THE HOSPITALITY INDUSTRY IN 2023

REFLECTING ON DECEMBER

January. A time of reckoning for many in hospitality…

Was December the success it needed to be? Did we protect our business? Can we carry on?

Instead, maybe we could ask ‘is December the only opportunity we have to thrive?’

We wholeheartedly believe that the future success of chefs does not exclusively lie in the four walls of the kitchen. Most contexts that are connected to food happen away from the kitchen environment, in fields, in communities or even and more frequently within controlled environments, such as laboratories.

Now, let’s not forget the importance of cooking and the enjoyment of food in all its gastronomical identities. This has defined what chefs do up until this point in time. Making delicious food has been our only goal for the last few hundred years for those lucky enough to aspire to work in the upper echelons of fine cuisine.

Having the knowledge to lead to an element of mastery in cooking should be a huge part of what a chef does. But once the chemistry of a soufflé is balanced and the flavour is perfected anything else is just a battle with ones ego. This battle of ego is a result of the self demeaning nature and internal battle that many face while trying to secure a sense of authority. I can’t think of one voice, mind or personality that is a defining voice of food.

The complexity of food in all it’s realisations from ingredients, farming, politics, technology and of course, cooking, deserve and need to be spared the human need to simplify. Because the reality is food is complex.

The current content on social media channels often shows the lack of substance, insight and underwhelming lack of understanding of the power of working within the food industry. The noise, confusion and often misleading content found on Instagram is stifling real progression for chefs.

It’s time for an awakening of conscience; we want our chefs to be great, really really great. Finding levels of understanding that is rare, especially in our city of Stoke on Trent. Outside of the four walls of a kitchen lie so much opportunity based in community and innovation. Chefs have been limited though their education and the lack of ambition that our industry has for those who work within it. We have been suffering from levelling down for the last few decades.

Ask any education provider who claims to be offering a ‘career pathway for the future’; how is this preparing me for the challenges we face in the next 30-50 years?

You will be faced with a staggering silence.

Ask yourself, ‘how do we feed the hungry in our city?’ or ‘is education preparing children to cook for themselves?’. Chefs have a lot of power to affect these things and with restaurants closing, chefs leaving the industry, and the restaurant model questionably unsustainable,  just maybe it’s time to find another way.

Take it Easy

Cris

FEASTED FOUNDER