RESTAURANTS HUNGRY FOR HELP
Chef shortage spurs creative solutions
Understanding millennials and the different ways they want to work is one of the ways a Metro Vancouver burger chain is adapting to a shortage of chefs and cooks.
Romer’s Burger Bar has implemented averaging agreements for its kitchen staff, which means working four days of 10-hour shifts rather than the traditional five days of eight hours a shift.
The different timetable means everyone knows in advance that they have three days off in a row, said Kelly Gordon, a partner in Romer’s.
“Millennials definitely value their time off at a high level,” Gordon said. “Having three days off to do what you want to do consecutively on the schedule every week has been a fairly important move in the industry — at least for us.”
Gordon said Romer’s is also paying 10 to 12 per cent more than $15 an hour, which is the level to which the minimum wage is expected to be increased. The minimum wage in B.C. is now $11.35.
Romer’s has three burger restaurants in Metro Vancouver.
“We believe that we get the best talent by paying a bit more,” he said.
“That’s worked out very well for us.”
Gordon, 60, said after being in the food industry for more than 35 years, millennials have made him think differently about staffing.
“I don’t want to give you the impression that it’s easy out there, because it’s not,” he said. “What you want to do is make the best of a tough situation.”
Romer’s decision to bring in averaging agreements is one example of the kind of suggestions being recommended by the B.C. Restaurant and Food Services Association to deal with a shortage of chefs and cooks.
For the past six months, BCRFA has been doing research, organizing focus groups and talking to industry leaders about what can be done to deal with the skilled labour shortage. Its analysis and recommendations are being released to the restaurant and food industry today at the Italian Cultural Centre. The full report is expected to be presented to the provincial government by mid-February.
Ian Tostenson, president and chief executive of the association, said Vancouver, Victoria and Whistler are the three cities where the problem is particularly acute.
“The industry is under siege,” he said. “It is almost on the verge of a crisis from a labour-shortage perspective.”
Another recommendation in the study is for restaurants to be aware that they need to counter the image created by television cooking shows that emphasize competition in the kitchen.
They have created a reputation that kitchens are “adrenalin-filled, bullying environments,” said Samantha Scholefield, BCRFA project leader for the labour-shortage study.
But that’s not the reality in most workplaces in Metro Vancouver, Scholefield said.
“You have this huge culture that shows people losing or being yelled at,” she said. “In Vancouver, we don’t have a lot of that. It’s scaring young people away from our sector because that’s what they see.”
Scholefield said a kitchen setting can be a great working environment for a creative team to come together under pressure to get things done.
“Serve 400 people lunch in two hours and see how you feel,” she said. “There is an adrenalin rush but also a huge feeling of satisfaction.”
Other recommendations include installing magnetic induction cooking surfaces, which can reduce the likelihood of someone getting burned and the temperature in a kitchen.
“Induction heat in some cases can make a small space a much more agreeable place to work,” she said.
“You’re not worrying about burning yourself.”
You have this huge culture that shows people losing or being yelled at. In Vancouver, we don’t have a lot of that.