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The executive chef at Taj hotel in Mumbai is a Hemant Oberoi. It would have been nice to be able to say that the executive chef at the Oberoi hotel in Mumbai is a Taj Smith. He’s not. Taj is a footballer playing for the Indianapolis Colts. Coincidences can go thus far and no more.
But Oberoi (the man) does not need to flash his name to raise eyebrows. What’s been surprising people is his annual package — above Rs 1 crore. Observers find it difficult to believe a humble cook (though not so humble in this case) could earn so much.
But cooks are in demand and will be increasingly so. The restaurant business is set to boom. It happens in every country as it climbs the earnings ladder. India’s per capita income has recently crossed the $1,000 mark. This puts it in the category of middle-income nations and among the first to blossom is the restaurant business. Today, even Calcutta, where you could never get Bengali food outside home and hearth, boasts of several outlets that serve the real thing. More important, a visit to a restaurant is no longer looked upon as an extravagance.
Look closely at the waiter serving you. Would you believe the demand for his services is greater than that of an Infosys or TCS techie? The attrition rate in the restaurant industry is 40-50 per cent, much higher than the IT industry ever had. Of course, salaries are not comparable. But the humble waiter or cook could get there someday.
Look at the salaries in the West. To control immigration, the UK government has just removed chefs from its shortage list. This means the norms for their entry have become stricter. Now they will have to be graduates with at least five years’ experience. What’s more important is that there is a floor on their salary. The chefs will have to be paid at least Rs 20 lakh after deductions and housing. That’s nowhere close to Oberoi’s salary, but it would outdo most of the techies in India. Where cooks tread today, waiters and others will follow tomorrow.
“The restaurant industry is one of the Indian economy’s best kept secrets,” says a recent white paper on the Indian restaurant industry. Look at some numbers. Says the paper: “Current revenues amount to a sizeable Rs 43,000 crore, with a growth rate of 5-6 per cent per annum. The relatively new organised segment of the industry is estimated at between Rs 7,000 crore and Rs 8,500 crore. In fact, the organised segment of the restaurant industry, at 16-20 per cent of the total industry, is more than the organised segment of the retail industry, which currently stands at 7-8 per cent. It is growing faster than the overall restaurant industry, at 20-25 per cent per annum.” The industry currently employs 5 million people. By 2015, that will be 20 million. While these figures from the white paper seem very high, this is a huge opportunity area if even a fraction of that is achieved.
There are several features of employment that make the restaurant sector attractive. As mentioned earlier, demand and growth are both very high. Second, people must eat; except at the luxury end, this sector is unaffected by economic crises. Third, you don’t need a long line of academic qualifications; experience counts more. Finally, you can migrate to where the demand is highest — the requirements from a cook in Calcutta are no different from one in Kensington Park.
The problem with India, however, is image. How do you tell people you work in a restaurant or are a cook? The popular picture is that of a person in a torn vest, beedi behind ear and sweating in the heat. Would you allow your daughter to marry him? But you can well consider being an early bird in the restaurant sector; the jobs menu is changing.
JOBS ON THE MENU
Problems with people in the restaurant business
• The restaurant business needs a lot of human interface, and the same set of best practices needs to be passed on to resources across locations
• Restaurants need employees who have good people skills, and individuals who are the right fit with matching aspirations
• The industry is highly labour intensive, with requirements for trained chefs, managerial staff and other support staff, but there is a lack of skilled manpower in the restaurant business
• There are very few institutes catering to any of these requirements and, as of now, the industry is sourcing its employees from the same pool as the retail and hotel industries (for some services)
• Each year, 10,500 students graduate from the 25 Institutes of Hotel Management (IHMs), which award a three-year degree in hotel management, and another 150 private institutions in the country
• There are also 10 Food Craft Institutes which award a certificate after a one-year course in various skills of hotel management, such as front office, housekeeping, food service and food production
• Getting English-speaking staff with basic service skills is also a challenge
• The attrition rate is 40-50 per cent.
