Giving staff a platform to provide feedback anonymously is just one way that hospitality operators like Kantaro Okada (279, Hareruya Pantry, Leonie Upstairs) and Joe Durrant (The Recreation) are working to foster positive culture in their workplaces.

“It is very scary because it’s kind of like reading Google reviews ... ‘Do I want to see it? Do I want to know the truth?’ But you have to,” Okada said on Monday night at the sold-out Good Food Symposium, a series launched earlier this year in response to the Australian hospitality industry facing tough times largely due to the cost of living crisis.

Getting anonymous feedback from about a third of his 120-strong workforce, Okada said: “We had lots of positives, but obviously some negatives.”

Asking first, then putting an action plan in place “gives us a chance to show [staff] that we really respect the feedback, and we want to change for them, and make a better working culture”.

“It is very scary because it’s kind of like reading Google reviews ... ‘Do I want to see it? Do I want to know the truth?’ But you have to.”

Kantaro Okada

Durrant agreed: “You need to have pathways that people can report what’s going on, where they don’t feel like their chances of developing is going to be harmed.”

Hospitality workplace culture has come into stark focus this year off the back of Good Food and the Sydney Morning Herald’s series of stories that uncovered a culture of sexual harassment in a prominent Sydney hospitality group – and the industry-wide prevalence of the issue.

Workplace culture was a theme at the second Symposium, which featured a panel of chefs, restaurateurs and industry professionals including pastry and dessert chef Christy Tania, of Glace Dessert; hospitality consultant Petrina Baker; and Pete Learmonth from Lightspeed, an integrated point-of-sale and payments platform and Good Food Symposium presenter.

Why it’s important to keep the lines of communication open was also discussed, particularly as a new generation of hospo talent climbs the ranks.

“We have a lot of younger [staff],” said Durrant. “The way they interact [is] different. We are learning, in real time, about [how the next generation likes to work and communicate] – people who are soon going to run the restaurant industry.”

At the same time, Durrant stressed the importance of prioritising those workers’ career progression, by tailoring their development, to upskill and hopefully retain them.

“You need to be anticipating that for them [and] they need to know their plan is original.”

But while there’s always room for improvement, there are wins to celebrate.

“Ten years ago, it was normal that you were unpaid – and worked unpaid overtime,” said Durrant.

“It’s a really small percentage of the industry now, where it was widespread before,” he continued.

“If you reflect on that and look at where we’ve come in a relatively short time, then I think that we shouldn’t get too ashen-faced about where we can go.”

Catch up on the Good Food Symposium livestream here.