Chefs ban F word as Ramsay legacy deters young talent
CHEFS are banning swearing in the kitchen amid fears that displays of aggression are putting young people off joining the industry.
Many restaurants have had difficulty hiring trainee staff, with some blaming the legacy of angry television chefs, such as Gordon Ramsay.
Ryan Simpson, the Michelin-star winning chef at Orwells, in Henley-onThames, Oxfordshire, told The Sunday Telegraph that the era of the “sweary chef ” was over.
He said: “Bullying is definitely not the way forward. In the days of Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares, it was trendy to be going mental in the kitchen but you don’t get the best out of your kitchen by shouting.
“The industry has changed. Back in the day, I worked in France with crazy French guys screaming at me.
“Nowadays it’s about enjoying yourself and treating your customers well. All that kind of tense atmosphere is leaving the industry.”
Greg Marchand, who Frenchie restaurants in London, said the industry was “facing a huge shortage of young people”.
He said: “We used to line up to work in a restaurant we wanted to work in – it was the chef who would have our CV on his desk.
“Today, we as chefs and owners need to sell ourselves.”
Theo Randall, head chef at the InterContinental in London, said young people needed to be nurtured or they would simply walk out.
Mr Randall said: “There’s a different attitude in kitchens. People don’t do the same kind of hours and there’s less of the shouting as chefs just walk out now. People are a lot nicer than they used to be as there’s such a demand for chefs. You need to build your own team and make sure they stay.”