Wednesday 4th February 2015
“Out and About”
We do our management statistics over the week-end and one of the numbers we tally up is the amount of relief chefs out working in placements via Chefs In Scotland who we are still charging for, which is up to 8 weeks.
So anybody we placed up in Tongue in 2000 and is still lurking about up there we are not charging for. I think the first permanent placement up there was the late lamented Iain “Bad Boy” Baird a politely spoken big brute of a man, coming in at about twenty stone. He went up there in 2000 as a sous chef to work alongside Callum Marr and left after about four months. Iain subsequently did quite a few relief jobs via us in Fort William, Oban amongst others before sadly meeting his maker not long after getting off the ferry on Harris. I had one memorable night out with Iain in Portree in about 2003 when we had a few beers at The Isles Inn in the square followed by an excellent steak meal with sweet chilli sauce through the sautéed veg and a good pile of chips, all served on a black rimmed rustic plate. One of us fell asleep at the table; I can’t remember which of us it was.
Back to the numbers
Last Saturday we had 14 out down from 31 on the 31st of December 2014. This compares with last year when we had 12 out and only 7 the same time in 2013. Not a huge amount then, although as the days start to stretch into February and a man’s thoughts turn to a few holes of golf at 5pm when the snow clears from Moffat Golf Course, the number will increase. We can expect to have out about 40 by Easter and perhaps just about touching 60 in the summer. Ideally, we will have met all of those chefs and they will mainly have a good pedigree with us.
This does leave quite a few chefs sitting idle at the moment waiting for the phone to ring.
Henry Samms has been up in Aberdeen at Palm Court alongside well known chef Sebastian Schoeder and also managed a couple of three day stints to provide cover down at St Cyrus just down the coast from Aberdeen. Henry was a CIS placement for the first time in 2002 at the Portree Hotel, again on the island of Skye and had an excellent year on long term relief last year, mainly at The Four Seasons in Onich.
Douglas “Denzil” Gillies is completing his stint at The Cairndale in Dumfries and does so before taking a full time permanent job closer to home in the Hamilton area. “Denzil” heads off for a permanent job with his relief grading intact and our best wishes for the future for both himself, his family and his slightly ailing football team, although I believe that some help is en route from “Doon Sooth”, certainly not the Doonhamers of Dumfries. Cheers “Denzil”
Up north, Gary Imlach has completed a couple of stints at Y Not up in Thurso and spends a lot of time working on his croft and helping out with his family. Gary stretches back with us a very long time and has a three year stint under his belt at Chirmside in the Scottish Borders as well as a great many longer term relief jobs (three years at Scourie) under his belt and retains an excellent grading year on year.
Ryan Williamson has only been on our books for about a year but so far has a good permanent placement at Tor Na Coille in Banchory to go with a few relief jobs at The Four Seasons, St Fillans, a good stint at The Royal Hotel in Bridge of Allan and now out at The Westerton Arms. Grading on the rise for Ryan.
Roger Brown and Philippe Avril are both down working at The Dryfesdale in Lockerbie and have been for approaching a month now and both staying put for now and getting on well. Many thanks Roger and Philippe.
Obed Omwoma undertook his first relief job at Scotland’s Hotel in Pitlochry over Christmas and New Year and has now been up at the Shetland Hotel for over a month on his second stint. This after completing a 10 years stint as head chef in Dumfries at the Cairndale. Thanks Obed.
Mick Kitson who is based down here in Moffat has taken on a new permanent placement job at Moffat House and we wish him all the very best for his many fine jobs over lots of years doing back to his first job with Jo Fenner up at Ben Nevis when we were still on Skye.
Glad to see Ben Nevis posting a job on our website for a bar manager paying £37,000 per year, we can take front of house postings also on our website as adverts.
OK, ten past twelve, will get this up and move on
Many thanks for continued support and patience
Michael in Moffat
Wednesday 28th January 2015
The sleet is coming down, not lying on the ground just yet.
As is to be expected for the time of year, late January, relief work is very quiet. Johanna has a couple of days work for a care home to work on and that is it. There are a large amount of good, reliable chefs well known to us marked available on relief. It should start to pick up by a trickle, today, this afternoon or perhaps tomorrow or Friday.
Permanent work
We are very steady and making some good placements this week, one a placement at a very well-known hotel with a well-known Scottish chef over in St Andrews. Not going to jinx anything by naming the place. And a good head chef placement up on Skye at a Rosetted hotel. A lot of interviews in the pipeline also.
We are having our monthly board meeting tomorrow to look at January’s figures and it will be interesting to see how they compare with January 2014 as we are deliberately not advertising anywhere other than our own website this year and on our Facebook page. So far this is meaning that we are getting less irrelevant applications in and are getting more specific applications from chefs who actually have to go to our website, look through the jobs and make a decision to apply by emailing over their Cv. I feel that some of the other websites make it too easy to apply for jobs which are sent directly to your mobile phone and all you have to do is press a button to make an application.
It is early on in the year so we will see how this policy goes over the coming months.
We are also being more proactive on Twitter, but I am intentionally only sending 3 Tweets a week so as not to just Tweet for the sake of it. I will Tweet a link to this News page once done.
I attended a cabinet meeting in Dumfries on Monday night with my golfing friend and former employer Mark Brydson (nee Smither) who I worked for at the Smugglers in 1992. It was a cabinet meeting of the Scottish government who came down to Dumfries from Edinburgh. Held in the Easterbrook Hall part of the new Crichton Campus, which is part of Glasgow University.
I had my hand up and was keen to ask a question as the First Minister, Nicola Sturgeon, who came across as bright, likeable and very well briefed and on top of all the topics which were raised, had mentioned the Scottish Government’s commitment to “the living wage” which has been imposed upon all council and government employees. The rate is £7.80 per hour.
£7.80 per hour is not a huge wage for someone over the age of 21 but it is one that seems to set alarm bells ringing in the Hospitality Industry. Paid by the hour as opposed to salaried. £7.80 per hour for an employer equates to a little more. Employer National Insurance which is 13.8% and holiday pay which is incurred from day one of employment at a rate of 12.07%. . This added 25.87 makes a wage of £7.80 into a cost to the employer of £9.82 plus the cost of administering the wage via payroll.
For a forty hour week this will cost an employer £20,000 per year.
The government will do well out of this £20,000 in terms of money raised via tax and National Insurance (both employee and employer)
It is a very interesting topic and one that does have implications for many hotels and restaurants in Scotland who provide direct employment for approximately 220,000 directly and another 120,000 indirectly which makes up 8.6% of the work force. A reasonable chunk.
Are better paid employees more productive?
There does seem to be a lot of research into this question which looks to provide evidence that productivity does increase with better pay, better working conditions and employers taking a vested interest in the welfare and wants of their employees.
Google it
“Are better paid employees more productive?”
How does this tie in and square up with the lengthy working hours many chefs work?
In France in 2000, a 35 hour working week was introduced by the Plural left government.
Is that taking it too far and how productive is the French economy currently?
Lots of questions but it is interesting that the dominant chefs in the UK in the last forty years are mainly French.
Where will this go with the Scottish Government, leading hotels and restaurants in Scotland and an internet age when there is an ever greater ease to find jobs on any of the many jobs websites and boards.
Be happy to hear thoughts on our Facebook page where new members are always welcome.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/350208565115100/
I will give this topic a miss next week and we should see a return of “out and about”
Michael
22nd January 2015
Chefs In Scotland recommended wages for chefs working in hotels and restaurants in Scotland.
These are my thoughts on the matter to try and get less movement in Scottish Hospitality and to get closer to standardisation of working practises within a large industry, where at the moment none exist other than the statutory holidays and the largely ignored EU Working Time Directive.
Head Chefs
I understand that in small villages and towns, where the menu is half fresh and half frozen, the skill level of the chef needed is not too high. In this case I would suggest paying an hourly rate which would be anything from £8 to £12 per hour.
In busy hotels in either cities or in rural Scotland, I suggest a wage of £28,000 to £30,000 per year will attract good candidates with mainly stable work histories. I would like overtime to be paid at hours worked above 48 on a pro rata basis when sanctioned by the owners or management. Extra days should be paid or given back in lieu in quieter times; the choice should be made by the employee, the chef and should not be inflicted upon him or her.
When paying hourly rate for a head chef, £13.50 to £15 per hour will attract good stable candidates for 3 star hotels and above. All though 2AA and 3AA Rosette head chefs can at times be scarce and may attract a higher rate either by the hour or when salaried.
Sous Chefs
In central locations, availability is ok if paying £20,000 to £27,000 per year. I would again suggest overtime being paid over 48 hours, or perhaps even 45 hours, when sanctioned by management. In rural Scotland, Aberdeen, and many of the islands, I would suggest either paying an hourly rate in the region of £9 to £12.50 per hour or a wage of £20,000 upwards with accommodation for a working week to either 45 or 48 hours. With again, overtime paid at time for over that or if an extra day is worked.
I do not think there is a case to be made for paying a flat wage and asking for a five or six day week to be worked.
Chef de parties
There is an acknowledged shortage of good young chefs working and staying in hotels and restaurants in Scotland. Many hotels have very poor retention rates. The chefs start with them and either leave very quickly and get other chef jobs or leave the industry all together.
There is a point to debate as to whether there should be a trade off in the experience gained working in a top quality establishment, one which may hold 3AA Rosettes and or a Michelin star, or whether the chef should still be paid a good rate of pay. I think that establishments should look at their chef retention rate before deciding what is best for them.
My thoughts are that an hourly rate of between £7.50 and £10 per hour will attract and hopefully keep chefs, with £7.50 per hour being on the low side.
The government suggests charging £35.56 per week for live in accommodation for hotels workers which can count as part of their pay. Again a point to debate is whether the charge should be classed as a taxable “benefit in kind” as the chef is required to stay at the hotel of nearby in order to be able to do their job. I find the guidelines issues by the Inland Revenue to be confusing.
https://www.gov.uk/national-minimum-wage-accommodation is worth a look
Commis chefs.
A bit more straight forward.
Minimum wage for up to 21 years old is £5.03 and for over 21 years it is up to £6.31 per hour.
We always try to ask when an employer advertises on our website or asks us to look for candidates for chef jobs
“What makes your job special or more attractive to chefs?”
Why would somebody want to work for you, other than it is a job?
I remember seeing on social media last year somebody advertising for chefs to work abroad and in addition to be able to work six days per week sometimes seven it was added “must be able to take a good beasting”
Michael
Thursday 15th January 2015
A small business.
The tree creaked audibly when I took Bentley the Basset Hound along Hartfell Crescent in Moffat ten minutes ago. The strong cold wind hastened both of us back to the sanctuary of a warm house. He is now sitting at the top of the stairs half asleep, patiently waiting for his next walk or his mid-day meal.
The poor weather in Scotland has contributed to a sluggish start to the season, permanent head chef jobs have been registered, candidates have been submitted and we are just waiting for the hoteliers to respond. They may have other priorities at the moment without electricity or trying to tie down parts of the hotel so they are not blown away.
It will come out in the wash.
Technology
We are maybe a little bit slow off the mark with Twitter and I haven’t quite got a grasp on what is happening, but we sent out a good few Tweets yesterday and my email inbox was full of retweets and acceptance this morning. We are up to about 240 followers and I expect that the number will grow.
We are intentionally not posting our jobs anywhere else other than our own website and on Facebook for now.
Property
Chefs In Scotland owns four properties which provide a mixture of pleasure, income and problems.
The shop in Well Street in Moffat which is called “Crazy Daisy Crafts” is fairly stable. Anne has been in the shop for almost three years and it is quite a busy little shop selling wool and crafts as well as running craft classes. There are occasional patches of damp as water trickles down from the old buildings above. Particularly at this time of year.
The flat in Dundanion House a couple of hundred yards away is a beautiful building and the same two gents have been renting it for over two years now. As long as no trees fall down as they did in the storms a couple of years back or new boilers are needed, it is fairly straight forward and I enjoy the six monthly meetings with the other flat owners. A nice little community on what used to be one of Moffat’s many private schools.
Nether Cottage in Crocketford 9 miles the other side of Dumfries got off to a slow start last year and I often questioned why we had bought it as it sat empty whilst using oil and electricity. Again, it is a lovely little cottage with a nice multi fuel burner and a long back garden which I took enjoyment from cutting the grass and weeding once we did get some guests. From last September though it has been booked solid and we have a five month winter let and there are more bookings in for the summer and Autumn. The new boiler saga is now over after it too me almost two months to find a plumber to pitch up and fit the boiler.
Garden Apartment, Capistrano Village, Nerja South Spain. There seems to be a trend that each subsequent property (and I am saying no more no more) gets further away from Moffat. This is a lovely wee apartment in a delightful town on the Costa Del Sol and so far, nothing but expenses. We did have our first ever booking arrive last night but alas there were no keys when they got to the apartment. A couple of phone calls to Spain yesterday evening and the key was on its way with Steve from Bournemouth, the head house-keeper for the agency we are dealing with out there. A little hiccup, but hopefully all is going well for Martin and Donna. Martin is the chef / manager at the Hub in Eskdalemuir where I was kindly invited to take a couple of classes. Fitting, he should be our first booking. We have had a few more enquiries and Jake from the Three Lemons in Aberfeldy (ex farleyer and the courtyard) has duly won his prize of a week’s accommodation at Garden Apartment at some point in the season.
Relief
Johanna managed to knock out 12 relief jobs last week, her first full week back as relief chef manageress after Christmas. As is usual for this time of the year, relief work is quieter. We are down from 30 relief chefs we are still charging for being out at Christmas to about 16. This will stay like this for the rest of the month I expect before picking up in February through March to Easter.
By summer, there will not be enough good relief chefs for all the jobs.
Permanent
We are now up to over 40 jobs on the website for permanent or seasonal and this will go up to over 100 by June I expect.
We are trying to fill about fifteen jobs, mainly head chef ones, where we suggest our preferred candidates.
A little quieter in January then, but just about enough to keep Johanna, Dean (who is back with us after a break in December) and myself going. Colin Fraser helps with Special Projects and Technology and Development, “Invoices Ian”, who stays in the flat in Dundanion, is keen to get back early February to do some invoices of a Monday and Tuesday evening. Anne, the office house-keeper, is back after a Christmas break, working two days a week, just two hours each.
No legal cases pending, plenty of credit control and the year-end accounts to get ready for our accountant so we know how much corporation tax we will be due on the 1st of September and can work round that.
And that is us.
Annan Athletic v Elgin City Saturday 10th January 2015
The sun shone briefly on a bitterly cold January afternoon in Annan with strong winter gusts hurrying across the Solway Firth and into Galabank.
Ultimately, the sun shone brightly on the players from Elgin who had made a long journey down from North East Scotland.
Elgin played a more controlled game, keeping the ball on the ground as much as possible through the evergreen football skills and nous of Dennis Wyness, a couple of months shy of his 38th birthday. The ball would come into his feet and with one touch he would find a team mate and move into space.
Sitting in the stand at the half way line, the game was entertaining for the 311 fans, with twice Annan taking the lead through David Hopkirk and Ryan McStay.
Elgin were up for a fight though and did not allow themselves to give up. Craig Gunn had a first half equaliser and two second half goals, first from Daniel Moore and then a header from Ally Gilchrist in the 74th minute, allowed Elgin to run out winners.
Annan had some late opportunities but a resolute Elgin held out to take three well deserved points for the second consecutive game on their travels.
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