Role of formal hospitality training on job performance of executive chefs in classified hotels in Mombasa County, Kenya

Abstract

Provision of food and beverage services to hotel guests complements accommodation for resident guests in hotels. Hospitality investors assume that a chef can easily be developed from the kitchen through apprentice and made to steer the kitchen operations to greater heights without necessarily undergoing formal training. With the fast changing culinary needs, chefs have become an integral component in determining the overall meal experience of guests and the achievement of kitchen operations. Chefs are on constantly on high demand whenever their performance transforms into successful food preparation and ultimate increased profits. The study sought to provide deeper understanding on the role of formal industry training to job performance of chefs in classified hotels in Mombasa County, Kenya. This study sought to determine the perception of executive chefs on formal hospitality training on job performance; assess their competencies; establish how work experience alone influence job performance, and investigate whether hospitality formal training is a thing to consideration during the recruitment. This study adopted a cross sectional research design. Primary data was collected by use of semistructured questionnaires that was administered by the researcher. Interviews were conducted on the food and beverage managers or human resource managers. The study utilized purposive technique to target the chefs in the 43 classified hotels in Mombasa. Descriptive analysis was utilized to analyze the items on the likert scale with 5 points on the thematic areas that were identified. Frequencies were used to analyze demographic data of the respondents. All the significant tests for hypotheses yielded confidence level of (P<0.5) with simple correlation and linear regression analysis. One way ANOVA were used in testing the hypotheses. The study revealed that 68.4 % of chefs considered formal hospitality training to significantly influence a chef’s job performance. There was a statistically significant relationship between formally trained head chefs and their competency. Training determined competencies of chefs by equipping them with the necessary knowledge, sharpened skills and improved abilities. Work experience was found not to significantly relate to performance of chefs as the probability significance values were way above the conventional cut-off point of 0.05. Future research needs to investigate more into why women are not keen in taking executive chefs position in hotels in Mombasa as only 5.3% represented female chefs. Further study would be recommended to establish why work experience which is greatly considered to influence performance has no significant relationship with job performance of chefs from this study.