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

Abstract

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.

Introduction

The restaurant industry represents an extensive part of the hospitality sector (Wellton et al., 2018a), employing a large number of people in different stages of their lives; some are there for shorter periods while they also study or have other types of jobs, while others stay in the industry for their entire career. Thus, work in the restaurant industry represents a large part of work in the hospitality sector, and several have their very first work experience in restaurants. The restaurant industry is known for long hours and tough working conditions, a low unionisation rate, low pay and high turnover (Lane, 2014; Norwegian Labour Inspection Authority; Wellton et al., 2018a), but less attention has been paid to what they do well – to perceptions of good professional practice in this industry. At the same time, food, restaurants and famous chefs have attained a higher level of attention in society (Lane, 2014; Roosipöld and Loogma, 2014; Wellton et al., 2019). Some restaurants even attract food tourists travelling to the destination specifically because of the possibility to dine at a restaurant or within a specific regional cuisine, contributing to economic growth and tourism development in the region (Magdy, 2024; Walter et al., 2022).

The hospitality sector, including the restaurant industry, aims to professionalise to achieve higher status and attract and retain competent personnel (Roosipöld and Loogma, 2014; Wellton et al., 2018a, 2019). The restaurant industry faces recruitment and high turnover challenges due to tough working conditions (Wellton et al., 2018a, 2019; Wellton and Lainpelto, 2021). To meet these challenges, we need more knowledge of restaurant work and what professional practice entails in this industry. This knowledge is useful to develop strategies to attract and retain competent workers, sustain decent working conditions, and attract customers and grow in a sustainable way in a changing society (Jerez et al., 2023; Wellton et al., 2018a, 2019; Wellton and Lainpelto, 2021). Research on professionalism and daily work in the hospitality industry, especially restaurants, is limited (Wellton et al., 2017; 2018b, 2019). This article addresses this gap. Research often focuses on chefs in fine dining alone (Fine, 1996; Gomez et al., 2001) or waiters alone (Jerez et al., 2023; Lundberg, 2011; Lundberg and Mossberg, 2008) or takes a management perspective (Heide and Grønhaug, 2006). Gustafsson et al. (2006) argue that both service and culinary skills are crucial for guest experiences. The authors describe restaurants as social and cultural meeting places, requiring professionalism in meal preparation, planning, and production. This highlights the complexity and interactive nature of restaurant work, and the importance of incorporating various occupational groups in research. While previous studies mostly have focused on chefs or waiters in isolation, this study uniquely examines work practice across occupational groups (managers, chefs, waiters, and apprentices), in both fine dining and family restaurants.

Lundberg (2011) stresses the importance of using a clear employee perspective, when investigating service workers’ own experiences of the service encounter, and Hult et al. (2023a) calls for more knowledge of how restaurant workers in this industry themselves experience their area of work. This article addresses this gap, as the aim of this study is to explore the participants’ own experiences and understandings of good professional practice in the restaurant industry. With concepts of professionalism, professional work and professional identity serving as theoretical background, the article explores how restaurant workers in restaurants in a region of Norway articulate what good professional practice in the restaurant industry means to them. Norway represents an interesting context for this study as the restaurant industry also in Norway is highly international with restaurant workers from many different countries, while Norway is known for better working conditions than many other European countries (Mjaaland et al., 2023). Based on interviews with 16 restaurant workers (managers, chefs, waiters and apprentices) and additional observations in four different restaurants, the article investigates: How do restaurant workers understand and define good professional practice in the restaurant industry? To be professional involves perceptions of what it means to do a good job in this industry, which can be seen as representations of a professional identity as a restaurant worker.

Literature review and theoretical background: Work and professionalism in the restaurant industry

Professionalism, professional work and professional identity

Working in the restaurant industry involves how to be a professional in this context. Acccording to Evetts (2003, 2006), professionalism can be understood as a normative value system that shapes a shared professional identity based on common experiences, understandings, and expertise. It involves collective ways of interpreting problems and identifying potential solutions, which implies similarities in work practices and procedures. This also includes shared approaches to interacting with clients and customers. In this sense, the normative value system of professionalism, defining how to act, respond, and provide advice, is continuously produced and reproduced at the micro level through individual practitioners and the workplaces they belong to (Evetts, 2003, 2006). Thus, professional identity is malleable, dynamic and relational (Currie et al., 2009; Fine, 1996; Fournier, 2000; Jerez et al., 2023), it involves perceptions of what it means to be a professional within a specific context. Furthermore, Evetts (2003, 2006) emphasizes that professionalism plays a crucial role in sustaining trust within economic relations in modern societies, where an advanced division of labour requires non-experts to rely on professionals. This reliance presupposes that professionals demonstrate trustworthiness in their work.

Professional work builds on explicit knowledge, principles, guidelines and procedures, but also on tacit knowledge, experience and intuition (Dreyfus, 2004; Schön, 1991). A professional knows how things should/ought to be done, based on a combination of rule-based principles, experience and intuition. This means that being professional also implies knowing and defining what good professional practice represents within a specific work context – to perceptions of quality. Noordegraaf (2015) argues that quality can be seen as a core professional value, but that quality consists of many, different elements, including organisational aspects, and that organising for quality becomes a central ingredient of professional work.

Evetts (2002) argues that discretion implies using professional judgement to evaluate, advise and perform different forms of action and treatment, and Evetts (2002: 345) highlights how discretion requires the professional ‘to make decisions and recommendations that take all factors and requirements into account. These factors will include organisational, economic, social, political and bureaucratic conditions and constraints. Thus, professional decisions will not be solely based on the needs of individual clients, but on clients’ needs in the wider corporate, organisational and economic context’. Relevant to this study, this means that changes in the wider corporate, organisational and economic context can change how restaurant workers understand and define their work in relation to their customers.

Professionalism, professional work and professional identity in the restaurant industry

Professionalism is constituted in the daily practices of the restaurant industry (Wellton et al., 2018a). Wellton et al. (2018a) conceptualise professionalism in the restaurant industry as consisting of three elements: craftmanship, customer orientation involving observant management, and loyal perseverance. Craftmanship involves knowledge and skills in cooking and serving achieved through an extensive amount of work hours with more experienced restaurant workers; this make a person a professional in the industry (Lane, 2014; Wellton et al., 2018a). Customer orientation and observant management include a tacit ability to work until the guest is satisfied, interpreted by Wellton et al. (2018a) as a pillar of professionalism in the restaurant industry. The aspect of hospitality is emphasized at all times, and includes managing time, space, materiality and other staff members’ work. Loyal perseverance concerns the acceptance of perseverance and hard work required in the industry, presented as a norm or an ideal to strive for as a professional restaurant worker.

Reflecting the aspect of hospitality, work in the restaurant industry is often characterised by various forms of interaction with a customer, and keeping the customer satisfied represents a main goal (Lundberg, 2011; Lundberg and Mossberg, 2008; Pratten, 2003). Managers, chefs, waiters and apprentices are all in direct contact with customers, which demands a range of different skills, shaping their work practices and how they articulate what good professional practice represents to them. Interactive service work requires a combination of emotional, cognitive, technical and time management skills, often executed quickly and with variations in complexity and autonomy (Hampson and Junor, 2005; Wellton et al., 2018b).

Furthermore, requirements of professional work can also be understood as professional ideals. In their study of job advertisements in the restaurant industry, Hult et al. (2023a) find that the ideal hospitality worker (waiter) is an individualised team player with occupational passion, thus underlining the complex demands of service work in restaurants. They highlight how hospitality workers are expected to be independent, reliable and able to handle stress, and also team players taking care of colleagues and guests and contributing to a good work environment. Furthermore, hospitality workers should have a passion for food, beverages and service delivery. Hult et al. (2023a) argue that social qualifications have grown in importance relative to educational qualifications, much in line with how Tharaldsen (2024) claims that the professional, educated waiter has become more and more extinct. Expanding on and partly opposing this view where hospitality workers only work to make the guests satisfied, meeting a list of requirements, Hult et al. (2023b) explore how restaurant work is also identity work where professionals create meaning in their work. The authors find that dining room professionals in a certain type of contemporary restaurant venues (casual, but with high quality products and culinary knowledge) are not just concerned with meeting requirements, but also with their own preferences in food and service, as part of their professional identities.

The same tensions and contradictions can be found when exploring professional identities of chefs. A chef’s working life, especially in haute cuisine, has traditionally been reported to be characterised by hegemonic masculine ideals, and by extreme commitment and a highly competitive culture of bullying, aggression and even violence (Burrow et al., 2015; Lane, 2014). In their in-depth study of one of these chefs, Burrow et al. (2015) find that the chef’s experiences were very close to this image of the restaurant industry, and that he came to accept and even promote these ideals of what it means to be professional in this context, when constructing his professional identity. Even though many chefs no longer cling to these ideals, strict discipline has not been abandoned, especially in fine-dining restaurants (Lane, 2014). Partly opposing this view, teamwork is regarded as crucial to achieving good coordination in the kitchen, and the ability to work in teams is regarded by many recruiting chefs and managers as one of the main conditions for employment (Lane, 2014; Wellton et al., 2019). This study seeks to explore these perspectives by examining how restaurant workers themselves define professionalism.

Perceptions of good professional practice might change due to changes in the context. For example, increased levels of affluence and education among the population, and wider middle-class foreign travel and experience of cuisine abroad, have contributed to changes in what customers demand and expect when dining out (Lane, 2014). Also, the wider societal context can influence restaurant work. Lane (2014) argues that the civic principle of equality in democratic countries conflicts with the necessity of service people/waiters to render service to customers, implying some level of “deference”, which creates challenges in recruiting people. Furthermore, cultural change has accelerated among fine-dining restaurants (and these restaurants influence the rest of the restaurant industry), due to a more challenging economic situation and a broader societal shift towards democratisation (Lane, 2014). More recently, there are also new expectations of sustainability in the hospitality sector, including the restaurant industry (Hult et al., 2023b; Wellton and Lainpelto, 2021). This implies that what it means to be a professional and do a good job are connected to values and practices in the surrounding context. Fine (1996) shows how cooks draw on different rhetorics of profession, art, business and labour in order to express themselves as professionals in different contexts, thus highlighting how occupational identity in the restaurant industry is socially, temporally and spatially situated. Roosipöld and Loogma (2014) and Hult and Scander (2024) argue that many social, technological and ecological changes happening in the modern society affect the role of restaurant workers around the world and emphasize that changes in customer attitudes and requirements and the meaning of service in society have spurred changes in professionalism and professional identities. However, few studies have explored how societal changes, such as the rise of social media, impacts professional identity in the restaurant industry, and this study makes a contribution in this respect.

Methods

The aim of this study was to explore the participants’ own experiences and understandings of good professional practice in the restaurant industry, meaning interviews are a well-suited method (Brinkmann, 2018). The main empirical material for this article consists of 16 individual interviews with managers (four), chefs (four), waiters (five) and apprentices (three) in four restaurants, both fine-dining and casual-dining, in a region in Norway from September 2022 to January 2023. In addition, observations of one evening of service in three of the same four restaurants were conducted (14 hours in total) in the same period of time. Observations enable insight into people’s activities in their natural setting (Kawulich, 2005). In this study, the observations contributed additional insight into the work of the staff in the restaurants when they were in full service, confirming many of the findings in the interviews.

The region in Norway where the study was conducted has a variety of restaurants, from fine-dining Michelin restaurants to major national restaurant chains. The four restaurants were selected to represent both fine-dining and casual-dining, or what might be called family restaurants, in order to include perspectives from restaurants with different types of staff and different types of customers. Malterud et al. (2016) argue that the concept of information power should be used to guide sample size for qualitative studies. The sample for this study holds information power due to a choice of informants and restaurants relevant to explore the aim of the study, with high specificity and some variation, and due to the use of relevant theoretical perspectives in the analysis, high quality of the interview dialogue, and the choice of an in-depth analysis of restaurants within the same geographical context.

The interviews were conducted in the restaurants and lasted approximately 1 hour each. All interviews were recorded and transcribed. The managers of the restaurants were contacted with information about the project and asked to participate in the study, which they all accepted. They also further organised contact information for potential interviewees among the rest of the staff. The staff were then contacted with information about the project, and all accepted to participate in the interviews. All participants received written information about the project prior to interview and signed a consent form. The interview guide included questions about what it means to do a good job, what it means to be professional, what good quality means in this industry, and how a typical working day would run. The observation guide included questions on how they worked together and how they organised their work. Field notes were taken in real-time and later analysed alongside the interview material.

The data analysis process had the empirical material as the point of departure, searching for patterns and developing themes related to how restaurant workers in the restaurant industry experienced and understood good professional practice, moving back and forth between the empirical material and the theoretical concepts in later stages of the analysis, in line with reflexive thematic analysis (Braun and Clarke, 2022). Reflexive thematic analysis involves a six-phase process: (1) familiarising yourself with the dataset, (2) coding, (3) generating initial themes, (4) developing and reviewing themes, (5) refining, defining and naming themes, (6) writing up. These steps are not a linear process but a circular one, which means that in this study the different steps have been carried out in several rounds and partly simultaneously. For example, it is difficult to distinguish between phases 3, 4, and 5 – these have been overlapping phases in the analysis process. Throughout the process, there has also been a development from a descriptive and overarching theme development to significantly more theory-driven and analytical theme names. For example, in an earlier phase of the analytical process, one of the themes was called ‘quality in the industry’, reflecting broad perceptions of how the informants described quality in the restaurant industry, which in later phases has been developed into a theme which evolves around the concepts of craftmanship and hospitality as professional ideals in the restaurant industry. Examples of codes in this theme are quality of the food, knowledge, passion, happy guests coming back, ambience, physical elements. Three themes have been developed: professional ideals of craftmanship and hospitality, professional practice as collective work in interaction with guests (examples of codes are team work, collaboration, read the room, plan ahead, interacting with guests) and professional practice in context and as reflections of society (examples of codes are less hierarchy, a new generation of workers, impact of social media, metoo, climate change, experienced guests expecting more).

Ethical approval for this study was granted by the Norwegian Agency for Shared Services in Education and Research (project number 347037). All names and identifying details were anonymised in transcripts and in reporting from this study.

Results and discussion

Professional ideals of craftmanship and hospitality

Good professional practice in the restaurant industry is, of course, about the food. However, there is no unified way of defining excellence in food and dining (Lane, 2014). The informants articulate the produce, and how it is treated, as an important aspect of good professional practice in the industry, in addition to specific standards regarding hygiene, temperature, storage and cleaning, which is also routinely checked by the Norwegian Food Safety Authority. Furthermore, the informants articulate that good professional practice includes knowledge and passion, exemplified in this manner when defining quality by one of the chefs:

If I were to define quality in a way, it might be, now I’m trying to speak a bit generally, it might be the result of a craftsman’s passion and knowledge about a product, which is reflected in a product. For example, you can take a chef. In my case, who has knowledge and passion, and creates a product that I believe is of high quality. Or a vegetable producer who has worked long with their field, for example, and has good knowledge of how to cultivate this thing, and delivers a fantastic product to us of high quality. Or a sommelier, a waiter, who has knowledge about the wine, the drink, the food we serve, and delivers high-quality service. So, it is really just a reflection of passion, I feel, if one were to put it openly. Chef, rest. 4

Perceptions of quality can be seen as a core professional value (Noordegraaf, 2015), and the chef is expressing how knowledge of and a passion for a product and how to use it represents good quality for him, and that it is a ‘reflection of passion’. This understanding is found throughout the empirical material and can be seen as articulations of craftmanship, an important aspect of professionalism in the restaurant industry (Wellton et al., 2018). The articulated combination of knowledge and passion signifies how ideals of craftmanship comprise a high level of skill, creativity and even artistry (Holmes, 2015; Hult et al., 2023a; Lane, 2014). This can also be understood as identity work (Hult et al., 2023b), where to work with knowledge and passion represents a way to create meaning in their work.

The informants express that the main goal in the restaurant industry is a satisfied guest. One of the managers elaborates on the guest experience in this way:

I would say that if the guest comes in here [in the restaurant] and feels a heartfelt warmth, and experiences being welcomed, then they feel welcome. And if they are well taken care of throughout the evening, with good follow-up and service, and the food at least meets their expectations, and preferably exceeds them, then we have delivered a quality experience in that sense. A dining experience. Manager, rest. 4

The informant describes a totality regarding good professional practice, where the guests should feel welcomed and experience good food and service that matches their expectations and a little beyond, much in line with how keeping the customer happy represents a main goal in service work (Hult et al., 2023a; Pratten, 2003).

Furthermore, the informants express that the restaurant building itself, the ambience, and the workplace, work environment and colleagues are all elements contributing to good professional practice in the industry. These elements can be understood as parts of the normative value system that shapes professional identities in the restaurant industry (Evetts, 2003, 2006). Some of the informants describe how very specific details are important to create a good experience for the guest, exemplified in this way:

Often, before we open, because the spotlights can sometimes shine in your eyes, they usually sit at all the tables to check if the spotlights are positioned correctly, so that they don’t shine in anyone’s face. And not least to test the table height, to see if it’s comfortable to sit here. Whether I am a tall man, a short man, a small person, am I comfortable at this table? Can I sit here for a long time? This is usually done before we open. There are also adjustments along the way. Now I know that spotlight there [points], it has too white a light, for example, and that will usually be fixed. Manager, rest. 2

The manager describes how they even test sitting at different tables to check if the lighting is correctly placed and the seating feels comfortable for different types of guests. In line with Evetts (2003, 2006) understanding of professionalism, this shows how professionalism involves collective ways of interpreting problems (uncomfortable seating for guests, lights shining in their face) and identifying potential solutions (change the seating and lighting), and that working to achieve good professional practice in this industry demands a sensibility to service and the customer in a very specific and detailed way.

To summarise, the informants express that good professional practice in the restaurant industry consists of a totality of elements to make sure the guest is satisfied and wants to come back (thereby creating more business for the restaurant). To achieve this, they include the quality of the food and service, knowledge, passion, the physical space, ambience, the workplace and how they work together, in their understanding of what creates good professional practice. This illustrates how the normative value system of professionalism is continuously produced and reproduced at the micro level through individual practitioners of the workplaces they belong to (Evetts, 2003, 2006).

Professional practice as collective work in interaction with guests

The informants describe how they work to achieve good professional practice, and thereby what being professional and doing a good job means to them. They include several elements when they talk about what doing a good job in this industry entails, including working with passion. Furthermore, the informants articulate that preparations, planning ahead, organising and being systematic are important parts of their work, for both waiters and chefs. Professional practice in the restaurant industry thus entails also organising for quality, much in line with how Noordegraaf (2015) argues that quality as a core professional value also includes organising for quality as a central ingredient of professional work.

The informants also describe that being able to communicate well with the guests, adjusting how they act to the individual guest, and to handle many different tasks at the same time and help out others as part of a team, are at the very heart of performing professional work in the restaurant industry. This perspective is exemplified by a manager:

If you are employed as, let’s say, a waiter, you have an education, you have a certificate, and you should be good at guest relations, and knowledgeable about beverages and how to pair them. You need to be clear-headed so that you can manage multiple tables simultaneously with different tasks. And you should be able to work in a team, because you are rarely alone. There are small restaurants where there is only one waiter, but usually, there are two or more. So, you need to be able to be part of a team, so that you can help out a colleague and a colleague can help you out too. So that you are not just single-mindedly saying: “This is my table!” and refusing to touch even a fork on your colleague’s side. You are well-trained, well-educated, and you know your subject and profession. You have a standard for the way you work that makes you confident in what you are doing. That is, you know your subject and profession, and you are a confident and good waiter whom the guests perceive as someone who knows their job. Look how calm she is, look how confident she is. Every time we ask, we get good answers, nothing loud or boastful. Humble, but at the same time confident and calm. And if you observe, it almost looks like a dance. You see that everything flows. And then as a guest, you become calm because you think that everything is going to be just fine. I will make it to the theatre performance, there will be no problem, and I will get a correct bill, and so on. Manager, rest. 4

The manager highlights that the waiters should make the guests feel safe by being knowledgeable and calm, making them trust they will have a good experience. This shows how keeping the customer happy represents the main goal in service work (Hult et al., 2023a; Pratten, 2003), and how this work involves a high level of skill in interaction with customers (Holmes, 2015; Hampson and Junor, 2005; Hult et al., 2023a; Lane, 2014; Lundberg and Mossberg, 2008; Lundberg, 2011; Wellton et al., 2018a). Furthermore, this description highlights how being professional goes beyond education and formal knowledge and skills, and involves exercising discretion, tacit knowledge and intuition (Dreyfus, 2004; Larson, 1979, 2017; Schön, 1991), contributing to the customers’ trust in restaurant employees’ practices. Trust represents an important part of professional practice, as Evetts (2003, 2006) points out that professionalism plays a crucial role in sustaining trust within economic relations in modern societies and that this reliance requires professionals to demonstrate their trustworthiness. When restaurant workers are calm and collected, knowledgeable and confident, and play their part in the ‘dance’ in the interaction with colleagues and guests, they demonstrate their trustworthiness as professionals.

The informant also highlights the importance of working as a team, helping each other out if necessary, supporting the notion that teamwork is crucial in the restaurant industry (Lane (2014); Hult et al. (2023a); Wellton et al., 2019. This point is made across occupational groups, by managers, chefs, waiters and apprentices, defining good professional practice as a collaborative practice. Using Evetts (2003; 2006) understanding of professionalism, experiences, understandings and expertise shape a professional identity where collaboration is at the core. The informants express that teamwork is not only about working together in an efficient manner, but also about acknowledging the expertise of different employees and how to incorporate their different strengths. This can be seen as respect for different types of skills and craftmanship, and the ability to use the different strengths in a team is seen as crucial to achieving good professional practice. This perspective stands in contrast to the traditional perspective of the (most often) solo male chef in a highly competitive culture of bullying and aggression (Burrow et al., 2015; Lane, 2014). Even though discipline in the kitchen is described as important, the informants actively oppose the image (and ideal) of this type of chef, also mentioning that guests are sometimes surprised by how calm it is in the (open) kitchen and that it is ‘not like Gordon Ramsay’ (famously known for being an aggressive and loud chef on many TV-shows).

The informants also talk about being able to read the room and the guest, being able to keep an overview of everything, and prioritising between tasks when busy and working efficiently, as they describe what it means to do a good and professional job. This perspective can be understood as customer orientation and observant management (Wellton et al., 2018a), a tacit ability to work until the guest is satisfied. One waiter expresses this as follows:

So, for example, if you have a table that has just received their food and started eating, and you know that the table behind them needs to order dessert, when you pass by the table that is eating, take it easy, calmly approach the table and ask: “Did the food taste good? Are you satisfied with everything?” and they say “Yes”. Great, then you just go straight to the next table and take the dessert order. So you maintain an overview of the station and what is happening, being able to keep your composure and stay calm. I think that is professional. Waiter, rest. 2

The waiter describes how he combines asking one table if they are happy with their food with taking the orders for dessert at the next table, because he anticipates the pace of the meal for both tables. So, instead of making two rounds, each for one table, he works more efficiently by making just one round. Also, he stresses that being calm and collected while doing this defines being professional in his work. This highlights how time management skills play an important role in professional service work (Hampson and Junor, 2005; Wellton et al., 2018b), and how employees navigate between different tasks while still keeping calm in front of the customers. Professionalism as a normative value system includes shared approaches to interacting with customers (Evetts, 2003, 2006) and managing time while keeping calm in front of customers can be seen as a shared approach of professional interaction with customers in the restaurant industry. One of the waiters explains what it means to be able to read the guest in this manner:

I think that welcoming all guests as they are and talking to them. Being a waiter is kind of a psychological thing. You need to be able to read people as well. Because tables are so different. Some tables want to talk for a long time and have a chat with you, and other tables just want to place their order and don’t want to talk to you anymore. So, being able to read your table and see what the mood is like there, if you can do that, it’s really good. Waiter, rest. 1

The waiter describes the complexity of customer interaction, where they try to adjust to the individual guest’s needs and preferences. This demands craftmanship and professionalism in the form of worker autonomy, particular skills, tacit knowledge and discretion (Hampson and Junor, 2005; Holmes, 2015; Hult et al., 2023a; Lane, 2014; Larson, 1979, 2017; Lundberg, 2011; Lundberg and Mossberg, 2008; Schön, 1991).

The informants express that they take great pride in doing a good job and making the guests happy, which can be understood as a part of a shared professional identity (Evetts, 2003, 2006) in the restaurant industry. They remember the times when things did not go so well, and taking experiences from work back home with them, as one of the waiters describes:

Because sometimes as a waiter, you come home, go to bed, and suddenly realise: “Oh no, I forgot the pepper sauce at table 16!” [laughter]

Interviewer: [laughter] Yes, then it’s a bit too late.

So, when I finish work and realise that today I did well, I didn’t forget anything, all the orders were correct, no one complained about the food, people were in a good mood, I was in a good mood. I might have joked a bit with a table, and there was some fun communication, someone told a joke. Then I feel like I’ve done a good job, when I feel that I have satisfied my guests. They smile and are happy, and leave here satisfied, then I feel like I’ve done a good job. Waiter, rest. 2

The waiter also describes the joy of restaurant work and how good interactions with guests makes him feel he has done a good job. To conclude, the informants articulate that in the restaurant industry you have to work with a passion for what you do, but also that more ‘mundane’ activities, like systematic preparations, are important aspects of good professional practice in their work. Furthermore, they describe professional work as being able to stay calm in a stressful environment, being able to read the guest and adjust to their needs, and contribute by helping others in a team environment. Work in the restaurant industry is very much described as collective and collaborative work, where they depend on each other, and where you are also expected to contribute ‘outside’ of your own area of work or workstation. This finding is also supported by the observations. In all the restaurants I observed constant cooperation and adjustment in completing tasks between the staff, with communication back and forth to resolve unexpected situations during service. Using Evetts (2003; 2006) understanding of professionalism, all these elements can be understood as part of a shared professional identity as restaurant workers, where collaboration is at the core.

Professional practice in context and as reflections of society

The findings in this study highlight that the restaurant industry does not exist in a vacuum; it is affected by changes in surrounding society. The employees describe how the industry and work have changed, due to societal changes in the environment of which the restaurant industry is also part. The informants’ examples include guests having greater knowledge and thereby higher expectations than before, due to increased travel to other countries, higher spending power and more interest in food and wine, much in line with what Lane (2014) found in her study. Furthermore, the informants mention a more democratic/less hierarchical society, the influence of social media, the MeToo movement, climate change, and more openness regarding different ethnic and sexual minorities, as examples of societal changes affecting the industry and their work.

One of the waiters expresses the changes and the influence of social media in this way:

And I notice, especially for restaurants and such, that [the introduction of social media Instagram] was revolutionary. Now you could suddenly post how nicely you did things. But it started a bit when social media came into play. People began to care about what … to show yourself. And with that, those who focused on quality received recognition for it, like praise, and those who had to step up their game because pictures were being taken, kind of [laughter]. So, I think, kind of, the public eye was a positive thing. […] Yes, but it’s incredibly fun when you notice that people have been following along, right. You get a guest who says: “Yes, but how did it go with [first name] in Mexico?” They’ve seen and read it. So suddenly you have fans, kind of. It’s fantastically cool.

Interviewer: Yes, it’s great fun. So, maybe there’s a different interaction there?

Yes, you could say that. A completely different interaction, which is positive. Something you might not have thought about before, that it had such a big impact. You get another dimension in the relationship with the guest. Because they have read about everything we’ve done, or about that dish. So, it’s incredibly fun. And it creates a closer connection. Waiter, rest. 4

The waiter describes changes due to the introduction of social media, such as how they present the food – Instagram-friendly pictures are important – and she also describes how this changes the interaction between the restaurant employees and the guests. Social media add a new transparency to their work, an openness to ‘the public eye’, that she describes as something positive for good professional practice in the industry. This shows how perceptions of good professional practice are not exclusively developed and defined within the industry, by the professionals, but are also social and relational practices developed and defined in interactions with the guests (Hult and Scander, 2024; Lane, 2014; Roosipöld and Loogma, 2014). Furthermore, social media enable guests to follow the restaurant and their employees over time, noticing how they perform in competitions and when apprentices gain their trade certificates, etc., and also commenting on these events when they visit the restaurant. This means that they can connect on a different level, possibly building trust and loyalty over time. Following how Evetts (2003, 2006) describe that professionals require to demonstrate their trustworthiness, it can be argued that restaurant workers demonstrate their trustworthiness by exposing their practices to the public eye using social media. Also, sharing pictures from restaurants on Instagram can bring food tourists with similar interests together across geographical boundaries (Magdy and Hassan, 2025), attracting new guests to the restaurant. For the restaurant staff, this also means that it becomes important to be active on social media, and that good professional practice in this industry also includes working with their social media profile. These changes imply new forms of worker autonomy, creativity and skills in service work (Holmes, 2015; Hult et al., 2023a; Lane, 2014).

The informants express that even though some episodes still occur, there have been changes due to the greater focus on sexual harassment and other types of inappropriate behaviour, within the workplace, between colleagues, and between staff and guests. One of the managers describes the change in this way:

I have the impression that waiters are better at speaking up when they experience unpleasant incidents. I hear more about it now than we did before. When I worked as a waiter, I remember we might talk about it, but the waiter would usually just grit their teeth and let it go, not wanting to make a scene. But now the threshold is much lower. Either the guest is thrown out, or the waiter is switched, for example. Manager, rest. 2

The manager describes a change from when she was working as a waiter herself, where previously they just accepted inappropriate behaviour by the guests, but now there is a lower threshold for what is accepted and when it is legitimate for a waiter to call out poor behaviour. Several of the informants link this lower threshold to the MeToo movement and the attention it drew to these types of behaviour, claiming that the younger generation no longer accept inappropriate behaviour in the workplace in the same way. In line with how Evetts (2002) argue that professional discretion requires professionals to include organisational, economic, social, political and bureaucratic conditions and constraints into account when making decisions, restaurant workers have changed how they approach inappropriate behaviour because of social and political conditions like the MeToo movement. It is not (no longer) part of good professional practice to persevere and carry on when guests act inappropriately.

The informants also highlight differences in the restaurant industry between Norway and other countries, regarding how they work, and which types of behaviour are acceptable in the workplace, implying that the wider organisational, social and bureaucratic context are taken into account when professional discretion is used to make decisions (Evetts, 2002). For example, several of them mention hierarchy as being much more important in other countries than in Norway, implying that the Norwegian context, where less hierarchical structures in the workplace are common, also affects how people from different countries adapt and adjust when working together in Norway. One of the chefs expresses this as follows:

Yes, in [country name] you find the strong chefs. They don’t ask you nothing. They tell you that you need to do this, finished. Here, you can share your opinion and what you think to improve the dishes. Here, the communication is totally different. Chef, rest. 1

The chef describes how she is used to a different practice in her home country, where higher-ranking chefs decide everything themselves and are not interested in discussing with other chefs below them, while in Norway she experiences that she can share her opinion with everybody in the kitchen. The restaurant industry is international, with employees from all over the world, often travelling to take work in different countries, implying that specific national cultures and working life traditions are also part of different understandings of what constitutes good professional practice.

Furthermore, the informants also articulate that the very staff itself is changing, due to factors such as a more democratic and less hierarchical society, and that they experience a generation of young people who have different expectations of work and the workplace, than before. They express that younger people are reluctant to serve others (even if that is their job as waiters), need to be motivated to a larger extent, question the long hours and stressful work, are very much aware of their rights, and are more individualistically oriented in general. One of the waiters expresses this as follows:

Well, we see and talk a lot about having a generational shift now. That Generation Z, I am actually part of that generation, too, but I don’t feel like I belong to them [laughter]. But then we see that it’s a bit more, they say more: “What can you do for me?” rather than “What can I do for you?”. Because there’s my dad, who has worked in the restaurant industry, he’s the complete opposite. He’s like: “What can I do for you? I’ll do it. I don’t ask any questions. I can work, of course I can work for 12 hours, it’s not a problem.” Here, after seven hours, it’s more like: “Oh, I’m tired, can I go home? When do I get a break?” Waiter, rest. 1

The informant describes how the younger generation demands more from the workplace, in contrast to, for example, her own father, who does not question the long hours and always asking what he can do for you. She points to a lower tolerance for hard work, and how they are more concerned with breaks and when they can go home. This can be seen in relation to Lane’s (2014) description of how the civic principle of equality in democratic countries conflicts with the need for service people to render service to customers, implying some level of “deference”, and how this can create recruitment challenges. A professional identity whereby perceptions of good professional practice in the industry imply a high tolerance of hard work and long hours, and a willingness to serve others (Wellton et al., 2018a), might be challenged by a new generation of workers, with other expectations, due to a changed societal context. This illustrates how professional identities are malleable, dynamic and relational (Currie et al., 2009; Fine, 1996; Fournier, 2000; Jerez et al., 2023).

To summarise, perceptions of good professional practice in the restaurant industry develop and change in interaction with customers and a wider societal context. Restaurant cooking and dining are social and cultural activities (Lane, 2014), implying that social and cultural changes in society are intertwined with social and cultural changes in the restaurant industry, spurring changes in professionalism and professional identities (Hult and Scander, 2024; Roosipöld and Loogma, 2014).

Concluding remarks

The restaurant industry struggles with recruitment and high turnover, partly due to the tough working conditions associated with work in this industry (Wellton et al., 2018a, 2019; Wellton and Lainpelto, 2021). To meet these challenges, more knowledge of restaurant work as professional practice is useful to develop strategies to attract and keep competent restaurant workers in the industry, to sustain decent working conditions, and to attract customers and grow in a sustainable way in a changing society (Jerez et al., 2023; Wellton et al., 2018a, 2019; Wellton and Lainpelto, 2021). This article contributes in this respect, as the study investigates how restaurant workers in different occupational groups themselves understand and define what good professional practice in the restaurant industry entails for them.

Based on the empirical material, three themes were developed: professional ideals of craftmanship and hospitality, professional practice as collective work in interaction with guests, and professional practice in context and as reflections of society. The informants express professional ideals of craftmanship and hospitality where good professional practice in the restaurant industry concerns making the guest satisfied and wanting to come back, much in line with how Pratten (2003) and Wellton et al. (2018a) argue that keeping the customer happy is the main goal of service work. To achieve this, they include craftmanship working with the quality of the food and service, knowledge, passion, the physical space, ambience, the workplace and how they work together, in their understanding of what constitutes good professional practice. The findings highlight how very specific details regarding lighting and seating comfort, for example, are attended to, in order to keep different types of guests satisfied and wanting to come back, which illustrates a professional ideal of hospitality (Hult et al., 2023a; Pratten, 2003; Wellton et al., 2018a).

Professional practice in the restaurant industry is described as collective work in interaction with guests, supporting the perspectives of Hult et al. (2023a), Lane (2014) and Wellton et al. (2019) highlighting the importance of teamwork, Interestingly, this point is made both by managers, chefs, waiters and apprentices, defining a collaborative practice at the core of restaurant workers’ professional identity across occupational groups. This perspective stands in contrast to the traditional perspective of the (most often) solo male chef in a highly competitive culture of bullying and aggression (Burrow et al., 2015; Lane, 2014). Also, a collaborative practice concerns more than just being efficient in the kitchen and in service, as the restaurant workers describe well-functioning service as when everybody participates and knows what to do, as a form of dance, and how they experience joy and a kick when this happens. Several of them highlight that this is what keeps them in the industry and makes them overcome stress and hard work.

This study finds that perceptions of good professional practice in the restaurant industry are not exclusively developed and defined within the industry by the professionals but is also developed in context and as reflections of society – professional practice develop and change in interaction with customers and a wider societal context. Restaurant cooking and dining are social and cultural activities (Gustafsson et al., 2006; Lane, 2014), implying that social and cultural changes in society are intertwined with social and cultural changes in the restaurant industry (Fine, 1996; Hult and Scander, 2024; Lane, 2014; Roosipöld and Loogma, 2014). The informants express how, in particular, social media have changed how they interact with guests, and that guests have higher expectations than before due to increased travel to other countries, greater spending power and more knowledge of and interest in food and wine. The use of social media can contribute to building the guests’ trust, making practices more transparent, and making it possible to follow the restaurant worker’s professional development over time. Following how Evetts (2003, 2006) describe that professionals require to demonstrate their trustworthiness, it can be argued that restaurant workers demonstrate their trustworthiness by exposing their practices to the public eye using social media. In addition, using social media can help attract food tourists from around the globe, thereby boosting tourism growth at the destination (Magdy, 2024; Walter et al., 2022).

Restaurant workers also express concern regarding a new generation of workers in the industry, among whom they observe a more individualistic orientation, less tolerance of hard work and less willingness to serve others. This can be seen in relation to Lane’s (2014) description of how the civic principle of equality in democratic countries conflicts with the need for service people to render service to customers, implying some level of “deference”, and how this can create recruitment challenges. The professional identity whereby perceptions of good professional practice in the industry entail a high tolerance of hard work and long hours, and a willingness to serve others, might thus be challenged by a new generation of workers, with other expectations, due to a changed societal context. Wellton et al. (2018a) define professionalism in the restaurant industry as consisting of craftmanship, customer orientation involving observant management, and loyal perseverance. In the present study, the findings support that the notion of craftmanship still stands strong, as does customer orientation, but the informants’ concerns regarding the new generation might indicate a change in loyal perseverance due to changes in the broader societal context.

Implications for the practice field

A new generation of restaurant workers with other expectations and orientations towards work change perceptions of professional ideals and professional work in the restaurant industry. 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.

Based on the findings on collaborative work, restaurants could emphasize collaborative culture in recruitment processes to attract workers who value teamwork and put effort into sustaining these practices to keep competent workers in the workplace.

Limitations

This study is limited to one specific country and to only one region within this country. Even though different types of restaurants and occupational groups are included, other types of restaurants in other regions and other countries might have different perceptions of professional practice.

Contribution and future research directions

This study finds that collaborative work is at the very core of the professional identity of restaurant workers in the restaurant industry, a collaborative craftmanship, and following this argument, one might ask how this might be challenged by a more individualistic society with more individualistically oriented restaurant workers. Articulations of good professional practice as negotiations in a changing society with changing workplaces needs further research and would benefit from in-depth analyses in different contexts and countries. Future studies could also explore how generational differences in professional identity impact turnover rates. There is also a need for more knowledge of how good professional practice is learned and developed, and how craftmanship and collaborative practice can be sustained in a changing environment with economic and political crises affecting the restaurant industry and their restaurant workers and guests.