PHOENIX -- The age of the supermarket chef has arrived and is cooking up new challenges for retailers.
The hiring and performance of chefs is one of the major human resource issues supermarkets face in building their burgeoning prepared foods programs. That message was delivered by a panel of executives who discussed some key hiring issues in a workshop at the Food Marketing Institute's MealSolutions '96 show here.
The first question many stores ponder is whether hiring a chef will add enough value to the organization to justify the costs.
Linda McBroom, training coordinator for Balls Food Stores, Kansas City, Kan., said her operation successfully brought an executive chef on board.
"That has raised our business to another level," she said. "Our chef has good people skills, gets involved in training and visits with customers in the store."
Bob Garlough, a certified executive chef who is chairman of the Hospitality Education division at Grand Rapids Community Center, Grand Rapids, Mich., said supermarkets that decide they need a chef must be clear about that person's expected role before a hiring process is begun.
"Before you recruit this person, what do you want him or her to do?" he asked. "Will it be commissary work? Will it be to supervise store units with kitchens? Will it include purchasing? In-store preparation? Decide up front what you want."
Garlough's program trains students who are seeking to become chefs or culinary management professionals.
Not all chefs have a full range of technical and people skills, Garlough pointed out.
"The chef that's cooking may not be the one to put in front of customers," he said.
Supermarkets also need to consider how the chef will be woven into the organizational structure.
"Whom will they report to; is it a line or a staff position?" Garlough asked. "Identify whom they'll work with, how they'll interface with departmental managers. The chef you bring on board will have to learn about supermarkets while supermarkets need to learn about food service."
Many chefs, indeed, don't realize that supermarkets offer career options for them. That issue has caused supermarkets to miss out on hiring opportunities in a tight market.
"There are plenty of talented chefs out there that would like to work in supermarkets, but they just don't know you guys," Garlough told retailers in the workshop audience. "Take time in hiring and searching.
"[Culinary] school instructors need to do a better job of talking about supermarkets and the rest of food service. Most of these students want to open their own restaurant when they graduate. But, when they leave our program, only 20% go into the restaurant business. Many go into corporate. Supermarkets need to partner with their local culinary school."
What are typical salaries earned by chefs? While actual numbers vary widely, Garlough said restaurant chefs can often earn $24,000 to $40,000, chefs in small hotels $30,000 to $60,000 and those in large hotels $50,000 to $200,000.
Supermarkets need to interview chefs carefully to make sure a prospective hire is comfortable with a business environment where creativity isn't the only motivating force, executives said. "You must provide opportunities to discover if the chef is flexible and can take direction," Garlough said.
Bill Nelson, director of product strategies for PenCom International, Denver, moderated the workshop and offered some general hiring advice to retailers. His company is a marketing and food-service training firm that also operates restaurants. Nelson addressed his remarks to the hiring of food-service employees of all types.