Restaurants known to offer gourmet dishes reopen after the pandemic to a limited pool of top-notch chefs. PHOTO | SHUTTERSTOCK
If superior service and the taste of food define a great hotel experience, the Kenyan hospitality industry has grown on these two fronts in recent years to attain international standards.
Yet as the sector transforms, it is also losing a critical component: chefs. And not just any chefs, but the finest in its stable.
Top chefs have been enticed by better perks overseas, with the UK, North America, and Dubai emerging as the commonest destinations for Kenyans.
Hotels are now scrambling for the few available talents. But with scanty options, some have had to promote their junior chefs to take on the often demanding role of executive chef, with mixed results.
For those that had closed during the pandemic, they are reopening to a new, dark reality: a frightfully diminished pool of top chefs.
With wealthy families too taking away a chunk of chefs for private lunches and dinners, the top chefs’ market in Kenya has further been stretched thin.
To highlight the crisis of executive heads chefs in Kenya, many opportunities advertised on the career site Corporate Staffing have been re-advertised. One job for a head chef, in particular, has appeared on the platform at least three times since May last year.
Chef Simon Wanjau of Kobbi’s Oven tells BDLife that the hunt for talent is fiercest among pastry chefs.
“There are only about two pastry chefs of international standards left in Kenya. Each of them works at a five-star hotel. The rest have left for greener pastures,” says the former executive chef at Hotel Intercontinental.
Simon Wanjau, chef and founder, Kobbi's Oven. PHOTO | DIANA NGILA | NMG
What Wanjau calls greener pastures are hotels that can pay a pastry chef up to Sh2 million a month, up from between Sh900,000 and Sh1 million that they earn locally.
“Ordinarily, a pastry chef earns more than an executive chef. The pay grade is determined by the status of the hotel. For a five-star hotel, this is measured against international standards,” Wanjau says.
For many top chefs, the lure of higher perks abroad is irresistible, the decision to leave a no-brainer. Most top chefs you speak to are either considering moving abroad or know colleagues who have.
An industry source who manages communication for a top boutique hotel says Kenyan chefs are particularly in demand in hotels with predominantly English clientele.
“Kenyan chefs are attractive globally because they can speak English. Even the Chinese are hiring them to work in their hotels abroad.’’
Reason for exodus
Claims of discrimination against Kenyan chefs are also widespread, which is also fuelling the exodus.
John Kemboi, who has worked for Royal Caribbean Group cruise ships for eight years, says the industry elevates expatriates over local talent.
“I had worked under expats throughout my career in Kenya before I left for overseas. There has been an assumption that foreigners are better and more qualified. Our hotels trust them more,” he says.
Until he left the country in 2013, Kemboi, who had worked under a Scot chef, a Dutch and French, says he had never felt ‘equal.’
“I was surprised by my first offer at the cruise ship. It was way higher than what I was earning in Kenya. Unlike back at home, I was also compensated for hours worked overtime. For once I felt appreciated.”
He says when a hotel brings in an expat to head their kitchen, they pay for their air ticket, house and entertainment allowance on top of a hefty monthly salary, even as their local counterparts settle for a fraction of their take-home. But how big is the pay disparity between local chefs and expat?
“In most cases, it is in the ratio of 1 to 5. If the pay grade between expats and locals in the industry is different, it is even steeper in the hospitality sector,” Kemboi argues.
“It does not make sense to pay a Kenyan chef Sh200,000 while an expat takes home Sh1 million for the same job. It is an insult to Kenyan chefs,” he says. “If you know you can get double the pay out of the country, why stay and work in a place where your employer thinks they are doing you a favour?” one chef wonders.
Others say that even when locals are promoted to executive chefs, the package, in most cases, does not match what foreigners earn “even when sometimes you are a better chef by far.”
Wanjau has a bone to pick with top local hotels for hiring under-qualified professionals for critical roles, saying this compromises quality of service delivery.
“The job of a head chef is much more than preparing meals in the kitchen. You can train one how to cook or to bake for six months. But to manage kitchen staff, to develop menus and draft budgets you need to have gained experience over several years.”
One job posting for a sous chef at a Nanyuki-based luxurious safari company comes with 26 “key responsibilities” and nine different academic and practical qualifications, underscoring how demanding chef jobs are.
The global competition for chefs has reached dizzying levels, and hotels in Kenya are in a panic mode. The US Bureau of Statistics projects that the demand for chefs and head cooks globally will continue to grow by up to 25 percent between 2020 and 2030. This is faster than the average for most occupations.
10 years
Wanjau says it takes 10 years on average to train a chef, even longer for them to refine their mastery to international standards.
“Even after training in culinary school, hotels often have to retrain their chefs in-house under a head chef,” he says. It is a costly and time-consuming but necessary investment to maintain standards, Wanjau adds.
Yet after spending so much training their personnel, hotels are losing their best talent in a matter of weeks.
Each of the five-star hotels in Kenya has lost a senior chef in the last three years to a global rival. A luxury hotel in Nairobi, for instance, recently lost its assistant head chef, who left to work in the UK.
If the hospitality sector was limping before the arrival of Covid-19, the pandemic sank its fortunes. Chefs are among hotel staff who were sent home for months, some with reduced pay and others none at all.
When the global hospitality industry opened up and international hotels were back in operation, these professionals were ripe and ready for taking.
“I had to venture where there was an opportunity to remain in employment. That option for me was to work abroad,” says Chef Amos Gichohi who now works on the Jersey Island of the English Channel.
He observes that tough economic times in recent years have also made it difficult for chefs to negotiate with employers for a pay rise.
So when the UK pulled out of the European Union, Brexit created opportunities for professionals from around the world after Poles, Romanians and Portuguese who worked here left.
“There is still a crisis here and some hotels have had to close down due to lack of enough workers. I work at two hotels, Apollo Hotel Jersey and The Club Hotel &Spa, on different shifts,” he says.
For Kenyan chefs, this has been a low-hanging fruit. “It is easier for Kenyans to find jobs here and adapt quickly because they speak English.”
But it is also because of the quality of training for hospitality professionals in Kenya, Gichohi observes.
“Utalii College is known around the world for producing quality graduates. Kenyan talent in the market is highly sought-after.”
Then some started cooking, baking and delivering food to clients’ homes during the pandemic to create thriving businesses.
“Few of them were willing to take back their jobs even when their employers called them with offers. Self-employment gives you control over your time. You can spend time with your family,” Wanjau says.
18 to 20 hours
The job of a chef in Kenya is demanding and characterised by long hours. Some chefs work between 18 and 20 hours.
“Many chefs realised they could make more money elsewhere without being tied to one job for nearly all their life,” Wanjau adds. Gichohi is one such person.
“In Kenya, I have always worked for a monthly salary. Here, I work strictly on an hourly basis. The longest you work for is eight hours. Any extra hours are compensated,” he says.
The lure of money, though, is not the only thing costing Kenya’s hospitality industry of its top chef talent. Those who spoke to BDLife say there are more opportunities for growth outside the country.
“Outside the country, you are allowed to be creative and to try out different recipes. Nothing stops you from shining. Kenyan hotels tend to stick to the rulebook. This makes the job monotonous after some time,” Kemboi says.
He adds: “I have learnt management skills such as planning and organisation while working abroad. I have also been taught how to deal with cultural diversity at the workplace, something I didn’t learn in Kenya.”
It is hardly surprising that most executive chefs in the top hotels in Kenya have all worked abroad during their careers.
Some chefs such as Corretta Akinyi, a sous chef at Bungoma’s Hunters Paradise Cottages is content at home. “I am comfortable with my pay in Kenya. There is always room to negotiate for a pay rise. I also believe there is a lot of potential for growth here,” she tells BDLife.
Why does she think is fuelling the craze to work abroad? Corretta says working outside the country gives one the exposure needed to sustain their career in the future.
“When you have worked for a long period in an establishment, you get to a point when you need to gain a different experience,” she says.
Give incentives
After working on a cruise ship for eight years, Kemboi says he is ready for his next challenge. Would he take a chef job at home? Probably not, he says.
“I do not think Kenyan hotels would agree to pay me what I would ask.” Is he demanding too much? “I know my worth. I would only settle for that.”
“If I have to work here, then I would have to partner with someone to start a restaurant. Not to be employed. I am weighing some options abroad.”
For Gichohi, coming back home “when the time is ripe” is an option.
“I hope to showcase my experience from overseas to lift Kenya’s culinary scene to international standards.”
Wanjau adds: “Some hotel human resource managers do not seem to grasp why an executive chef should earn more than a senior manager. They need to understand the complexity of the job of a chef and attach the right value to it.”
Can the industry be salvaged? Many chefs believe all is not lost. But measures, some drastic, must be taken, they say.
“The sector needs to offer incentives to Kenyan chefs. Giving them tax breaks, for instance, would discourage them from leaving the country. It is also important for our veteran chefs to help train new talent in our colleges,” says Wanjau.
Gichohi sees it as a question of absorption. “Take in as many graduates as possible. We have enough talent to propel our industry to the next level. We also have enough room to accommodate everyone.”
Jkgitau@ke.nationmedia.com
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