Butchers, bakers and food makers: More culinary trades workers are needed in London

Looking for a first career path, or a late-in-life career change? Some people who work in the trades say now is the time to consider picking up a cutting board and knife as there is an "urgent" need for food-based skilled trades workers in Ontario.

There is a shortage of chefs, cooks, butchers and bakers across the province, according to Skills Ontario chief executive officer Ian Howcroft.

"Hospitality in general was the most impacted sector by the pandemic," Howcroft said on CBC's London Morning Wednesday. "They have the challenge of rebuilding, recruiting and getting young people and others to explore skilled trade careers."

London and its surrounding area is especially hit by this shortage, said Fanshawe College School of Hospitality professor Troy Spicer.

"Specifically in the London area, agriculture is a huge part of our economy," Spicer said. "The food manufacturing and processing is attached to that because we have the agriculture rate…so we need skilled labour to support that."

"I know for meat cutters for sure, the biggest barrier for growth for most meat processors is the access to skilled labour," Spicer, who teaches in Fanshawe's butchery program, added.

Last year in London, there were 631 public job postings for cooks, 116 for chefs, 79 for bakers and 17 for butchers, according to Ontario Labour Market data.

The numbers are higher across the province, with more than 3,000 posting for chefs and bakers, and more than 1,000 for butchers. There were 21,000 postings for cooks in Ontario last year and 4,000 job vacancies.

"It feels like [skilled trades careers] are more of a 'fall back' kind of thing," Spicer said. "'I couldn't do something else so I became a butcher,' as opposed to actually pursuing butchery as a path."

Some people who work in the industry today say they did not consider working in food-based skilled trades an option when they were growing up.

"I'd never thought about it," said Selena Furtah, who is a general laborer at Mt. Brydges Abattoir.

"When you're in high school and they tell you that you need to be prepared for a career, I don't think that they really talk about restaurant settings or places like this," she said. "I feel like it needs to be mentioned more during the time when they're trying to get students to pick a career path."

Howcroft said Skills Ontario is trying to fill the gap by reaching out to young people during elementary and high school to present skilled trades options to them.

"We're building it. I don't think we're completely there yet – it's an interim process," he said.

There are several avenues to working as a cook, butcher or other skilled trade, Howcroft said, including specialty schools and post-secondary programs.

Fanshawe offers programs such as Baking and Pastry Arts Management, Culinary Skills and Professional Butchery Techniques, which Spicer said has produced many students who now work in the industry.

Other people have gotten into the industry by training on the job and working their way up.

"It was a lot of on-site training and [the company was] willing to train anyone who was willing to work," said Ila Thompson, who has been working at Mt. Brydges Abattoir for five years.

While she went to school to be a psychologist and sociologist, Thompson said she started working as a general laborer at the abattoir when she needed a job during the pandemic.

In her time there, she said she's seen people come and go, adding that an education in the trades is not necessarily a marker of being the right fit for the industry.

"I've been here long enough to see the turn around and the reason people don't necessarily stick around, and a big part of it is people are interested in getting paid but not doing the work," she said.

"If you can get over the fact that it's labour intensive, you are lifting heavy stuff and we're dealing with the customer service aspect of it … then we're all here for a common end goal, and that's just to make money to pay our bills."

Howcroft and Spicer both said working in culinary skilled trades are rewarding careers that can provide a lot of stability.

"These are careers that you can have a passion for, you can enjoy, you can build your career and life with balance … and it has an economic opportunity for you as well," Howcroft said.