Lotus Eaters, no Stillwaters or no Lebrinas.
People here just dont want to pay for quality.
Everyone bleats about the poor food/service standards yet no-one wants to pay.
Why bother trying hard when the public are so apathetic & unsupportive?
Lets all just give em what they want & open a fish & chip shop.
We can't do that Anon 2.00. We really need the Pecoras, and Stillwaters, and Lotus Eaters. It seems to me the problem is just reconciling the general populace to the fact that, as all their own personal costs have risen, so too have the restaurants - and that we need to support them. But that's such a hard ask - when, as you rightly point out, most are just happy to fill up on pre-cooked fish and chips or dim sims or Chiko rolls.
Why is it that chef's are just expected to work over their contracted 40 hour week or what is stated in the a.w.a you pretty much have to sign these days with the employer giving nothing in return, apart from maybe one extra day off over Christmas? At the end of the day, you do this job for a living, I mean passion has got a lot to do with it but it is like saying a barrister is passionate about defending the scum of society (no, they are there for the money) and if you are not careful, it ends up taking over your life with little time left for family or home life. What has happened to a.w.a's? Where have things like tool allowance's gone as well as danger money for burns, cuts, lifting heavy items etc. These conditions are not a luxury they are essential. I would put money on it that most a.w.a’s for chefs don’t include the conditions where as most other trades have all this included in their working conditions as well as having penalty rates, which is a thing of the past for a chef (or did it ever exist?). These a.w.a’s have been put in place to be fair and protect employee and employer, or maybe it is just the employer.
Getting to the comment about wait staff needing little experience to earn similar money as a qualified chef, they also take home up to $5000 (and in some cases more) in tax free tips a year where a chef does not (people who are not in the industry find this outrageous that tips are not evenly shared with all the workers, including the kitchen hand). No wonder there are more an more chefs hanging up their whites and changing careers, you hear about it all the time, and unless something is done my the government or whoever, school leavers should be discouraged from entering the industry, due to the fact it is not a sustainable career for the life style Australians are used to. And even if restaurants raise prices to pay staff a better wage who is going to be the first to complain? The customer. Give it another 10 years and people will be forced to cook for themselves on a regular basis due to the fact of raising prices, maybe this is a good thing, people eating healthier etc. but that will be the end to restaurants so to speak. People just accept paying more for petrol, food at the supermarket, cloths, cars, a house just about everything else apart from a meal at a restaurant, where a $2 increase on the beef dish is a sin. I really wish that this on going issue can be brought to the attention of the general public so that can understand all of this a bit better.
When I go out to eat I do hope to find decent quality nosh and service and realise that I have to pay more for them than I used to. Surely the (or at least one) solution is just to eat out less often? This is probably not what people in the industry want to hear, and the under-performing establishments may go to the wall, but there ought to be enough customers around willing to pay up but get their money's worth.
Interseting points all.
On the wage issues of chefs. In 1994 I was earning approximately the same wage as I am today. The time in between I had earned more however this was for a much bigger postion.
My point is that wages for chefs have remained stagnant for the last 10 years.
A chef at the very top of their game can earn mid 100's but for the majority, this will never be a reality.
Of course the only places that can afford that kind of money are the very big places with extremely high t/o & spend per person.
The waiters that I worked with in one such place earned about $600 nett for a 40 hour week & took home AT LEAST 5 to 6 bucks a week in tips!
I instigated a spreading of tips for the kitchen crew with regularly saw us divide about 1200 to 1400 a week between 20 of us.
Can you beleive that this was a just 10% of the WEEKLY tips left for the whole restaurant!
Meanwhile the chefs who regularly did 50 to 60 hours per week would nett about $800 per week.
This clearly demonstrates how much chefs are valued.
That was waiters took home 500 to 600 bucks aweek in tips sorry!
Anon 2,00 - I dream all the time and am trying also to do what I am passionate about... the issue is that you can't always make a business work with what you are passionate about.
In any business, in any industry, the aim is to satisfy the need of the customer which makes it both economically feasible for you and more than satisfactory for the customer so they will convert to purchase and then be a repeat buyer. Marketing 101 really.
The question to ask is, right, what part of the market is not being satisfied in Hobart?
The problem that Hobart may have is that we are over supplying the high end market. Three years ago we had little choice on where to eat high end wise, and now perhaps we have too much choice (piccalilly, montys, source, pecora etc) for the businesses to be profitable (combined with rising costs of course). There is only so much $$ to go around.
We certainly have our share of lower end market, and we have a good selection in the mid range in the asian area say Vanidols, Thai Mai Ake and then other faithfuls like Da Angelo, Flathead, Maldini's (approaching the higher end). But in my opinion we are certainly missing the mid to high end, perhaps thats why Blue Skies is always full and why Eating on the Edge has decided to move into town, because they saw a gap in the market?
I don't mean to burst the bubble on passion so to speak, while not in hospitality I too share your pain....
LT
PS is ball and chain for sale, or is it just the premises?
Why don't chefs join a union and submit a log of claims. Isn't that the way forward for all employees?
Maybe many like to feel like free spirits and rising stars, then they are easy prey for the beancounters.
A fair go can be negotiated. For employers feeling the inflation heat, as well as the chefs.
Chefs are the most important cog in the wheel, surely. But all staff deserve a fair go.
It isn't too late to sort out this morass, hopefully.
It doesn't help that our influential "food commentators" publicly state that this place or that place is expensive. The general public listen to these people and take what they say as gospel, therefore thinking that some place is far to expensive, I'll just go and have a cheap and cheerful in North Hobart instead. What they don't realise is that it is not that much cheaper these days( pub meals are getting to be the same price as restaurant meals). I suppose people will just have to decide whether they want Tasmania to remain cheap and cheerful or whether they want it to step up.
A concerned diner
Your right anon..but it's all relative (ask my antie).
In London prices are way over the top. We do well in comparison.
But remember, even though we are very cheap relatively (for great quality) Tasmanians always have come at the foot of the earnings league in Australia.
As far back as I can remember we get the lowest wages, so those disposable dollars are harder to come by for a great dining experience.
Just another part of the problem.
whoooo .... step back and think !!! Eating on the edge has I guessed realised that to make money they need a high traffic area and a large seating capacity - they may find that like the other previous occupants of that building - they are in limbo land area of the city not well known for food (yes only a couple of blocks from the mall)
What non food business owners don't seem to understand is that fitting a kitchen costs big bux so to get your hands on an existing one can save a small fortune ...but why is it empty in the first place? I wish them well but many before have tried and failed.
Look at one of GP's rave review places. Onbar - bloody stupid graphic's no one can read (silly really if your trying to build market share) - every week they add another sign to the building but it doesn't seem to fill the seats. It's up to free tapas and internet so what's next? Still they give dinners a printed menu with food stains all over it.Laminate and wipe clean it's far easier.
The word is that it has cost $600,000 to get to this point. I just hope they didn't pay someone to do the market research that identified the "market".
If these business's are to succeed then the owners need to take a cold hard look at what market they are chasing. No good offering top quality food and drink if it's a type no one wants.
The next step is to pinch someone else's market share - thats called "good business" but all it does is make two business's struggle.
It's great for joe public to have a choice - cheap expensive or over the top - but how many choices does she need.
On the question of Chef's - we look after our Chef's both materially and financially as they are our business - they are profesionals and we treat them like it.
ALL our hours are paid and no one does unpaid O/T. Not a brag just a fact. And everyone except the owners get an equal share of the tips.
It's hard work making the business pay but we will - without short changing our wonderful staff.
Back to sweeping out the Cool Room.
Can i come and work for you anon 7.26. Getting paid by the hour and the boss sweeping the cool room, sure you are not dreaming!
So Rita, are personal unproven attacks/views allowed on this site? If so let the games commence.
Rita, & here you saying that you are worried that you are perceived as being too 'in the middle'!
These comments put paid to that.
What a great outpouring. Some very thoughtful & considered posts. Perhaps, as I was told today, Hobart has reached saturation point? Maybe too much restaurant choice is actually too much? We are all fighting over the same slice of pie.
I disagree with the marketing 101 theory though. It never answers the conundrum of why one product amongst millions of similar ones wins market share. If this was common knowledge, as was implied, we'd all be millionaires.
We dont have the critical mass to sustain the amount of restaurants & cafes, present & planned, good & bad.
Anon 8.09
I have re read all the post and I guess you are talking about my comments on Onbar, not an unproven attack but as blogs suggest - my opinion and nothing more.
My 1 concrete example was one of fact - dirty menu's when dinning with friends. However - great food and good chef's. I stand by my comments questioning what market they are targeting?
They are try to "lure" people in - cheap offers ect... ? Create a market where none previously existed perhaps ? Maybe being everything to everyone is not the way to go. Sometimes an analysis of the operating model may show that in fact you make a better return by trading less hours. However this is not always possible with a debt to service one becomes reliant on cash flow - I know.
Anon 8.09 I also used the example of "Eating on the edge" opening a "hobart" site. Would they not do this to make Money ? It is fact that margins are such that big is better and the more seats you have the more likely you are to survive.
The only success stories from that site come from the distant past as Ivan's. Everything since then has struggled and passed on - several very good ideas didn't work ? maybe it was the wrong site for them?
I am not talking the business's down, we all need to recognise that sometimes for many and varied reasons an operation just doesn't work, lack of parking, position ect... the skill is how to morph the business into something that pays.
PB kitchen brigade was shattered by GP's bad review - they are doing a hell of a lot of soul searching. He is part of the panel that wrote the menu. Was it sour grapes ??? The New owners are committed to redeveloping the site to include a modern Art Galley for what is said to be a significant collection - something on the lines of Moorilla moden/old now under construction. Watch that space.
Finished the rant ... cool room
Just what I need...an art gallery with my fish and chips.
Maybe they should start with the food at PB, after all the hue & cry, it was about the bad food.
Fair bit coming off the chests out there.
Look I just put the prices up a fortnight ago, and helped disguise it a bit by re-jigging the menu. The quality has not changed as I believe that cutting corners is not the answer. To be fair a couple of things have happened:
The new menu has been well recieved and bookings are up, as is passing trade.
Two regulars came to see me and raised an eyebrow, but hey there regulars because they love us and we look after them (the odd freebie etc c'mon you know the game).
Two semi regulars spat the dummy and walked out, and are reported as dissatisfied with their new best choice. To be honest, they were a pain, tight miserly and like a dark cloud in the corner whenever they arrived. Frankly, I'm glad there somewhere else, they were poor spenders, and high maintenance (sound harsh, well maybe but I'm glad to gift them to the opposition, like a tumour).
Staff are on a high and the kitchen and floor are working well.
Will we survive, well things are getting harder for us all, but on the upside, heart bypass surgery is much improved on twenty years ago.
Look push up the prices, do not be afraid. My experience tells me that, people still eat out, there may be a downturn as belts are tightened, but seriously, can you all imagine a state with the highest percentage of home ownership (45%) not dining out? Yes house prices etc are up, but the struggling recently childed couples are not out often anyway.
I'm about to get boring so I'm shutting up.
Cartouche
As far as pricing goes maybe take a look at it from the consumer angle.
I earn around the average wage and for me to dine out on an average pub meal I'm looking at working for an hour to pay for that dining experience.
If I go to a restaurant and have 2-3 courses and a nice bottle of wine then I've worked around half a day for the dining experience.
If I'm taking a date then I've spent a day of my life working to pay for the dining experience.
Now I don't know about anyone else but if I work a half a day for one meal then the food and the service better be worth my effort or I won't be setting out to repeat the experience.
And so the experience should reflect that choice in its quality. But let me just say Ted that the counter meal is serving a function to feed you. Its not three courses with wine, and if your wanting to impress your date, then surely your not going to your local for a chicken parma? OK Sir G you can come back on that one if you want to.
Cartouche
I am the writer of the first anon post, its great to see so much interest and feedback on this issue... obviously many of you share my views, its good to know i;m not alone on this one.
this is the second time i have written this post.. the first didn't for some reason actually come through, its probably shorter
and more to the points. apologies.
Thought id clarify a few things that have been posted, some people seem to mis-understand the industry.
UNIONS:
there is a hospitality union? no seriously there is union for us; LHMU, i have been a member for years.. nothing comes of it, not for the Chef's anyway... there are more important things to do than tackle our issues
...placed in the too hard basket we are.
A.W.A's are a joke, they work against us.. the Liberal government took what little rights we had away and made our unions useless.
Maybe now they are gone things will change.
Maybe we "the staff", "the chef's" need to act... strikes and the sort, would it achieve anything? or just lower our stature? many of us have families or debt's to sustain and cannot afford to go without pay.
PASSION:
i bring back a question i asked at the end of my initial post:
What happens when our passionate food and wine loving staff have had enough?
When those that stick at it because they love it decide that a call center will bring in more money to cover living costs?
We are all human here.
Passion, Love... these things drive our industry, the engine room of creations and the fuel for our staff to give an amazing experience across the board.
I know of many upcoming and developed staff that have left the industry because living was to hard. sure the call center my be boring, but it pays ALL the bills and can get you a ticket away from the mayhem. this is real, it does happen. upsetting at the least.
If we cannot achieve our dream we may as well move on, interstate, overseas.. or just give up and find another way to live.
WORK STANDARDS:
All these things come back to the same point really, to improve one the others must improve.. but i think work standards are a major issue, in kitchens especially.
anon 7.26pm i applaud you if you do infact support your staff this much, a restaurant is like a small family and we need to love and care for each other, both materially and financially... a happy staff member will always do right by you.
Unfortunately this is not the truth for the greater part, most restaurateurs look at their staff as numbers, a salary, an hourly wage... a cost to them... we infact hold your business together, without us and our passion you are nothing.
I have had the opportunity to work for some amazing people and realise the difference it makes to be happy and feel happy at work in your environment, to grow together with idea's and passion and to feel like you are helping Hobart grow in to something more that it was. sadly i have worked for th other sort of owner also, the money hungry ones.
MARKETS:
What is my market to aim at?
Upper Class; a minority in Hobart, but to large to overlook.. these people bring big dollars in to our restaurants, often with friends.
Middle Class; Hobart's majority, becoming less willing to part with a few extra dollars to experience that bit extra.... we make options on our menu for this class and hope they can keep us alive.
Lower Class; Unfortunately we don't see them often, even though some of our lower class citizens are great food lovers... they simply cannot afford to dine out.
Tourists; Seasonal and unreliable we cannot survive of tourists alone.
A new establishment must target 2 or more markets to survive... this makes things tricky.. a juggling act sometimes it is beautiful, sometimes less smooth.
about 6/10 restaurants fail in the long run, is it them targeting the wrong markets or is it our markets being too indecisive?
some of this is from the "good business" as i saw it called, basically copying another successful establishment and hoping to reap the benefits... these copycats generally fail in a year or two unless they find their feet and move in a direction of their own.
SATURATION:
Is Hobart overpopulated with "higher" grade establishments?
I would hate to think so.. off the top i my head i count 8 that may fit in that category, we have a population of approx. 200k... if we can't support what we have to which i may add is on the most part disappointing, how do we expect to move forward?
I think there is always room for a new establishment, providing its a fresh new idea, with staff to back it. competition drives us to achieve more... if there was only one restaurant in Hobart, toasted sandwiches would be fine!!! you would still hold the market.
DINING AND PRICING:
The problem with no know cure, what will a customer pay?, how much do we have to charge to survive?
As a chef i try to eat out as much as i can, every 1-2 weeks or whenever i can scrounge the cash i try something new. i love food and wine and eating out, i work for it, i live for it... to me a fabulous dining experience is priceless and i will sacrifice what i can to get a chance at it. to me $100-120 a head is a reasonable amount to spend... its on par or just below the better Melbourne establishments and i know the work that goes in to the creation of a night.
Sadly the last time i had an amazing experience was over 3 years ago... and not even in Tasmania, i crave the chance to once again feel the anxiety of the next bite, will it be as immersing as the last... will my wine tickle my palate on the way down making me warm with satisfaction? I have experienced amazing times in Hobart (Lickerish and Lebrina spring to mind)
but most of our "higher grade" establishments have failed to excite me... something seems to be always amiss. The food divine, the service sloppy. Amazing knowledgeable service and unseasoned food. can we get it right?
i have an open opinion, and believe that even where i work now is failing to achieve the potential it has... frustrating really, but where else is there for me, that will satisfy my hunger across the board... i'm a chef, but i hate to see a messy unorganized front of house... simple mistakes demoralise me...
EDUCATION:
Perhaps we need to educate our staff and customers from the beginning, the right way... what is the right way?
to me the right way is through treating your staff properly, through pay and otherwise. Through being prepared to pay to experience something amazing... to instill passion and love for our industry.
i dislike our hospitality training options... we don't have much choice:
Drysdale, TAFE; an underfunded, establishment where half the "teachers" have no "current" hospitality experience or and resemblance of passion trying to educate our next generation.
don;t get me wrong, some of Drysdales teachers are amazing, inspired individuals, but they are few and far between.
There are a couple of other small training organisations for kitchen staff surfacing, but from what i hear they are underdeveloped and not giving what we need.
Look at the mainland, multiple schools with many options... workplacement overseas? SURE.
maybe we need to implement a boarding system... Owners / Restaurateur's show them the right way, not the cheap way.
SUMMARY:
I have looked at moving interstate or overseas to refuel my passion and work in a functional environment.. something Hobart cannot seem to offer, i know many that have gone and will never return.. but something lingers in my conscience.
If all the passionate staff and restaurateurs leave how will this problem ever turn around, i love Hobart and i love Tasmania, but we need to find a way to educate our customers and our upcoming staff...
I am still waiting on our holy grail, someone with a solid plan to turn things around. as Rita said: how many people actually read these blogs?... we can talk and express our feelings, but without action we will go nowhere.
once again, my concentration is gone... i have so much to write but typing this from my head twice has taken its toll for tonight.
G
I impress my date by eating plenty of roughage, Cartouche. Thanks for thinking of me in the bargain-bin end of the market!
Haven't had a counter meal in years.
The original post is a major work but I would say don't give up on the union side of things. That doesn't mean senseless strikes, just wages bargaining and a log of claims over time.
Owners need to be abled to cover their arses, too.
I suppose the ideal would be a family restaurant with mum and or dad at the stove, kids front of house and keeping it all in the group...profit, wages, tips etc.
But how often is that practical?
Despite the mockers I will be spending and even though I've retreated a bit to mid-level places, I am always liable to break out and go top end (like two potato cakes as well as chips).
On the subject of front of house and Chef's wages - Once a Chef is qualified they are very much in demand and in many cases able to negotiate a high salary - they can also travel the world with their qualifications and are a respected profession - and they should be. As a front of house person, who has been in the industry for many years, I can not name many colleagues who have the security of full time employment. I myself, along with others was made redundant from my full time front of house position (in a respected art hotel)and immediately re-employed in the same position with the same responsibilities but as a casual. No sick pay, no holiday pay and guess what? no overtime, which all of a sudden became available due to lack of staff. This was at the time of industrial reform. Whilst I have the greatest respect for Chef's, I have seen many front of house staff being crapped on by prima donna Chefs who regard them as nothing more than plate carriers, but when it comes to division of tips, they want a big slice. The managers/owners need to focus on teamwork and respect for each other in the workplace. One is just as important as the other in a successful establishment.
Well said Anon 21/2 9.30.
I agree with what you have to say annon 09.30am. It seems shameful that you have been treated in such a shabby way.
Chefs are often given top priority when it comes to pay and conditions. But in fairness, this can be applied across a host of industries. Take for example the health service, look at the difference between Doctors and nurses. Is any one more important than another?
The truth you have hit upon is that each is useless without the other. It should be a symbiotic relationship between the two based on mutual respect and understanding. It is also true that each industry is beset with problems caused by management who have little clue about the true function and relationship between the two.
Cartouche.
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