I often get asked why I started my short-term chef staffing business, Anytime Chefs.
Cooking is my life, and it eats up a lot of my time. Isn’t that enough?
As a chef with more than 15 years of experience, I had the experience of cooking and managing hospitality operations in three different continents. Those experiences allowed me to witness how even the most adequately planned kitchens and events suffer hiccups and how problems are resolved.
Realising that I can help so many hospitality business owners, achieve their goals in a smooth flowing manner is just priceless! Therefore, creating a business that is the first choice for kitchens needing chef labour assistance became a goal for me.
It is fantastic if resident chefs are available, but unfortunately, it’s not a perfect world. Sometimes having a temporary pair of hands are beneficial.
Here are five situations I have noticed where delivering food service becomes challenging and how hiring short-term chefs provide the solution:
1. Venue peak periods, functions or special events
Some people see long queues as positive. They see it as a sign of business growth; that the business is attracting new customers or that the event attendance is a success. All this is good if the team behind the event or venue is prepared.
But the truth is, having queue lines isn’t the problem: it’s the slow service times that prevent the queue line from moving efficiently!
Remember, checkout lines are bound to get busier during peak hours. And when this happens, it affects the customer experience, and people may even leave altogether. If this happens continuously, it can directly affect business, and I know some businesses who have not fully recovered from such scenarios.
When the kitchen team is trained and equipped with the right skills and attitude, service is quicker and more productive.
2. Emergency occurrences and covering annual leave
Most restaurants have signature dishes that are dependent on a resident chef. When a chef suddenly leaves or is unavailable, this can potentially cause a decline in speed preparation or worse, the food quality suffers. Poor food quality and the long waiting time that afflicts restaurants are costly to the bottom line. They both can negatively affect your patrons no matter how loyal they may be.
When you find yourself in this situation, of course, you will want to get a replacement quickly!
3. Needing a chef for a few hours only
Sometimes, you already have a well-placed kitchen team, but you still need some extra help for a few hours per week or a reliable person to fill in the slot. Hiring a full-time chef is not the right solution. But getting a well-trained and skilled chef even for such a short time is essential.
4. Startup teams for new opening venues
Launching a new business is one of the most nerve-wracking events, and business owners need all the help they can get. As with most event launch, food and beverage is present for guests and ensuring that no guests (potential clients) will leave dissatisfied is a big plus.
5. Chaotic kitchen
We chefs are trained in keeping the kitchen clean and orderly. But there are times when everything goes frantic and that extra pair of hands to help with simple kitchen preparations: washing, portioning, weighting, labelling products and so on are a big help.
These are only five situations that usually happens to most hospitality institutions. It is frustrating for everyone, and if you are the business owner or manager, it can mean the loss of business as well.
Short-term chef staffing serves as one solution to a common hospitality industry problem and finding the right staffing company can sometimes lead to long-term business relationships.
Thanks to our team of chefs, our network of suppliers, and hospitality resources, we at Anytime Chefs are often called for doing new openings with our startup team for new opening venues and kitchen logistics service. These involve the process of supplier setup plus we offer a costing cards service showing the food cost percentage to know straight away the margin of profit and loss. In this way, you can start the venue of your dreams knowing that everything is calculated and spot on to begin making profits, instead of wasting money and time trying to do everything by yourself reaching average and rushed results.
Hopefully, this gives you a better idea of what short-term chefs are all about and how they can be an excellent solution to your chef service needs!
Ciao for now,
Thomas
