Australia’s Hospitality Industry Set To Suffer From Chef Shortage
A recent study published by Deloitte Economics identified a staggering shortage of 38,000 chefs across Australia, with thousands of cafes and restaurants struggling to find qualified workers and apprentices to fill kitchen and front-of-house roles. Many new kitchen staff are turned off by the unsociable hours, hard labour and modest starting salaries. There’s also social pressure on High School graduates to undertake University degrees rather than pursuing careers in a trade.
Breakfast presenter Nic chatted with Juliana Payne, the CEO of peak industry body Restaurant and Catering Australia (R&CA), about why young people are turning away from careers in the kitchen. Juliana identified a clear need to work with Government to promote the profession, improve apprenticeship completion rates, and ensure immigration laws do not prevent valuable skilled hospitality workers from finding employment in Australian kitchens.
