Skills shortage hits Sydney restaurants
One of the big skills shortages in Australia is good chefs. They’re simply hard to find.
And the trend is hitting Sydney’s restaurants pretty hard.
They are hungry for talent but finding it is difficult these days.
Industry body Restaurant and Catering Australia (RCA), which represents 35,000 cafes, restaurants and catering companies, says chefs are harder to find than any other kind of hospitality worker. The federal Government’s latest survey of employers shows that three in five job advertisements for chefs are not fulfilled.
More than 70 per cent of restaurateurs say they find it “difficult or very difficult” to hire a chef, according to a recent survey of RCA members.
Top-flight chef Giovanni Pilu, who has successful restaurants in Freshwater and Ku-Ring-Gai National Park, says there are ways for young people to get into the industry.
He recommends doing it via those traditional vocational courses.
But he says he’s had to look outside of Australia to find the best talent.
“It has never been so hard to find a chef as it has been in the last three years,” Mr Pilu told the Daily Telegraph.
“I’ll do everything I can to employ a young Aussie but unfortunately I’ve had to hire Italians and French instead.”
How did he find his way into the industry? He started out at Brookvale’s TAFE. He was at the time a fresh-faced 22-year-old and his knowledge of English was limited to swear words.
Pilu was on hand to explain it all to a class last week when he hosted a TAFE master class. He told the trainees that he was a product of TAFE.
NSW Deputy Premier John Barilaro, himself a keen chef, said Pilu was a fine example.
“Giovanni Pilu came through TAFE, it’s no freak accident, it’s typical of TAFE delivering quality skilled training,” Mr Barilaro told the Daily Telegraph.
by Leon Gettler, August 29th 2017
