We have prepared for you an inspiring interview with the experienced chef Alexander Bozhilov.

He is a Bulgarian Chef with international background in gastronomy who is willing to share with you some insights about Chef’s position and his life as food appreciator and “cooking artist”.

We are finding him in a university’s training kitchen, where he is currently leading youth towards successful carrier in the culinary world.

Question (Q) - "How did you become a chef? Was it an area you always wanted to pursue?"

My father was the one who introduced me into the profession of the cook. He was also a Chef for whole his life and this was a path I’ve always knew I’ll take some day. Personally, I’ve always seen myself as a cook and I continued to pursue this profission willingly.

Q - "In which institution did you took your vocational training course?"

I completed my secondary education at a VET school specialized in catering in Plovdiv, Bulgaria, where I acquired valuable basic culinary competences – both theoretical knowledge and practical skills. Soon after graduating I decided to travel and work as a cook abroad and also to explore the world. I’ve learnt may things in the process, but I would say that the preparation I got at school laid the foundations and opened many doors for me professionally and contributed to my further employment first abroad, and then also when I returned to Bulgaria.

Q - "Did your professional training meet what is expected of you as a "Chef" and as a "leader" in a top kitchen?”

The education I received gave me a solid foundation to build on but it prepared me to be a cook, not exactly a Chef. Following my professional path I‘ve faced many challenges, I’ve learnt many lessons, and many choices I had to make. So generally, the practice and experience I had shaped me as a professional and as a leader in the kitchen. Of course the personal attitudes and quilities were also cruitial in this process. I wanted to become a Chef one day and purposefully developed those set of skills that I need for the position.

Q - "What do you think are the most important skills and attitudes a chef should have?"

Anyone who has decided to become a Chef (one day) should know that this profession requires not only a lot of dedication and work, but also a set of key skills that are needed for successful development and employment.

For example, a very important moment in the daily work of the chef is the work under stress and constant tension, and the ability to make decisions very quickly in a dynamic environment. Creativity and innovative thinking are also extremely important skills that come into hand, not only when designing and preparing innovative dishes, but also in case of an unexpected problem that cannot be solved in the traditional way.

Q - "Do you consider that these skills and attitudes are included in the provision of vocational training that exists in the culinary field in Bulgaria?"

In general, yes. I believe that the necessary skills and competencies for the profession of cook in Bulgaria are at the required level. In the last years, the overall quality of the vocational education in Bulgaria has improved significantly, students have more and more opportunities to go on mobility, to travel abroad and gain international experience. As a principle they are quite well prepared to enter directly to the labour market but usually on lower positions – such as cook, comis, etc. The Chef position requires grater amount of professional background and experience and usually the employers will not offer this job to a recent graduate. Some of the trainees advance very fast because of their personal desire and motivation – they step on what they have learnt at school and continue to build on it by constantly improving themselves through personal reading, self-learning, etc. Unfortunately in this they could not rely on official educational or training programmes, because such do not currently exist as options.

Q - "Leave a message for the new generation of chefs"

The message I would like to transfer to the young chefs is to be dedicated to what they do, to invest passion, energy and desire, and most of all: to do everything with a lots of love.

Restaurants are the core of communities.

They provide us with great food by translating it into a social experience, it is a place where you celebrate coming together with valuable people. In the “old normal” circumstances they are reliable and established social pillar. 

What happened now?  

How could they bring the forbidden by precautionary measures “dine-in experience” to customers’ homes and provide them with comfort and positivity, while feeding their staff? It is a tough task and recalls many obstacles but essentially opens many opportunities. The most valuable challenge for every business is to create a set of expectations for guests and create a strategy for future interaction and engagement whilst in the mid of greatest crisis. Enhancement of delivery and takeout channels by transforming their inside management and implement another task chain.

It is vital to implement a people-centric approach by sending a positive emotional message with the delivery of food, especially in times of lowered personal communication. Give the customer the bomb of happiness. 

Our team gathered for you practically implementable advice:

• Proactively communicate changes affecting your restaurant across customer-friendly media.
• Update your Google profile to increase your SEO visibility.
• Modify the menu and help customers recognize your offers as their needs. 
• Alternative mealtime solutions and promotions.
• Reassure restaurant safety and sanitation measures by sharing information about it with customers.
• Follow up with customers using the proper validation tools.
• Be public.
• Acknowledge the fact your customers are valuable during this crisis.
• Adjust consummation hours to accommodate many target groups.
• Support the community by providing a meal to vulnerable groups.
• Covid-19 is a challenge for our system on so many levels – individual, family, society and economics. The restaurant could use their vulnerable position and become messengers of positivity and quality trough their carry out and deliverables.

TIP!

To remind customers that the beauty of socialization will come someday soon offer them TICKETS *vouchers* for a booking in the future. Remind that normalcy will be back after the lockdown is over. Give them hope and earn some liquid cash.

As we are heading in the second month of this state of COVID 19 emergency, what really interests us is how restaurants can survive amid the pandemic. Employers are firing valuable and responsible people, their trustworthy and loyal employees because weekly revenues are under the ground. Restaurants depend on weekly income to maintain and at least pay back costs, those businesses are very fragile in times with social distancing measure. Navigating the economic shock brought on by the pandemic containment initiatives is a tough task. This industry is one of tight cash flow and low margins. Workforce place reliance on this job for living and covering basic needs.  Many small and independent restaurants would not be able to re-open after the pandemic measures are away. Restaurants in most countries will remain closed for another month ahead.

“So, the CoviD shutdowns are probably the biggest existential crisis this industry has ever faced”, said the executive vice president, public affairs National US restaurant Association. 

By its nature this business is based on social gatherings and relies on people’s bravery to go out. In times when social distancing is followed as norm, this industry has to make a shift and readapt. The question that many of the restaurant owners are asking and keep posing is “Could the delivery service possibly sustain a restaurant business?”

“The food industry was operational even during the world wars. Never has the industry been shut like this”, said Ankit Mehrotra, Co-Founder & CEO, Dineout.

Coronavirus created an unprecedented challenge for the restaurants’ society. One of the opportunities that businesses were left with was to unexpectedly shift their focus on online orders take-away in just an overnight.

Two years ago when the delivery apps started getting popular, they enjoyed 20 to 30 percent commissions. The revenues that restaurants gained from deliveries were never a reliable enough profit for some places, which did not rely on it. Now, restaurants are being supported by those online service providers, the lower the commission, the bigger chance for survival.

Any manager or owner in this sector had to face the difficulty of partly releasing their staff and had to redesign the daily agenda of the rest, including their own. Restaurants are trying to support some salaried staff that they have kept on by giving them the option to become delivery staff or take a packaging position. Overall, it is an appreciated temporary measure but who knows until when? Switching gears to delivery business opens immediate reaction of the greater power of competition.

Customers are now even pickier about the safety and hygiene measures adopted. Restaurant staff that has the opportunity to work is devoted to cleanliness, the health of their customers and safety regulations are consistently applied. Their own investment in proactive sanitation procedures is coming from a very sacral humanly place. They do not want to spread the disease in the community, responsibility the chefs bear is for the health of others. It is not only because of government precautionary measures, sanitary environment has always been the case in restaurants even though experts’ opinion states that the virus cannot be transmitted through consumption of food.

Another short interview with chef Luis Angel Vicente Zaldivar was conducted by GastroAlianza. Having more than 30 years of working in the culinary arts sector, owner of a restaurant and a lecturer in master classes in cooking, he shared some hints about what are the skills and the traits that the modern chef needs in order to be successful in his/her career.

Guest chef of CULINART project this time is the chef of “Restaurant 505”, José Faria. The restaurant is located in the city of Póvoa de Varzim, Portugal and the menu is the signature of Chef Vítor Matos, which already has a Michelin star.
Proandi has interviewed the chef sharing details about his professional career, referring to the importance that the professional courses have for the construction of the chef’s profile.

Are you interesting of training in culinary arts abroad?

Do you want to be amongst the first that will pilot the new VET qualification for Chef?

 If yes - the CULINART pilot training is exactly what you are looking for!

Project CULINART is searching for motivated people from Bulgaria, Spain, Italy, France, Portugal and Turkey to be involved in an international training that will be held in the 6 different countries.

The fourth meeting of the project partner organizations was held on 13th and 14th of November, 2019, in Reggio Emilia, Italy. The host of the meeting was the Italian partner - ISTITUTO FORMAZIONE OPERATORI AZIENDALI /IFOA/.

In July 2019 the international partners met in France in Le Puy-en-Velay, hosted by the partner GRETA du Velay to discuss and approve the structure of the new VET qualification for Chef. The working group took into account the country specifics and variations of the existing training offers and requirements towards the education and training for cooks and chefs in the partner countries and thus came up with a common qualification profile for the occupation of Chef that was agreed with all the partner organisations.