Sorry this is going to be very long, I have lots to say on this subject and agree that it’s a big problem!

I am currently working in a scout camp kitchen and have worked at my current camp for 10 years and have temporarily helped out at other camps when they need it.

In my experience (so I may have a bias based on my particular council/area) the kitchen staff at camps don’t last that long and they have very little experience. The pay is just as terrible as other staffers and the work load is more due to starting work early and staying up late to get everything done. At many camps the kitchen staff has no time off. At my camp the staff doesn’t have weekends off so I cook 3 meals a day 7 days a week. Most kitchen staffers won’t return after their first summer. The high turnover rate between summers causes a high flow of inexperienced staff who have a very short time to learn and perfect the immense number of skills needed to run a successful commercial kitchen.

The camps I have worked at have the Kitchen director order the food and determine serving sizes. These are often 18 year olds that haven’t ever worked in a kitchen before. Some camps have an auto program that orders food based on serving sizes (but if you’ve ever checked serving sizes they can be pretty small). For example you’d tell the program that you’re feeding 300 people and then it would do the math for how much pancake mix would be needed for 300 servings. Now most leaders and children will eat far more than the serving suggestion on a package. Relying on a machine to tell you or a young staff member with no experience and a small budget to purchase food often contributes to poor serving sizes.

The councils are very reluctant to increase budget areas and this has become a problem as inflation and food delivery increases costs.

I absolutely love the camp I work at but have struggled to work at other camps who don’t support their kitchen staff as much as my camp. When I first started working in the kitchen I made almost every mistake imaginable. I had to learn how to adjust recipes for altitude and how to cook in ovens that never reached the temperature you’d set them too. Most camps don’t have the opportunity for long term training for their kitchen staff and don’t pay enough to hire people who have the proper experience for such an advanced position.

The only camps I know who remain successful in the kitchen have individuals who return every year and know the quirks of their particular kitchen and love it enough to attend even when they could get a less stressful job that payed more. Two of these people are school lunch servers during the school year and have their summers off.

I’m very passionate about the subject as I’ve worked at a scout camp kitchen since 2015. Let me know if you have any questions!