We Have to Stop Telling Young People Working in Bars and Restaurants Isn’t a Worthy Career

Take it from me, it absolutely is

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Photo by Thiago Miranda

I have never been healthier, better paid, and more satisfied with my career than when I owned my wine store and bar.

And yet I took so much crap for my choice of career.

I took it from customers who looked down on me for working in hospitality. From people I knew who thought it didn’t make the most of my capabilities. From society for working unsociable hours in a “lowly” industry.

I took all this criticism despite owning the freaking business — I can only imagine how much shit an employee would take for it

They shouldn’t have to. Working in this industry is, for the most part, incredible.

I was incredibly fit from the hours on my feet. I became extremely knowledgeable about a very complex subject. I mastered the art of service, a skill few can do well.

And yet we still tell young people it’s not a proper career. That they should do something — anything — else.

And young people listen. Unfortunately, they want nothing to do with the industry.

There are so many misconceptions about hospitality that stop people from working in it and I’m here to call BS on all of it.

There is nothing unskilled about it

I’ve had enough badly made coffees, suffered through enough poor service, and eaten enough plates of God-awful food to know that the idea of hospitality being “unskilled” is, as we say in the UK, absolute bollocks.

Hospitality is an incredibly skilled job. Mastering the art of service can take years. Becoming a Sommelier is the work of a lifetime. Knowing how to make a cocktail or a decent coffee is an art form.

Yet many people assume it’s a stopgap job. The job you do when you’re 18 or are a college dropout or something to do when you retire. If I had a euro for every time someone told me in my wine store and bar “I’d love to do something like this as a little job when I retire.”