Key concepts towards a stance on gender in the restaurant

Abstract

The aim of this study was to examine how men and women behave together working in restaurants and how they cooperate with one another (both in the kitchen and in the dining room). An à la carte restaurant situated in one of the largest cities in Sweden was chosen for investigation. The project is an explorative ‘intensive field study’ using conversation and observation as the method of data compilation. The team met four employees for individual conversation: the owner, the restaurant manager, a chef and a waiter. Key concepts found towards understanding stance and cooperation among staff on the floor of the restaurant were mentorship, occupational nomenclature, working clothes, and expertise in food and wine. In our restaurant study, we met both positive and negative feelings among the staff. The rewards included the pleasure of working in a ‘fine restaurant’, moving among well-known people and handling good food and fine wines, all status symbols for a life among the upper classes. Those who made for the hotel and restaurant area were on the hunt for the good life but were dependent on seasons, irregular working hours and insecure forms of employment which were difficult or impossible to combine with family life, and the work developed into a lifestyle. Several left the sector after a few strenuous years.