The clock strikes ten and it’s finally closing time. The kitchen fire switches off, the tables wiped clean, and the last of the dirty dishes scrubbed away. Head Chef James Mckay takes off his work apron and sits down on one of the cleaned tables, breathing a sigh of relief.
It’s been yet another busy day at the Number 9 Corner Restaurant, a small eatery tucked cosily in a shopping complex at Somerville.
“This sort of job is very tiring,” Mr Mckay said. “You never know exactly when you’re going to finish as there are no set hours and there might be more things you need to do before closing time.”
Only after the last payed is the bill and the restaurant closed, the 19 year old chef can finally breathe easy and call it a night.
As head chef, a great deal of responsibility is entrusted to Mr Mckay, yet he is satisfied and proud of his current position.
“I’m actually really surprised with how far I’ve gotten in hospitality,” he said. “I never thought I will get this far at this age, but I did.”
Mr Mckay is one of the many youths already working at restaurants in Melbourne. Starting as a kitchen hand a year ago, Mr Mckay slowly worked his way up to become the head chef in a manner of months.
“At first, I wasn’t really sure about working in a restaurant, because I had little interested in hospitality,” he said. “Eventually my mum talked me into it as she’s also a chef and owns her own restaurant.”
Mr Mckay owes his speedy success in the kitchen to his mother, who taught him the tips and tricks of the trade. “Getting good at the job was easy because my mum gave me a lot of experience,” he said.
“After learning quite a bit and getting a lot of help from everyone at the restaurant, I eventually worked my way up all thanks to mum.”
Family matters
Nowadays, a lot of younger students are getting employed at family run restaurants. These youths find it easier to get part time jobs using family connections.
RMIT Science student Sylvia Chan worked 3 years as a waitress at a Thai restaurant in the Northern Suburbs.
“In high school, I was looking for part-time work, and I got to know this restaurant whose owner was friends with my mum.”
Photo by: Sodanie Chea via Flickr
This part time position was the first real taste of work for Miss Chan.
“I wanted to learn about how it is to be employed, mostly for the work experience and also for future job opportunities,” she said.
Working in the kitchen or at the front, Mr Mckay said he gained a lot of knowledge not only in hospitality, but also about the work environment.
“It’s good that you do get a job in hospitality,” Mr Mckay said. “It’ll teach you a lot about responsibility and managing everything around you.”
Photo by Dolapo Falola via Flickr
Customer satisfaction
Handling customers can be tricky business, and from Mr Mckay’s own experience; serving them food isn’t as easy as it looks.
“You have to make sure you understand how customers feel when you serve them,” Mr Mckay said.
Working and serving customers in a small crowded restaurant was also one of the toughest parts of Miss Chan’s part time job.
“It gets a bit tricky when it’s busy because you have to meet everyone’s demands,” she said. “We were a particularly small restaurant, so we had to work as a team to run the place.”
Miss Chan also said working up the front as a waitress wasn’t all that simple.
“It’s not just standing there and handing out food, it does get busy and you do have to use your brain to multitask a lot and be quick on your feet.”
“It’s been very difficult in some aspects as you have to handle quite a bit of abuse from unhappy customers,” Mr Mckay said. “As head chef, I’ve got to make sure all the orders get out on time and in the right order.”
It gets especially busy at night for Mr Mckay’s restaurant, as customers flood in looking to dine there or take away.
“I mainly focus on what’s in front of me and take things step by step,” he said. “Like finishing a first order docket and then followed up with a second one, while making sure I have everything ready for cooking.”
“The stress can get to you, but as long as you mainly keep a cool head, you’ll be alright.”
RMIT IT student Roxanne, who requested her name to be changed for this article, worked as a team member at KFC this year.
Her position was to serve customers and prepare their food. This opened her up to a lot of different people in the community.
“I had problems when faced with different customers who had very difficult orders and sometimes customers complained about the food as well,” she said.
“There are also a few who do not tolerate mistakes and are very ill tempered.”
Roxanne had to keep a cool head at all times when doing her shift.
“I can’t react the same way they react, I have to be patient,” she said. “The key is to remain calm, be positive and not aggressive.”
During her training period at KFC, Roxanne said professionalism and reliability is a must in every fast food establishment.
“You are expected to be professional,” she said. “You have to manage everything by yourself, and any personal or academic issues will not be tolerated.”
Work and study
Roxanne has since left her position at KFC to focus on her studies at university. She said it’s not an easy task to juggle work and studies, but she found it a necessity for all part timers.
“To enter into my line of work, you have to understand commitment,” she said. “Sometimes you can’t have an excuse for not turning up to work because of university assignments.”
“There are younger students who think employers at big fast food chains are kind and tolerant to their studies, but that isn’t the case in a proper establishment like KFC,” she added.
To cope with this, Roxanne divided her schedule which gave her enough time to study, attend classes and go to work.
“The key to juggling working and studying is good time management,” she said. “You have to list down your priorities and know when a free time is for you.”
“Be realistic about your timing and dividing it properly is the key to juggling part time work and study.”
For some students like Miss Chan, juggling part time work and studies can be time consuming and stressful.
“One of the main reasons I left the restaurant was because of school,” Miss Chan said. “I started working less and less as things got more intense at school and eventually I had to stop.”
Miss Chan started her part time job when she was still in high school. She applied for the position during her school holidays, but when the year 12 semesters began she had to work less days.
“I’m still happy to count this as one of my first jobs,” she said. “Now I have all that experience, it’s going to be easier to find work in the hospitality industry.”
Experience counts
“Students find jobs in restaurants for the work experience as well as for the money,” Mr Mckay said. “It’s good to see these students have the initiative to go out and try everything.”
“As a student, you’ve got to make sure you really want this restaurant job and be committed to it,” Miss Chan added.
“You’ve also got to be confident with yourself and if you’re not assured about something like your speaking skills, you’ll just have to push yourself to work on it.
photo by Megan Ong
“It’s especially good to start off as something like a kitchen hand or a waiter because you get to learn to talk to people and build up your confidence,” Mr Mckay said. “Eventually if you do become a chef, you get more responsibility in terms of managing orders, cooking and making sure everything is fine in general.”
For students like Roxanne and Miss Chan, part time work in a restaurant is all about responsibility and management.
“Jobs like this help you understand a lot of things about the community,” Mr Mckay said.
“It may be a lot of work, but it’s also a lot of fun as you’ll meet and satisfy a lot of new people by serving them your best.”
