Hmmm will Yia Vang and Union Hmong Kitchen get burn too?

[theking]

'Everyone is burnt out': Why chefs and restaurateurs are leaving the industry in droves

Martyna Krowicka had had enough.

For nearly two decades Krowicka, 35, a fine-dining chef, loved her work. "I love cooking," she said.

She cooked at some of New Jersey's best restaurants, including The Ryland Inn in Whitehouse Station. At age 28 she was a "Chopped" champion, and two years later a nominee for a New Jersey rising star award. In 2018, she joined Felina, an award-winning Italian restaurant in Ridgewood, New Jersey, first as sous chef and then executive chef.

But in the fall of 2021, she quit Felina. "I just couldn't do it anymore," she said.

Working in restaurants has always been tough, but in recent years, thanks in large part to COVID-19, the work had gotten so difficult that many people, including top chefs, have left. While some may still be dicing carrots and whipping egg whites, they are doing so as caterers, private chefs, country club chefs or recipe developers. They are staying out of restaurant kitchens.

And it's not just chefs who are finding the work conditions in restaurants punishing. Anyone and everyone, it seems, is.

"Everyone is burnt out," said Chris Cannon, owner of Jockey Hollow Bar & Kitchen in Morristown, New Jersey. "After the three years that we had, how can they not be?"

If we learned anything about restaurant work in the past few years, it's that despite what the television food shows would have us believe, the work is far from glamorous. It is, in fact, grueling and poorly remunerated. The hours are long, the stress level high, the pay is low and the work strenuous − and too often painful. Lugging heavy bags, lifting overloaded pots and standing on your feet all day can strain bodies, especially knees and backs. And as for having steady downtime and a life outside work? Forget it. Restaurant employees work when most of of us are socializing.

Add to all of that COVID-19-induced labor shortages, high food prices and, according to chefs and restaurateurs, rude and demanding customers, and you've got yourself a recipe for misery.