With low unemployment in an industry that traditionally has had high staff turnover, along with a big and growing emphasis on food culture, well-run hotel kitchens must adapt quickly to change to remain successful.
Traditionally, kitchens hired executive chefs who reported to F&B directors who reported to general managers. But that’s changing.
“Today, we’re seeing a lot of executive chefs who oversee the whole food and beverage operation, and that allows us to streamline a couple of things, including the wages, and now, chefs are probably more knowledgeable about the front of the house operations,” says Dean Thompson, corporate director of culinary operations at Concord Hospitality, Raleigh, North Carolina.
Contributed by Jeanette Hurt
Chefs who report directly to the GM have more responsibility, but decisions affecting the kitchen can be made more quickly, says Evan Sheridan, executive culinary director for Chicago-based Aparium Hotels. “If they want to argue for additional staffing or work-life balance, it’s shortening the chain of communication,” he says. “It also establishes that the team is really important to the hotel.”
Fernando Salazar, senior vice president of F&B for Interstate Hotels & Resorts, Arlington, Virginia, says in many hotels the positions of director of rooms and director of F&B have been combined into one role, director of operations.
“We are expecting this trend to continue moving forward,” he says. “Guests and associates at larger, more complex properties with multiple outlets and expansive catering and banquets are better served with dedicated F&B director positions, however.” Interstate manages a portfolio of about 500 hotels in the U.S. and Europe.
This change in structure can create better communication and more focused front of the house and kitchen staff, Thompson says. “You don’t have the typical chef and restaurant manager going at each other when that restaurant manager reports to the chef and was more than likely hired by the chef,” he says. “There’s that automatic bond that gets created there so you have a stronger working partnership.”
Dean Wendel, vice president of F&B at Concord Hospitality, says chefs are increasingly involved directly in marketing, promotion and social media. “We now have influencer budgets built into our F&B operations so we can make those things happen and promote these chefs,” he says. “They now are part of the sales effort for the entire hotel.”
This streamlined kitchen organization is not the norm in Europe, Wendel says. “In the U.S., there is a big focus on creating revenue and profit, so we have gone to a more reduced structure within our food and beverage operations, probably more than in Europe and abroad,” he says. “Our wages are partially to account for that.”
Retention is key
“Employment levels, that’s the hardest challenge that every kitchen in America is facing,” says Dane Blom, executive chef for the Citizen Hotel, an Interstate hotel in Sacramento, California. “We’re not seeing as many cooks come through when we put out an ad.” Because of this, Blom networks with other local chefs and sends potential employees to other kitchens when he doesn’t have an opening; other chefs do the same for him.
Steven Kamali, owner of Hospitality House and The Chef Agency, New York, says talented chefs are taking more time to sign with restaurants. “Chefs used to sign within two days after receiving an offer,” he says. “Today, the waiting period is two weeks. They’re contemplating these decisions longer and rejecting more of these offers.”
A key component of retention is?education, training and opportunity, says Interstate’s Salazar. The company holds an annual food and bar summit for its top 15 executive chefs to participate in educational experiences and a competition. Three winners travel to Spain, representing the United States in global competitions. The opportunities “create a spirit of creativity and inspire a desire in top culinary leaders to excel in all they do.” That excitement, in turn, gets passed on to other staff in the kitchen, Salazar says.
‘Thoughtful cuisine’
“I come from the old school environment, when ruling with an iron fist was the norm,” says Blom, who won Interstate’s chef summit held in mid-August. “I’ve come to understand that you can get the same result simply by talking to people instead of screaming at them.”
“I use the term ‘thoughtful cuisine,’” Sheridan says. “At the end of the day, we’re more mindful of the overall mental and physical health of our teams. If you can approach things more thoughtfully, they will be more well received by the dining public.”
Sheridan says that at Aparium, he and his staff keep active lines of communication open with his culinary teams, and his executive chefs hold regular meetings with staff. He is considering formalizing some additional mindfulness and mental health awareness trainings for his team.
Wendel says well-run kitchens have chefs who have the four Cs. “They’ve got to be a coach, a captain, a cheerleader and a counselor,” he says. “You have to care about your associates, and you have to find out what their goals are. And they’re all different.”