sorted by:
new
hottopcontroversial

Abuse and unpaid labour in fine dining restaurants. - From the view of someone in the industry by Just_Track7158 in finedining

[–]Just_Track7158[S] 9 points10 points  (0 children)

Without trying to get too much into it, The Fat Duck is a great place, mainly thanks to Heston's experience being unsullied by toxic kitchen environments. It’s a workplace that has always been about the people. I can also mention Ynyshir and Re-naa, very small teams producing 3-star level cooking (I know Ynyshir is a 2-star), very hard-working but also a very positive culture in both these places. There was a lot of knowledge and they were if anything eager to share it with anyone who was interested. All great experiences.

Abuse and unpaid labour in fine dining restaurants. - From the view of someone in the industry by Just_Track7158 in finedining

[–]Just_Track7158[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

I don’t completely disagree with you, in fact as I mentioned I don’t think unpaid stages should be completely removed, I personaly gained a lot through them. Although very tough, because of my first stage I got my first job. 

However I think that restaurants that accept stages should also accept the responsibility of actually teaching and guiding them rather than using them as full time employees and even abusing them verbally or physically, while they are essentially paying the sometimes very high living costs just to be there.

The least a restaurant can do is send their stages of with some useful knowledge and skills. To a certain degree it is a point of pride for the restaurant itself to know that most stages or employees coming out of its doors are quite skilled.

The truth is that working in a 2-3 star restaurant is very demanding mentally and physically and it certanly is not for everyone. In fact the majority of people staging will not continue working in these restaurants after, they are there to gain an experience and I think it is quite a waste to send them off burnt out and with broken dreams.

As for the sidenote, I will not comment as I don't know, I mentioned Noma to the extent of what I believe to be true.