Inger M. Jonsson

Restaurant practices – time, planning, knowledge and dreams

ABSTRACT This paper contributes to research on restaurant work, which plays an important role in culinary arts research. The aim of this study was to make visible and elucidate the daily work practices in eight small restaurants in a seasonal tourist destination on the Southeast coast of Sweden. The central methods used were observations and participant observations and interviews, along with an e-mail questionnaire and examination of published information concerning all the restaurants. By means of practice theory, three central elements were used to identify and understand the configuration of the activities involved in daily work in small seasonal restaurants. These three elements, knowledge/competence, technologies/materiality and creation of meaning, formed four practices. The practices identified in this study were managing time and seasons; planning, strategising and controlling; knowing and having skills; and dreams and lifestyle. The conclusion of the study indicates that small restaurant practices may be conflicting, as they involve an extremely time-consuming workload, vague planning and lingering knowledge growth in contrast to the ideas of creativity and development that are a part of the restaurant owners’ dreams and lifestyle.

Gender perspectives on the solo diner as restaurant customer.

In this chapter eating out at restaurants, i.e. meal experiences outside home, are discussed. Dining out in upper-class restaurants is a worldwide trend nowadays and includes an extensive range of consumer groups. Internationally, there is a large number of solitary customers, both male and female, for whom lone dining is not as easy as they would like it to be. Furthermore, women, and naturally also men, today wish to take their place in urban settings, for instance by eating in restaurants, even if they are alone. They should be seen as a potentially important clientele group worthy of the attention of the restaurant branch.

The Complexity of Making a Conscious Meal: A Concept for Development and Education

The professionals in the commercial catering sector are challenged by a large number of demands in their daily work. The aim of this study is to extend the concept of The Conscious Meal and to develop it, enabling professionals in the catering service to meet needs, demands, and desires in the public and private meal sectors. This study highlights the complexity of making a meal in a commercial context as well as the importance of including ethical reflections in culinary education.

Making Meals in Small Seasonal Restaurants

ABSTRACT Since restaurateurs can benefit by analyzing the production of meals, particularly with the dominant framework for meal experiences, the five aspects meal model (FAMM), this study examined FAMM’s relevance as an analytical tool for understanding meal production via field observations and interviews in eight small restaurants in a rural destination in Sweden. Results showed that FAMM’s aspect of the management control system and the factor of time are critical to the entire meal production process in restaurants. This article closes with a discussion of FAMM’s usefulness as a qualitative checklist for restaurateurs.

“Just trained to be a chef, not a leader”: A study of head chef practices

ABSTRACT Hierarchical manners and taxing work complicate the picture of the restaurant industry, a sector in great need of personnel. There is little scientific research on daily work in restaurants. Through interviews and observations in restaurant kitchens, three head chef practices were detected: “Master the materiality” is a stipulation for leading kitchens, but does not imply leadership aspirations; “show and guide” is teambuilding through which standards are reinforced by the presence of leaders while allowing coworkers some freedom; and “overview and foresight” involves nonhierarchical supervision by head chefs during service. These practices make sense to head chefs as they enhance product quality and their reputations as professionals. The study points to a horizontal leadership in the restaurant industry and a possible new order for growth and development.

We are service people, and we stay until the job is done : enactments of professionalism in restaurants

ABSTRACT In response to calls for increased professionalism in the restaurant industry, this paper aims to show how it is constituted in the daily practices in the industry, and to clarify ideas of professionalism held by the practitioners in the industry. Micro practices of daily activities performed by restaurant practitioners were identified in 13 small restaurants: 8 in a tourist destination and 5 in cities. The sayings and doings in kitchens and dining rooms noted in transcripts of interviews and observations were sorted with an insider’s interpretation. The findings were then analysed by means of components of practice theory: knowledge and learning, communication, corporeality, and time use. Among the restaurant practitioners, professionalism is conceived to be a combination of craftsmanship, a customer orientation involving observant management, and loyal perseverance. This conceptualisation is important to understand in discussions about how hospitality and culinary arts education can develop.

Enjoy! Enhancing Meals in the Swedish Public Sector

ABSTRACT Public meals in schools, hospitals, social, and elderly care play an important role in Swedish welfare. This article analyzes texts concerning the public catering sector, following up government directives that meals should provide enjoyment. The aim was to study a discernible shift towards enjoyment in the approach to public meals. The method is qualitative, with data from functional texts related to the public meal sector in Sweden, using the Five Aspects Meal Model/FAMM as a qualitative framework used by dietitians to add soft values in the public catering sector to the average nutritional values. The result is described in terms of important meal situations: new values, hospitality and service, environment, experience, and food quality as related to how and in which way to make changes. The question of public meals is important in an international view with elderly and multicultural populations.