News

28th June Newspage

Tuesday 28^th June

This has been an interesting week and the dust is almost settling after the volcanic like eruption last Friday morning when the majority of voters voted to leave the European Union. For simplistic reasons, I voted in the 2014 referendum for Scotland to leave the UK and in this referendum I voted for the UK to leave the EU. Less bureaucrats is my reason, nothing else.

I do not now want Scotland to remain alone in a crumbling European Union. Oil is likely to remain cheap and I think that we are better off hanging in with the rest of the UK for now.

Certainly, in the world of Scottish Hospitality, we need all the help we can get. Latvians, French, Polish, Spanish, and further afield we have many excellent Indian and Kenyan chefs working in Scotland such as Saurav Kumar who we first dealt with when he was head chef at The Golf View in Nairn. I think that Saurav has enjoyed seeing the relief work from the other side working well in Inverness at The Beaufort, The Royal Hotel in Keith and latterly at The Grant Arms in Grantown on Spey. I have had a look and Johanna and Jessica in the office have given you a grading on 1. This is our highest grading for those on relief work and it will remain intact. We wish you all the best at as you take on a new head chef position at the Eden Court Theatre in Inverness where Michael Njoroge and before him Vytis Baltrunas both did excellent jobs.

We are lucky to have so many chefs who were not born in the UK but contribute in so many ways to the Scottish Hospitality Industry.

There is a shortage of people either willing or able to work as chefs in Scotland.

The industry really could do more to attract people and to retain them.

This was brought home to me when I put a couple of adverts on gumtree and on our Facebook page for labourers to work on a mussel farm in Harris in the Outer Hebrides. I got about 8 applicants within a week, at least 3 or 4 of who could have done a decent job.

Trying to find a chef to work for a few months at a hotel in Harris was hard work and wrought with failure. First off one chef accepted the seasonal job then was offered a full-time job at a Michelin Star hotel on Skye which he took, next up we managed to get a relief chef when we were not taking on any jobs. Coming up from Sunderland with his partner, he decided it was too far and cancelled.

Ouch.

Next up, a chef actually made it there, first time out of the paddock, we have a good reference but it turned out the chef wasn’t “quite up to the job”.

Fourth time out, we have a chef who started yesterday and I am hopeful, he is a good chef well known to us.

It is demonstrably harder to get good chefs than it is to get decent graduates or general labourers.

I fully expect work in Scotland to carry on as before for all the seasonal, permanent and relief chefs. Down the line, the UK may end up having a skills based immigration policy to suit the demands of the economy and I would expect it then to be reasonably straightforward for chefs from all EU countries to come and work here and hopefully a bit easier for those from India in particular.

I would like to think that Hoteliers and Restaurateurs will continue to try and have better terms of employment and working conditions to encourage young people to come into and stay in what can be a very enjoyable and rewarding industry in which to work.

Pensions.

I set up a pension for myself last year, a SIPP, which I have invested in some shares on the stock exchange which is fun! They go up; they go down, buy and sell.

As of November this year, Chefs In Scotland is obliged to go through auto-enrollment whereby any employees of Chefs In Scotland will have to make a contribution to a pension scheme, initially 1% for the employer, and 2% for the employee going up over two years to 5% for the employee and 3% for the employer. These are substantial amounts of money and seem to be, in my opinion, the result of successive Labour and Conservative governments making a hash of their sums, spending more money on pensions than they were getting in through tax, NI and other contributions and ignoring the demographics of the UK’s ageing population. Chefs In Scotland will be able to deal with the new pension schemes and we are having a meeting on Thursday to decide what pension scheme we want to join.

The implications for PAYE relief chefs are more complex.

We will have to make a decision on whether we will employ relief chefs or see if the Inland Revenue are still adamant that all relief chef work is PAYE.

These are interesting times in which we live.

Newspage 24th June

This week in Moffat the weather has left a little bit to be desired as we have had mostly rain early on in the weekend and cloudy skies as we enter the latter end of the week.

We have been very busy in the office getting 13 relief jobs out, 24 adverts placed as well as 4 permanent placements.

About 4 months ago we decided to change the way we work in the office. We have opened longer on a Saturday and as usual we take it in turns to open up the office that day. Because of this, if we do work a Saturday we finish up at 3pm on one day through the week and we also get the following Friday off. This means that 1 Friday in 3 we get a long weekend.

Not only does this make the office a better place to work and gives a nicer atmosphere we have found that productivity has actually gone up as we have beat many of our targets in Chefs In Scotland history such as 75 hits in one week a couple of weeks ago and 40 adverts in a week one month ago.

Do you think there is anyway this could be implemented in the hospitality industry and how would it be done?

Jessica

Friday Night Dinner

On Friday evening after work, Chefs In Scotland went to Thornhill for a meal at the Buccleuch and Queensberry which is where Jessica, our Recruitment Consultant used to be a chef and also an establishment where Chefs In Scotland have placed chefs.

First of all when we arrived in Thornhill, we went to the small holding which is where Jessica had previously set up an arrangement between the farm and the Buccleuch and Queensberry for the farm to supply pigs to the hotel.

For our starters we had all decided to have something different from the menu so we could sample as many dishes as possible. Johanna had the Courgette and Spinach soup with homemade bread, Jessica had the Goats Cheese Salad, I had the eggs benedict (which was a nice big portion!) and Michael had the Tamworth Pork Terrine which was made using one of the pigs supplied from the small holding we had previously visited. We all thoroughly enjoyed the starters and could not wait to see what the main course was like.

For our main courses, Johanna had the Gnocchi in a tomato fondue with broad beans and asparagus, I had The Duke burger with chips, onion rings, salad and a homemade Buccleuch and Queensberry burger sauce and Jessica and Michael both had the Tamworth Pork Trio with chargrilled fennel and creamed spinach. We all agreed that the main course was lovely – so much variety on the menu and there really is something for everyone!

Lastly, we all managed to find enough room to squeeze in some dessert! Johanna had the Chocolate Fondant with cherry compote and Vanilla Ice Cream, I had 2 scoops of raspberry and lemon sorbets, Michael had a selection of local cheeses, oatcakes and chutney and definitely the star of all the selection of desserts we had was Jessica’s! She had the Elderflower and Gooseberry Baked Alaska which was a huge portion and presented so well! We all had a bit of dessert envy watching her dessert come out!

Overall, our meal at the Buccleuch and Queensberry was amazing, so much flavour, variety and great portion sizes! Definitely one to recommend!

Alannah Morrison

Availability of Chefs in Scotland 17th June

Availability of permanent head chefs is getting tighter and whilst employers may get 1 to 3 good to decent candidates, they are unlikely to get a stream of head chef candidates.
There are more candidates in central Scotland if paying good money in excess of £28,000 and upwards.

In rural Scotland and particularly for 2AA Rosette country house hotels relevant candidates are scarce. Skye, Shetland Islands and rural Argyll, it is proving hard to get relevant candidates despite the payment of good money. (about £35,000 for 2AA Rosette head chef) .
Suggest paying £28,000 upwards to £40,000 according to requirements and demands of the job. Ideally we advise for a five day week and over-time paid on a pro rata basis for extra days worked and for hours in excess of 48 on a pro rata basis.
For seasonal head chef jobs suggest £120 per day or £600 per week with end of season bonus for completion.
Aberdeenshire, Dundee and East coast, there are a few Head Chefs registered although as the oil price increases so the demand for chefs is increasing rapidly.
Inverness and the highlands of Scotland mainland pay good money with good accommodation and you will get some decent candidates unless you are 2AA Rosette or 3AA Rosette in which case it may be a bit tight.
Head Chefs are being put off jobs that offer set wage for 5 or 6 days per week and prefer to work 5 day weeks or if six paid by the day.
In rural Scotland we are advising offering live in also, ideally at no charge to the chef.
The more central, the more candidates you will expect to get and the more rural, the harder it can get.

Sous chefs
If it is a live in position for 4 star hotel suggest paying £24,000 to £30,000.
In central areas such as Glasgow, Edinburgh, Perth Stirling can try live-out.
More rural availability including Aberdeen and Invernesshire is becoming difficult, there are some candidates about but this is getting tighter as we are now in the middle of the season. The quality of candidates is mixed and trying to get a good sous chef is very difficult.
2AA Rosettes and are quite scarce. Suggest wages of £26,000 - £28,000 upwards to £30,000 for 3AA Rosette sous chef.
A good way to attract candidates is to pay hourly rates for every hour worked by chefs.For sous chefs suggest £11 to £14 per hour this will help to attract and retain good candidates.
If paying salaried, we suggest five day week with overtime pro rata over 48 hours.

Chef de parties

Availability currently ok in Glasgow, Edinburgh, Perthshire and central belt.
Availability is becoming much tighter in rural Scotland even if offering accommodation.
There are some chefs looking for live in accommodation and may be happy to relocate and again are of varying quality.
£19,000 for a 45 hour week works out £8.11 an hour which is on the low side. Suggest paying up to £22,000 or hourly rate £8.50 - £12 per hour with live in accommodation at a small charge. We would hope you will get decent candidates with this.

Commis chefs
A few bodies available including students coming out of college. Suggest £15,000 live in or out. Or minimum wage which is £7.20.
Age 18 to 20 the minimum wage will still be £5.30 per hour.

Pastry a few available happy to have a look

For perm we can look if pay “fee of interest” or advertise

Relief is very tight at the moment but does change daily.