INDUSTRY TRUTHS #1 — The Talent Shortage Isn’t the Problem. The System Is.

People say the industry is dying because young cooks “don’t want to work.”
That’s a convenient myth.
The real issue runs deeper, sharper, older.

Kitchens weren’t built to develop people — they were built to survive the service.
For decades, the system rewarded speed over understanding, obedience over growth, exhaustion over mastery.
You can’t expect a new generation to thrive in a structure designed to break them.

A cook burns out not because the craft is too hard, but because guidance is too weak.
Most kitchens teach tasks, not thinking. Movements, not mechanics. Recipes, not reasoning.
You get a workforce that can execute but cannot evolve — and an industry shocked when they leave.

The truth is simple and uncomfortable:
If a kitchen cannot produce chefs, it eventually runs out of cooks.

Modern hospitality doesn’t need louder leaders — it needs smarter structures.
Clear paths of progression.
Real mentorship.
Systems that teach cooks why, not just what.
Teams built on communication instead of intimidation.
Standards enforced without killing curiosity.

The kitchens that survive the next decade will be the ones that shift from chaos to clarity, from ego to education.
Places where discipline isn’t punishment but a framework for growth.
Places where knowledge compounds, where people stay because they’re becoming something — not because they’re afraid to leave.

This isn’t optimism; it’s engineering.
An industry that wants longevity must start designing itself like a living organism, not a daily battlefield.

The truth hurts, but it also frees.
Once the myth collapses, the rebuild can begin — brick by brick, cook by cook, with a system built to last instead of a culture built to burn.