Restaurant and Catering Australia’s Belinda Clarke: working for the future of foodservice

As Chief Operations Officer of foodservice’s leading industry association Restaurant & Catering Australia, Belinda Clarke has a lot of responsibility on her shoulders. But it’s a job she relishes – describing it as “the best of all worlds”.

 “I always worked in hospitality, except for a brief stint in the early days when I thought I should get a ‘real job’ – the old mentality – and tried to become an architect,” Belinda recalls. “But I realised I would never be able to sit behind a computer all day, so I went back to hospitality and have just lived and breathed it ever since!”

Responsible for the association’s strategic direction

Her entrée into the world of hospitality is a memorable story in itself: “I had that young and crazy attitude back in the day and I wanted to go work at the best restaurant in the world, which at that time was Gordon Ramsay’s – so I booked a ticket to London and my Dad was saying “you’re crazy, what are you doing?” But I packed my bags, took my suitcase to the Chelsea restaurant and asked for Gordon. And he came out and asked me, “What do you need?” And I said, “I want to work for you” and he said, “Go get yourself a navy suit and a pair of cork shoes and come back in the morning and I’ll give you a job.” So I did, and he did!

“I love hospitality and what it’s done for me. I joined Restaurant & Catering three years ago and in my current position I get to work in it, while at the same time feel like I’m making a difference and supporting my friends in ways I never thought I’d be able to, so it really is the best of all worlds.

“It’s very empowering to help make change, give guidance and make sure the industry’s voices are heard and that there’s someone to give support – because it can get pretty tough, hospitality can be a very lonely place. Our industry has always been one with low margins and a culture that was not great, with wage theft, long unsociable hours – the feeling was no one ever wants their kids to work in hospitality – and the challenges around wellness and resilience.”

As COO, Belinda is responsible for the association’s strategic direction. “I manage five different teams which look over training and development, partnerships, our members, our awards of excellence program and our policy through the industrial relations team. My role is to be that conduit from the hospitality venues to the people who can help them. For instance a few months ago the focus was all on pivoting to outdoor dining and businesses were asking, how do we do it – we need help, we don't know how to do this. We worked directly with Melbourne City Council down here to make it happen. When everybody had to go to delivery, no one knew about packaging sizes, containers, how it was all going to work – so we said, here are some ideas and plans and strategies to stay in business and keep your team afloat.

“On other days I talk people back off the cliff if they’re having a really bad day, help them with their team and their mental health and offer support through the dark days. While the past 18 months have certainly had their share of those, I’ve also been really inspired by what people have done to embrace change, and to watch those business take it on. They’ll say, I need to create an opportunity for myself, I need to embrace this, how am I going to do it? And those are the ones who are now coming out the other side, super strong, really powerful, with a better bottom line and a better connection to community, who’ve really made sure they understand their business in a way they’ve never had the chance to evaluate before.”

R&CA celebrates 100 years

This year marks Restaurant & Catering’s 100th birthday. “We actually started in 1922 as a state-based association, now we’re national. Our mission is to be the single source of truth for restaurants, cafes and caterers – because it’s sometimes really hard for them to find information, to know what they need to do and how to do it. We are also that peak body that represents all restaurants, not just those of our members, at government level across the country. We like to be seen as hospitality champions that are supporting and guiding and showing leadership. We want to be an industry warrior ensuring we have a thriving hospitality industry that remains as part of the fabric of Australian society and be that formidable force as we try to support all the restaurants in the country.

“I think people join us for the support we offer and also if we’re able to save them money by securing them with discounts to get a better bottom line, we will. It’s also about community, because it can be pretty lonely if you’re an operator of a business working long hours and you've got to try and make payroll each week while keeping a smile on your face.”

Membership continues to grow

Today R&CA runs mentoring programs, networking sessions, support for industrial relations and government and immigration issues. “We’re finding membership is really growing at the moment, because when you’re in crisis and you need help, support and resources – as now with the floods – when a business says, what am I going to do, how do I access funding or grants, how do I work with my insurance company or get out of this lease, that’s where we come in to offer support. When businesses realise they don’t know what to do, they come to us for some solid advice and we're able to support them.

“We also have a training academy that has both non-accredited and accredited credentials. We focus on imparting leadership skills and progressing people through personal development and upskilling programs, giving new entrants into the industry the skills they need to succeed. We have a Youth to Industry program in Victoria, planning menu-based resources with year 11 and 12 students so by the time they leave school they have some hands-on experience and some of the modules for commercial cookery already done. We also do pilot programs working with innovative ideas around retaining people in the industry so they’ll finish apprenticeship/traineeships, because the rate of people completing their apprenticeship has really dropped. Today only 30 to 40 per cent of people who start a hospitality apprenticeship are completing them and we need to identify why that is. These courses have been delivered in the same way for years and years, so how do we put some new ideas in so more people want to complete them?

“We also work with pathways programs, connecting 15 to 24 year olds into jobs – we’ll put them through a mentor program to support them into the industry. We support mature age workers back into the industry – a lot of people left a long time ago because they were burnt out, but they have great skills so we want to welcome them back. For those who were chefs and love cooking and want to come back, we’re finding ways to connect with them to encourage their return.”

With the industry short of some 100,000 jobs right now, R&CA acknowledges the skills shortage is a huge issue. “That’s why we're working with the Minister for Immigration on how we can make it easier to get people into the country – we've just rewritten the fine dining agreement, it’s now the premium dining agreement, to allow more businesses to sponsor people and get them into the country quicker. Some of those roles require very particular skills – if you need a sommelier or a wok chef, those skills can’t be learned in a small amount of time, so you need the right people in the right roles. And Australia has such a diverse cuisine culture that if we want the best restaurants, we need the best people in the right roles to make that happen.”

Belinda adds that many foodservice business owners have been worn down by the events of the past 18 months. “They’ve been working so hard and such long hours just trying to make sure they keep their businesses staffed. We're encouraging people to close on certain days of the week if they need to. We’re telling them, ‘it’s OK to close one or two days a week. It’s OK to change your menu and make it smaller’. There are ways to combat this – what can you outsource, how can you incorporate technology to learn to live with less staff? Because they’re not going to come back overnight.

It’s all about adaptability

“I think the key message we’re trying to impart right now is there’s no getting to the “other side” of Covid where everything goes back to how it was before. In fact everything’s going to change and it’s really important to acknowledge that. People need to embrace that and understand we can’t change what happened yesterday, but we can change the future – but the change starts with each of us. The businesses that are just waiting for things to go back to normal won’t survive – it's all about adaptability.

“The biggest thing on my list for 2022 is culture and the perception of our industry – really making sure that collectively as an industry, we reeducate ourselves about work-life balance. There’s a lot of positive culture to be able to express and communicate – I think for the last 10-15 years there’s been a lot of negative talk, and consequently parents, teachers, careers advisers are not suggesting hospitality as a career. We want to put it back on the map and communicate the vibe, the energy that happens in a restaurant service – it’s not for everybody, but it’s certainly for a lot of people. I think we really need to focus on that.”