The Plan
It’s no secret that the hospitality & catering sector in Zambia is lacking in highly trained and skilled professionals. Over the last 3-4 decades the industry in Zambia has had a mixed reputation, fueled in part by our society's' view that hospitality & catering jobs were a second class options which made a lot of parents discourage their children from taking the subject for higher education including any other artistic subjects such as music, theater and drama.
The majority of parents going as far back as Zambia's independence preferred or rather strongly insisted that their children take up more academic subjects for higher education courses such as medicine, engineering, accounts and law.
Subjects like music, theater, drama, and hospitality were relegated to just mere hobbies or reserved for those who never got the grades to proceed to so called respectable higher education courses such as medicine, engineering, accounts and law.
This view continually fed into the idea that hospitality & catering were subjects which were not as important or respectable as the more academic subject. The outcome of this meant that the authorities in charge of hospitality and catering institutions payed less attention to the institutions with little or no capital investment for the field which then resulted in degradation of facilities leading to little or no development of the hospitality & catering sector in Zambia.
Fast forward to 2024 and the story is different, hospitality & catering has become one of the most lucrative industries in the world and Zambia is still stuck in 1964.
It is understandable considering that Zambia only produced it's first university graduates as recently as 1968 after the inception of the University of Zambia in 1966.
The nation needed to develop so more emphasis was placed on subjects which were thought would be more constructive in the effort of building the country.
The arts where not really considered as a constructive subject by many, only a few would understand the importance even up until now.
Now is when the majority of people (and by 'people' we mean governing bodies and private sector business) are beginning to wake up and understand the importance and potential of the sector in terms of contribution to the GDP of the country.
How can the sector engage the next generation of hospitality & catering workers and what can the sector be doing now to reach and engage a pipeline of talent for the future.
Education
The recent boom of celebrity chefs and cookery programs such as master chef, has reignited peoples passions for food and hospitality in general.
More and more young people are seeing the value of catering as a means to generate a very good income. From the lone samosa makers who make batches of samosa's for sale to parents for their children's school lunch boxes, the lone bakers who churn out countless birthday and wedding cakes to the guys who cater for events such as bridal showers, weddings, and private parties.
More & more young people are getting involved in event planning, venue decoration and event management which essentially is what we call hospitality. These are the targets.
Zambia as a nation is still very young in terms of the development of our hospitality & catering sectors compared to the kind of standards we see in other parts of the world especially Europe, North America and Asia.
It is safe to say that, Zambia in some respects has not even began to seriously invest fully in the training and development of hospitality & catering workers.
This is the reason why a lot of the international hospitality & catering companies which operate in Zambia opt to hire from outside of the country especially for senior management positions.
Hire for personality and attitude, train for skills.
As it stands, there is a lack of fully skilled and fully experienced workers in the country. Unfortunately the only remedy to this problem is time and investment.
Investment in institutions which offer the full scope of hospitality & catering education. For example most of the current institutions offering hospitality & catering courses only offer generalized courses such as what they call "food production", or " general hospitality", which with respect can only be described a modules in the full scope of the industry.
Most hospitality & catering courses at international level have a minimum of 24 modules.
Time plays a huge role when it comes to education, work experience and the transfer of knowledge and skills in a work force.
If we were to put a rough estimate of the number of years it should take to have a fully qualified and experienced workforce within the hospitality & catering sector, we would say realistically, a minimum of 15 years.
Most hospitality & catering executives will tell you that it took them at 10 to 15 years for them to fully grasp the job. The job of Head Chef, the job of F & B Manager, The job of Executive Housekeeper, The job of Operations Manager and so forth.
An institution which is well funded and offering the full scope of hospitality & catering courses + 15 years work experience in a good quality establishment. This is what is needed in relative terms.
But I need workers now you say!. The answer is simple, focus more on developing talent rather than recruiting talent. Until the above mentioned is achieved which will require a lot of time and the full corporation of government and the private sector, the only solution is to develop talent from within. As much as it might be costly and time consuming.
Tourism as an industry is growing in Zambia at rate which will cause problems when it comes to filling certain position. If not careful, companies will end up in a position where they are trying to poach the same person over and over again.
The advantage of hospitality & catering jobs is that you don’t need someone with a PHD. You can teach people how to check in guests and you can teach people how to pull a pint or how to serve a table. But what you can’t teach people is the personality that goes along with the job.
At this stage, it should be less about looking through the CV and more about looking at the persons character and considering what you can offer them to learn and develop within your hospitality & catering organization.
Transparency
One positive way to engage young talent is to be transparent from the outset. Tell young job seekers what the salary, benefits, and levels of support will be from day one. Highlight the extras – days off for their birthday, discounted or free food, transport and accommodation, opportunities to travel, the stuff that means something to someone on a personal day to day level.’
Focus on the opportunity
The next generation of hospitality workers aren’t all looking for a career in hospitality & catering – just like the old system of the developed worlds, most young hospitality & catering workers are students working in part to pay for accommodation, travel and school fees for other courses. The sector must recognize that by offering a wide range of opportunities, young workers like these can have a chance to ‘try before they buy’. You never know... One of them could turnout to be a future F&B Manager, Executive Chef or General Manager.
Many of today’s job seekers equate the word 'career' to being tied down in a role and that’s not what they want. They are looking for a role that resonates on a personal level, which matches their values and allows them the freedom to pursue other interests or religious activities which often evolve as they grow in skills and ability.’
Appeal to Gen Z's Values
Gen Z talent know where they want to work. A job with a focus on the environment, they want to make a difference, to make a positive impact. There are a lot of ways to present attractive opportunities to entry level talent. It’s about tapping into what it is that Gen Z's care about and finding ways to share those opportunities with them.
Gen Z's are ethically aware, they understand that they have a responsibility to safeguard the future and are advocates for sustainability and renewables. They are also avid social media users so they know which businesses and sectors appeal to them. Hospitality has to appeal to those values if young job seekers are to consider opportunities in the sector.
Consider Apprenticeships
Apprenticeships are a great choice for entry level positions and for developing talent that will become the leaders of tomorrow.
How do you attract people that are at apprenticeship level already, and how do you develop that talent?
As soon as employers offer apprenticeships, it encourages others within the business to strive for progression and skills development and makes hospitality more attractive as a sector because you are investing in people.’
Is the sector doing enough to highlight the training opportunities available to young people and are they presented in a way that resonates with today’s job seekers?
As a sector, hospitality must do more to promote training, not just for chefs, but across all roles and departments.
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