Hospitality has become a hard sell for skilled workers in Australia, where the dream of owning a successful restaurant is moving further and further out of reach.

Attracting, motivating and retaining staff were the key concerns raised by audience members at Sydney’s first Good Food Hospitality Symposium, presented by Lightspeed and held at Machine Hall Precinct (with food by Icebergs Dining Room and bar) on Monday night.

Hundreds of hospitality professionals (plus a handful of inquisitive diners) attended the sold-out panel discussion, which was led by The Sydney Morning Herald Good Food Guide editor Callan Boys and hosted by Good Food editor Ardyn Bernoth.

Industry leaders Palisa Anderson (Chat Thai, Boon Luck Farm), Alessandro Pavoni (Ormeggio at The Spit, a’Mare), Huss Rachid (Self Raised Bread Shoppe, My Mother’s Cousin), Rebecca Fanning (Arthur, Jane, Fior) and Lightspeed’s Patrick Ryan-Parker took the stage to discuss the greatest challenge facing hospitality in 2024: the cost-of-living crisis predicted to shutter one in every 13 hospitality businesses within the next 12 months.

“You’ve got to have grit,” Anderson said, in her final piece of advice to the crowd.

“You have to expect not to make much money, and the margins are getting smaller and smaller. If you do not evolve, you will die.”

Low consumer spending was considered the most significant issue facing the industry, according to 42 per cent of more than 1100 respondents to Good Food’s live blog poll, held during the event.

The mounting difficulties of running a restaurant could discourage staff from viewing hospitality as a career rather than a job, said audience member and co-owner of hatted Paddington restaurant Ursula’s, Lis Davies.

“You have to expect not to make much money, and the margins are getting smaller and smaller. If you do not evolve, you will die.”

Palisa Anderson (Chat Thai, Boon Luck Farm)

“How do we get more young Australians wanting to work in the industry long term … [when] owning your own venue is becoming something a lot of the people working for us are seeing is harder and harder to aspire to?” Davies said.

Panellist Rachid said he had experienced the industry’s transient nature himself as a university student, when everyone he knew worked in cafes, bars and restaurants.

“It’s a gruelling industry … and no one wanted to stay,” he said.

“I think it’s not a matter of how we get them in, it’s a matter of how we get them to stay. It’s important to establish a culture [where] … this is not just a job for someone, it’s a career.”

But changing (or “casualised”) standards within Australian restaurants may present another hurdle to career growth for workers interested in fine dining.

“We casualised all of our businesses after COVID … [because] people need to feel confident they can go to a restaurant and don’t have to take out a mortgage to have a meal,” he said.

While Pavoni said it was still possible to earn a significant wage within the upper echelons of hospitality, Davies wondered where that shift left ambitious hospitality workers: “As we give up on the finer end of dining because the maths don’t make sense at the moment, [will] talented young Australians just look to go overseas?

“Whether they’re in the wine space, whether they’re chefs, they will want to work at the fabulous, successful restaurants in London, Paris and across Europe.”

Fanning said structural change was needed to show young Australians how promising a career in hospitality could be.

“You have to change the way people see kitchens and front-of-houses, [get rid of] the yelling and the mildly abusive [behaviour],” she said.

“Show [the younger generation] that [the people in your restaurant] are really great at what they do, they have so many skills to teach, they have all of this knowledge, and they’re really great human beings.”

Three tips to attract and keep talented staff, from the panellists

1. Keeping staff happy is of the utmost importance to Rebecca Fanning, who said it could be necessary to offer greater training or higher wages.
2. Alessandro Pavoni encouraged restaurateurs to share their vision for the future, get their employees invested in that future, and help them to grow alongside the restaurant.
3. Palisa Anderson said providing feedback is essential. “Talk to them, value them, and give them feedback that will help them, not to just become better servers and chefs, but better people.”