The Burnt Chef Project has released their annual social impact report ‘Burning Away Stigma’ reinforcing its commitment to creating positive change for industry stakeholders and teams wellbeing within the hospitality sector.
The report includes examples and metrics around The Burnt Chef Project’s impact throughout the past year – from free support services and resources made available for hospitality professionals to new in house training offerings and organisational wellbeing reporting all designed to aid better wellbeing and sustainability for the industry.
2021 saw The Burnt Chef Project welcomed by the wider industry as they continued to permeate through multiple levels of the hospitality community. Founder, Kris Hall said “ 2021 proved to be a year of continued challenges for both the international hospitality community as well as the work that we do here at The Burnt Chef Project. We found ourselves switching between supporting individuals during periods of lockdown and great economic uncertainty to working with businesses on cultural changes and training in order to positively improve the working environment and ensure it’s focused on the wellbeing of teams. I’m pleased to say that the Project continued to grow and adapt to these challenges over the last 12 months and provide much needed support at a pivotal time in hospitality’s history as we move towards hospitality 2.0”.
Training
2021 saw The Burnt Chef Project launch in house training options, developed to reflect the changing needs of the industry. From The Burnt Chef Academy (a free wellbeing hospitality focussed training app launched in March 2021) to in house hospitality specific MHFA qualifications and also launching their own Mental Health and Leadership Level 4 Diploma which can be accessed using the pay apprenticeship levy.
The Burnt Chef Project saw 7800 health and wellbeing modules completed for free by worldwide hospitality professionals via The Burnt Chef Academy, 380 managers trained in face to face Mental Health Awareness and Cultural Change, over 600 college students trained over 18 colleges in Mental Health Awareness and Stress Reduction totalling 4596 hours of training provided both virtually and in person.
Support Services
The Bunt Chef Support Service -Launched in February 2021, is a free 24/7 SMS support service which has hosted 1544 conversations providing free mental health support around the clock of which 97% found useful in finding a place of calm.
“You did an amazing job at reassuring me. I’m grateful for getting things off my chest.” [Gender identity: male / Age: 18-24 / Issues: anxiety/stress, relationships, suicide]
The Burnt Chef Project then extended their support service in August 2021 through its partnership with The Drinks Trust to offer counselling to hospitality professionals.
Organisational Services
As well as free HR consultations now available for hospitality employers, The Burnt Chef Project launched an innovative wellbeing tool for business wanting to understand the direct cost implications of their teams wellbeing on their business with strategies to improve company culture. The Burnt Chef Diagnostic, is now being trialed across a number of organisations with detailed case studies set to be showcased in 2022.
Community
Now linked with 122 countries across the globe, 2021 saw The Burnt Chef Project relaunch their Ambassador Scheme, designed as a global peer support network of hospitality professionals. Ambassadors will now be trained in Mental Health First Aid as well as receive training across a number of wellbeing modules such as time management, communication and mental health awareness.
The Burnt Chef Journal podcast, saw over 50,000 downloads during 2021 across 48 episodes with guests including Paul Ainsworth, Nathan Outlaw, Trevor Bird, Roberta Hall, DJ BBQ and Aktar Islam.
The Burnt Chef Project starts 2022 in a strong position to further increase the reach of its tools, services and partnerships which have been developed over the last 12 months.
Kris Hall said “Our particular focus will continue to be on developing unique and innovative ways in which we can support hospitality individuals with their mental health through collaboration and services. 2022 will see us focusing on building The Burnt Chef Ambassador Peer-Support Network so that we continue to support the wider hospitality community irrespective of cultural or language differences.
Thanks to The Savoy Educational Trust, we have committed to training 32 college lecturers in Mental Health First Aid so they can offer additional support to students as well as 25 UK catering colleges in mental health/self-care so that we can deliver the tools our future generation require to thrive at work. Partnerships, support and fundraising from individuals and businesses who wish to support us will continue to be vital to our work as we continue to work with the industry to ensure it is healthier, happier and more sustainable moving into the future of hospitality”.
To read the full social impact report ‘Burning The Stigma’ Download here