Customers drive all businesses, and if they demand better, the industry will have to pay people to deliver it.
Yes, but that's only part of the equation of this whole mess
Some of the other factors are:
Salaries for cooks
Customers
Unions
Schools
Media
Competition.
Face it, cooks get paid crap, They get paid crap because there are no standards, or pay scales to adhere to, they get paid crap because " a druggie moron" opening vacuum bags or thumbing the microwave can't/won't ask for more, because the job doesn't need anyone better.
How does a "normal guy/gal" raise a family as a cook? Chefs may be able to, and by Chef I mean the boss, a manager; and guys who own their own businesses can as well. But the cook has to work 2 or 3 jobs to get all the bills paid. This trade can't attract and keep talent untill the pay gets better.
Customers are a bit trickier. I'm constantly reminded of an old Supertamp song, the lyrics go something like "..you drink coca cola because they tell you it tastes good, and you watch television because they tell you should..." People are gullible and influenced by advertising. Why do people line up and pay for a certain coffee chain's coffee that has, literally, the living sh*t roasted out of it? Why do people buy a nuked, once-frozen, pre-portioned, egg-like product on a toasted bun?
The stereo-type of a Mom at home, in an apron cooking dinner is looooong gone. Most families are either dual income or single parent. Out of 21 meals per week, maybe only 5 include 20 to 30 minutes of preparation/cooking time. People don't care if they get crap, it just has to meet thier budget--time wise and money wise.
But the fickle customer, let's take a look at him again in a fine dining establishment. The bill comes to $200, and our guest tips the waiter $25. He tips him based on the whole dining experience Reservations made a week before? Pre-dinner drinks? The meal? The table settings? Wine? After dinner coffee? Taxes? How much is the waiter really responsible for? But social custom demands that he be tiped 10-15%. And the cooks? Social custom demands that the diner pass a verbal compliment to the guys in the back. Why is this so??? How do we change social custom? True, the cooks get paid a bit more than the waiters--above minimum wage, and what they're paid they pay taxes on, the waiters? How much do they clear? How do you attract and maintain good cooks if they aren't paid properly and customers are not willing to reward for a good dining experience?
The Unions. Before I go any further I must say that I have never worked outside of the hospitality industry. Evrything I write about unions is based on hospitality unions.
Now, some say that the Unions are like pigs at a trough. I say, sh*tty analogy. The more a pig eats, the better the price it will fetch at market. No, Unions are more like rats gnawing a hole in a gain silo: The only work done is the actual gnawing, no one else other than the rat benifits from the grain theft.
Why do I get so worked up about Unions? Two reasons
The first is like watching a bully at the schoolyard. You really feel for the poor schmucks he steals from and beats up. The Unions just garnishee paychecks and do nothing else. It's that simple. They don't even issue out membership cards, or--god forbid-- audited financial statements to their members to show what they do with their money. They just do diddly-squat. And No one takes them to task. No one.
The second is that the Unions have the potential to do something good for this industry. In Europe the hospitality industry has good links with the aprenticeship boards, they help set standards for curriculum and tests, they set wages for ALL hospitality workers-not just the union boys. Here in N. America I hear that other trade Unions do the same thing: Gasfitters, electricians, plumbers, HVAC, etc. They have standards, there are "Codes" or building standards to adhere to, the various Gov'ts and municiplaities use these codes and standards, and there are pay scales,--based on the standards.
How do you take the Unions to task? Hire a lawyer? Hit them in the groin? The groin would be the ol' bank account, take away thier right to garnishee paychecks, (the hole gnawed) and see how long they last as they currently operate? Could you imagine the shop steward standing out front of the staff room on pay day with an empty coffee can asking for union dues? If I ever saw that sight I'd probably keel over from sheer joy and unbridled laughter.
Ahhh the schools....
We have schools insisting to be called "Chef's Schools", we have schools handing out "degrees", we have very good schools and very lousy ones. No one can take them (schools) to task. No one can, because there are no standards to hold them up to. A cook is a bad word, and a Chef is someone with a poofy white hat--there are no standards. And we have many schools fleecing poor schmucks and telling them that within 6 mths they'll be a "Chef" and earn $80,000 by flying all over the world (expenses paid) finding new recipies for the corporate chain. How do you take the schools to task?
Media.....
If it sells it's media. Trying to get profesionalism, standards, decent wages, customer respect for our industry just isn't sexy. It doesn't sell. Racheal Ray does, crap does, reality doesn't. The media would be ideal to influence the customers, the Unions, and the schools to clean up thier acts, but they won't. It just doesn't sell.......
Competition
I saved the biggest one for last. Our biggest enemy is ourselves.
Take a look at your local yellow pages, look under "P". Look how many plumbers there are, now look at how many pizza places there are. Look under "R" and see how many restaurants there are.
Competition is so tight that we're beating each other over the head for the privilage of spinning a nickel. Can't make a buck? Cut, cut, cut. Cut whatever the customer can't see. If the guy across the street is selling entrees at $28.00 then we"ll sell ours for $25, and the guy across the street retaliates with $22, and so forth untill someone goes bust. And the Customers love it!!!!!!!!!!!
This is our industry. And if we want it to change for the better, we need some outside help. Whom, how, when? I dunno....
Well........ I guess I should get off of my soap box now