Youth need not be a drawback
The big bash is over; the boys have boarded the bus home, and the bangers-and-beer breakfast has been consigned to the menu of memory. It was good while it lasted, but all good things come to an end, and now those pubs and clubs in the UK that were selling upwards of 20 million pints of beer and lager on England match days can count their cash and go back to normal hours. The World Cup is over for the home teams.
The general media consensus is that the England team performed well and showed potential. It was, after all, a young squad. Take out the goalkeepers and the average age of the players chosen to represent their country was just over 25.
Given that degree of immaturity at international level, the players achieved quite a lot in the toughest tournament in the world. But the exuberance and enthusiasm and work rate of youth can often make up for years of inexperience - youth just has to be given a chance to prove itself.
Take the two young achievers who feature in this week's headlines.
First, there's 26-year-old Shane Goodway, establishing himself at the Box Tree in Ilkley. He has his work cut out at this reputable restaurant, but he is rising to the challenge.
And then there's the remarkable story of 16-year-old Daniel Richardson, who takes over as head chef at the Loft in Blair Atholl, near Perth. OK, so the restaurant belongs to his family, but he can obviously maintain the standard for two AA rosettes and possibly raise his game for three.
After all the whingeing and moaning about the skills shortage and the cries of "today's youth knows nothing", it's encouraging to see examples of achievement being driven by youthful passion.
As Caterer‘s own Caterplan-sponsored Acorn Awards prove each year, young talent is out there - it simply needs exposure.
In contrast to the success stories above comes a warning, however. A letter from David Coubrough, chief executive of recruitment specialist Portfolio International, draws attention to the discussion at this year's Strategic Human Resources Advisory Group conference in Lausanne about the reluctance of some "baby boomer" managers - those supervisors in their mid-to-late 40s - to give youth its chance. This debate first surfaced about five years ago and is clearly still an issue in the industry.
Historically, hospitality has always been dogged by a we-don't-do-it-like-that-round-here attitude and by the belief that managers can't manage unless they have proved themselves by working slowly, inexorably up from the bottom rung of the career ladder.
This is a hangover from the days of job-for-life and know-your-place. That all changed for the post-war baby boomers and it's important that they, and the generation of managers who burst on to the scene in the 1980s, don't slip back into the old ways of thinking.
Remember, no one suggested calling up Geoff Hurst when David Beckham broke his foot before the World Cup and, as the competition proved, England's (and Ireland's) young ‘uns done good.
The talent of youth has to be judged on merit and given its opportunity when that opportunity presents itself.
Forbes Mutch (aged 45 but feeling younger)
Editor
Caterer & Hotelkeeper
