Canada’s Next Generation of Chefs Needs More Than a Good Knife

It is not an easy time to run a restaurant in Canada.

Food costs, labour, rent, equipment and just about everything else that goes into putting a plate in front of a customer costs more. For independent restaurants especially, finding savings wherever they can matters.

That’s why this caught our attention.

All-Clad has launched its Culinary Program in Canada, giving chefs and restaurant owners access to preferred industry pricing on professional cookware, including savings of 25%. The program also allows chefs to order directly online without going through a distributor or middleman.

That’s useful.

But there is another part of this that we think is just as interesting.

Who’s training the next generation?

Canada’s restaurant industry isn’t only trying to get through another difficult year. It also needs to think about who’s coming next.

Today’s young cooks are tomorrow’s sous chefs, executive chefs, restaurant owners and entrepreneurs.

And many of them are Gen Z.

They are entering an industry that’s very different from the one previous generations of chefs entered. Culinary education today goes beyond learning how to hold a knife or make a mother sauce. Students are learning about sustainability, international cuisines, nutrition, leadership and the business side of running a kitchen. At George Brown Polytechnic, for example, the Culinary Management program combines hands-on cooking with emerging culinary trends, management skills and work experience with industry professionals.

That makes the education component of programs like this interesting.

All-Clad says members of its Canadian Culinary Program will have access to an exclusive chef community, culinary partnerships and future industry initiatives. The company is also working with Chefs Canada, an organization representing more than 4,000 chefs and industry professionals across the country, with a stated focus on knowledge sharing and inspiring the next generation.

That’s where we’d like to see this go.

Discounted cookware helps a restaurant today.

Education, mentorship and access to experienced chefs can help build the restaurant industry we’re going to have five or ten years from now.

And right now, Canadian restaurants could use both.

For restaurant owners and chefs interested in the program, applications are online and All-Clad says approvals are generally reviewed within two to three business days.

Sometimes supporting restaurants means ordering takeout.

Sometimes it means giving the people behind that food better tools and helping the next generation learn how to use them.