Pressure’s on for young restaurant workers

Stern judges, using only fresh food and a high pressure environment sound like the right ingredients for a reality television show cook-off, but there are no amateurs at the Electrolux Appetite for Excellence awards.

Founded by restaurant industry stalwart Luke Mangan, the popular awards give young chefs, waiters and restaurateurs the chance to prove their skills in the kitchen and give their career a boost at the same time.

Mangan, along with restaurant veteran, Lucy Allon, originally created the awards to ignite passion in young chefs. “The drop out rate for apprentices before they finish is over 50 per cent, so there’s a real shortage for quality chefs out there,” says Mangan.

“When I was a young chef there weren’t opportunities like this.”

According to the Clarius Skills Index released in February, Australia is currently short of more than 4,000 chefs making their skill set one of the mostly highly sought in the country.

The competition also aims to promote “waiting” (waiter/waitress) as a career option and last year added a third category to promote young restaurateurs aged 35 and under.

“In Europe, [waiting is] seen as a profession,” explains Mangan. “In Australia there are a lot of people that take it as a profession and that doesn’t get recognised.”

In the final round of the competition two to three young chefs and waiting will compete for the national prize. Young chef finalists will cook against the clock as well as each other to produce a dish for the judges to critique. Young waiting finalists will be tested on their service knowledge as well as blind food and wine tastings.

Fleur Savage was a finalist in last years awards in the waiting category and says the competition process boosted her confidence and bolstered her desire to start her own restaurant in the future.

“Achieving high marks in the practical test and wine tasting meant I knew I was on the right track. It really motivated me,” said Savage who had worked as waiter in London, Miami and Sydney before hearing about the awards.

“It was the only award program for waiters, so that was very appealing to me.”

As runner up in last year’s waiting competition, Savage spent a week touring regional Victoria, visiting vineyards and produce suppliers, an experience Mangan says is “about teaching [them] from paddock to plate”.