Fuller’s head of food: 'only education can solve chef shortage'

26-Oct-2015 - Last updated on 26-Oct-2015 at 12:28 GMT

Paul Dickinson: "With chefs, you have to invest - when you find those good people, you've got to look after them"

British schools and colleges are not doing enough to teach children what it takes to work in the hospitality industry, according to Paul Dickinson, head of food at Fuller’s.

Dickinson said he believed the current shortage of skilled chefs affecting the industry had the potential to last another decade and that the only way around it was to improve education and training.

Problem

He said: “You’ve got to have discipline around food and that’s what will drive people. It’s all about training. We need to teach children the value of ingredients.

“Things are changing. Are schools so focused on health and safety now that they can’t teach a 12-year old to cook a chicken breast? It’s ridiculous. And how can you preach about salt and sugars and fats if we’re not encouraging learning at the bottom? I definitely blame the government, it’s a disaster.”

Recruitment

Dickinson added that operators needed to focus on training and empowering staff to combat the shortage.

He said: “I think people are talking too much and not doing enough. With chefs you have to invest – when you find those good people, you’ve got to look after them. Train your current workforce and attract the right people.”

Despite recruitment at Chef de Partie level still posing a relative challenge, Dickinson said head chef vacancies at Fuller’s were down by roughly 50% on last year.

Achievements

Fuller’s recently marked the achievements of chefs across its managed estate with the first graduation ceremony for its Chef’s Guild Scholars.

The Chef’s Guild is the pub company’s in-house culinary training programme, which consists of three levels of examination and can take up to six years to complete.

Dickinson said the company’s plans for the next two years would be focused on further developing and growing its training initiatives, beginning with an investment in two new development kitchens over the next twelve months.

The PMA will host a round table on the chef shortage on 17 November.

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