Antony Worrall Thompson criticises foreign workers for poor service levels

10 May 2006
Antony Worrall Thompson criticises foreign workers for poor service levels

Chef Antony Worrall Thompson has criticised eastern Europeans and other foreign workers for adding to poor service levels in UK restaurants.

Many staff from overseas don't have the necessary command of English or skills to do the job well, according to the celebrity chef.

The BBC presenter suggests banishing the minimum wage in favour of tips to encourage better levels of service.

In an interview with restaurant and lifestyle magazine Square Meal, Worrall Thompson said that the UK had a bigger diversity of food cultures than anywhere else in the world, but added that "the service here, frankly, is s***!".

"We need to make our waiters more enthusiastic about their jobs," he added.

"One solution would be to get rid of the minimum wage, so waiters relied on their tips like the old days; it's amazing the great service you get from waiting staff who are out to earn tips."

The celebrity chef said he was "pessimistic" about the lack of cookery lessons in schools.

"With cookery no longer on the curriculum in schools, I'm not sure where the next generation of chefs is going to come from or even how people are going to learn how to cook at home," he said.

"Cooking really should be made compulsory in secondary schools again and it's scandalous that it's not."

Wozza signs lease for third London grill >>

Tipping and taxing >>

Confusion after tronc revisions >>

By Louise Barnett at PA News

Get your copy of Caterer and Hotelkeeper every week -

The Caterer Breakfast Briefing Email

Start the working day with The Caterer’s free breakfast briefing email

Sign Up and manage your preferences below

Check mark icon
Thank you

You have successfully signed up for the Caterer Breakfast Briefing Email and will hear from us soon!

Jacobs Media is honoured to be the recipient of the 2020 Queen's Award for Enterprise.

The highest official awards for UK businesses since being established by royal warrant in 1965. Read more.

close

Ad Blocker detected

We have noticed you are using an adblocker and – although we support freedom of choice – we would like to ask you to enable ads on our site. They are an important revenue source which supports free access of our website's content, especially during the COVID-19 crisis.

trade tracker pixel tracking