Following Anthony Bourdain's Death, Re-Considering Kitchen Culture

Originally published in Forbes.

In life, Anthony Bourdain was deeply influential. It's possible that his death will continue resonate as well.

The famed chef and media personality's death last month caught the world by surprise. And while Bourdain had not worked in a kitchen for many years, he represented a certain type of "work hard, play hard" ethos still found in many of the world's best kitchens.

Bourdain's death is sadly not the first high-profile chef suicide in recent times. In 2016, the acclaimed French Swiss chef Benoît Violier killed himself; in 2003, French chef Bernard Loiseau took his own life. Speculation following their deaths surrounded the intense pressures of working in high-profile kitchens as well as the ongoing race to gain, and keep, Michelin stars.

Bourdain's death, like those of Violier and Louiseau before him, has renewed questions about ways that kitchen culture can be changed. In a June 20 blog post, Katherine Miller, the James Beard Foundation's senior director of food policy advocacy, called upon the industry to identify ways to help workers in crisis and to push for changes that will help the industry overall. "We need more," Miller writes. "This will require all of us to act with compassion, ask people how they are, find ways to support our staffs and teams when they need help, and push for changes to the system that is contributing to this crisis in our industry."

While the food world remains as vibrant as ever, restaurant professionals say that there's a disconnect between the social media-worthy plates that arrive on tables and an industry known for chewing up workers with long hours, low pay, and exacting standards.

A 24-year-old sous chef at an acclaimed Midtown restaurant, who asked not to be named, says that he works six days a week, often clocking 12- to 14-hour shifts. "I don't want to die in a kitchen," he says. "But if I don't do this, someone else will." He rationalizes that the time he puts in now will pay off in experience that he'll use to open his own restaurant one day. In the meantime, he doesn't complain; as a nod to his work ethic, his bosses recently moved him to a new location to help an understaffed kitchen elsewhere in New York.

While hard work in hot kitchens isn't going away, some restaurant professionals are trying to keep an eye on the long-term picture.

"The way I came up was always, make it happen, make it happen, make it happen," Markus Glocker, executive chef and co-founder at Bâtard, says. "Everything else didn't really matter as long as the guest was happy."

"This cannot be the future of our business," Chef Glocker adds. "There has to be something of a balance."

At Michelin-starred Bâtard, which is located in Tribeca, management has range of options (instituted before Bourdain's death) in place that they hope add up to a healthier kitchen culture. In May, the eatery hosted the industry group Chefs With Issues for a panel on managing crisis and creating a better mental health environment.

The restaurant has also instituted non-confrontational communication and access to managers so staff can voice concerns. Each shift has an enforced break where workers are allowed time to step away from their stations for family meal.  Additionally, there's a focus on hiring not only based on cooking talent but for personality as well.

"I cannot put someone in place as a manager or in a leading role in the kitchen just for being a good cook," Glocker says. "You have to have leadership in place that makes people feel well in the kitchen. [Otherwise,] it becomes a hostile environment."

"Your job is to coach and lift," Mark Jeffers, executive chef at the Ritz-Carlton Lake Tahoe, echoes when asked about creating a sustainable work environment. "I've found that you have to manage each individual personally." Some employees benefit from a gentle aside, while others need more firm warnings. "It's never really crossed the line into yelling, because then it becomes counterproductive."

In an industry defined by its minute-to-minute deadlines, some restaurants are trying to accommodate for workloads as well as enforced time off.

"People can't just work ten days straight and have maybe two days off, then do the same again," Glocker says.

"Hard work doesn't necessarily mean who works the most hours," John Winterman, managing partner at Bâtard, says. "It's about how to be efficient with your time, and not waste it."

"A restaurant should be a happy place," Glocker says. "It shouldn't be just the front of the house that's happy and the kitchen is scrambling and depressed.

“Our guests don't always realize that. There's somebody back there who actually produces [these dishes] for you. Some of our guests should think about what it takes to produce that. It's a human being in the back there."