Michelin star man Nick Nairn warns of top chefs shortage

We’re in the grip of a chef crisis.

The best restaurants in Britain can’t find enough top-class chefs.

That’s the warning from Michelin star winner Nick Nairn who claims the number of up-and-coming chefs is hugely disproportionate to the booming number of new restaurants across the country.

He said: “It is becoming increasingly tough to find and retain good chefs.

“The number of people coming into the profession may have increased a bit, but not in line with the number of restaurants.

“Chefs are also less happy working the hours that a quality restaurant needs them to work. That’s the difficult thing.”

Nick currently finds himself three chefs short at his Aberdeen restaurant and cook school.

He argues that a considerable imbalance between eateries and chefs caused by rocketing numbers of restaurants and a flat-line in qualified cooks is leaving kitchen bosses malnourished when it comes to recruiting exceptional culinary

artists.

He said: “If you used to be looking for a chef you could phone up a few people and almost certainly be put in touch with somebody. Now you ask and it’s just laughter quality is so hard to get.

“There is a lot of choice out there and plenty of jobs with, at the moment, not enough chefs to go around.”

At just 32, Nick became the youngest Scot ever to earn a Michelin Star. He went on to cement a media image as a regular expert on BBC’s Ready Steady Cook, where teams made a meal from scratch with items provided by studio contestants.

The 53-year-old believes today’s TV paints a glamorous image of life in the kitchen but often ignores the hard slog behind the scenes.

He added: “The job requires long days. I think chefs maybe have a different perception of what cooking is about these days than they did say 15 years ago.

“It’s too hard a profession just to look at as a job. You’ve got to take away some craft and satisfaction doing it.”