What’s going on with celebrity chefs and getting kids of the streets and launching them into a career in hospitality. Take Jamie Oliver and Michel Roux as examples. Mr Oliver has a fleet of restaurants which offer a graduate scheme for disadvantaged kids. These kids come from all background, some with drug or alcohol issues, some are homeless and some are unemployed. It does make me wonder, with years of industry experience and a degree in Hospitality Management, do I hold the right pre-requisites to work at Fifteen (one of Jamie’s brands)??? I don’t consider myself disadvantaged, quite the opposite in fact but I do want to pursuit a serious career in hospitality…do I still qualify???
TV shows such as Michel Roux’s Service and Dream School (another Jamie Oliver endeavour) are essentially doing the same thing…however I can’t help but be a little cynical…are these programmes just feeding off sympathy from the British audience to create TV ratings or are these kids going to be the next CEO of Hilton?
So why hospitality? Is the hospitality industry a discipline?
For me the service industry doesn’t have to be “Yes Sir, No Sir, 3 bags full Sir” In fact nothing makes me feel more uncomfortable than being called Sir! (I don’t ever remember being knighted). I believe service is about getting the customer on your side which varies between different scenarios. Regardless of the situation, the rule still applies.
Maybe the hospitality industry is like one big rehabilitation network. The beauty of our industry is that you can go absolutely anywhere on the planet and it will always exist because people will always need to eat, drink and sleep. For this reason the people in hospitality will most definitely have some interesting views or a different way of thinking (or even a different accent).
I suppose my point is…behind the apron and the wine stained shirt will be a character full of personality with a great story to tell (disadvantaged or not).
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