Page 35 - foodservice - June 2018
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It would be easy to attribute these issues to general unconscionable behaviour on the part of hospitality business owners. To be fair, there is no doubt in my mind that some business owners do deliberately set-out to exploit those they employ, but the greater majority are victims of being caught-out in an economic pincer.
then left to the core staff who remain to carry what is now a very excessive workload.
As for the head chef themselves, they often have to work the equivalent of two jobs in order to balance the numbers; then they expect all the other staff to work similar hours without the big money to compensate.
Similar situations happen
in the front-of-house, but the result is the same – staff end-up carrying the burden of balancing declining margins.
It would be easy to blame the head chef and restaurant manager for this situation, and
I know some business owners
– particularly those who own groups of restaurants – who are blissfully ignorant of exploitative behaviour that is going on in their individual venues, but ultimately the owner has to take responsibility for what happens in their business, and look after the well-being of all their staff.
If I stand back and look at the situation holistically, the real problem is that their business model is no longer valid, due
to economic change, and they need to fundamentally alter what they are doing. This often requires difficult decisions,
like radically increasing prices (dangerous); dumbing down the food and service, and closing some services periods.
You may have noticed that some operators who have watched their ‘hatted’
restaurants decline in profitability have moved to open quite down market ‘fast food’ operations – hence the proliferation of burger joints and chicken shops. This is in recognition that they need to make radical changes while keeping their ‘flagship’ afloat.
Right now I’m seeing many business owners who are sitting on their hands waiting for a better world that I doubt is going to come. Meanwhile, they are risking a barrage of bad publicity and punitive penalties should one of their staff complain.
How likely is this to happen? Well, if you were a disgruntled staff member who sensed the opportunity to win several thousand dollars for simply talking to the media and lodging a Fair Work claim, what would you do?


































































































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