Collaborative craftmanship; how restaurant workers articulate good professional practice in a changing society

The restaurant industry represents an extensive part of the hospitality sector and is known for long hours and tough working conditions, a low unionisation rate, low pay and high turnover, but less attention has been paid to what they do well – to perceptions of good professional practice in this industry. This article makes a contribution in this respect, as it explores how restaurant workers articulate what good professional practice in the restaurant industry means to them. Based on qualitative interviews with 16 restaurant workers (managers, chefs, waiters and apprentices) and additional observations in four different restaurants in Norway, the article investigates how the restaurant workers understand and define good professional practice in the restaurant industry. The study finds that collaborative work is at the very core of the professional identity of these restaurant workers, a collaborative craftmanship, and questions how this might be challenged by a more individualistic society with more individualistically oriented restaurant workers. This implies that the restaurant industry needs to adapt to these changes and develop new strategies in order to attract and keep competent restaurant workers.