Why Chefs Leave? What a Global Survey Reveals About the Kitchen Retention Crisis

Hospitality has never pretended to be easy. Work in professional kitchens is defined by fast pace, pressure, precision, professionalism, and pride. Yet a growing body of evidence suggests that the chef shortage is no longer simply a recruitment challenge; it has become a retention crisis, fuelled by working conditions that many chefs no longer view as sustainable.

The Chefs’ Intention to Leave: Global Survey Report (January 2026), produced by Bournemouth University in collaboration with The Burnt Chef Project, captures responses from 460 chefs worldwide and offers a timely snapshot of why chefs are considering leaving their roles and, in some cases, the profession itself. While grounded in data, the message is unmistakably people-centred: many chefs still care deeply about cooking, but feel increasingly unable to tolerate the environment surrounding the work. For hospitality operators, this matters because retention problems rarely surface suddenly; they develop quietly, long before a resignation letter is submitted.

Thinking about leaving has become normalised

The most striking finding is the scale of exit thinking. Sixty-nine per cent of chefs report that they often or always think about leaving their current role. In practical terms, thoughts of leaving are no longer isolated or occasional; they have become routine. Crucially, this is not dissatisfaction in theory. The report shows that two-thirds of chefs actively search online for alternative roles, with many doing so frequently.

For operators, the implications are significant. Even when a kitchen appears adequately staffed on paper, many employees may already be psychologically detached. That detachment affects performance, engagement, teamwork, and ultimately guest experience, long before any formal resignation occurs.

The survey also identifies a growing entrepreneurial impulse. Fifty-six per cent of chefs say they at least sometimes think about starting their own business. Hospitality has always attracted entrepreneurs, but the findings suggest that for some chefs this impulse reflects less ambition and more escape, a route towards greater control over time, reduced stress, and distance from toxic working environments.

When kitchen work crowds out life beyond work

Chefs’ intention to leave is strongly associated with work–family conflict and the erosion of personal life. Nearly 70% of respondents report moderate or strong interference of work with home and family responsibilities. These figures indicate that chefs are not simply working hard; many are struggling to sustain relationships, fulfill family roles, and recover physically and emotionally.

Qualitative responses reinforce this picture. Chefs describe missed personal milestones, unpredictable schedules, and exhaustion that extends well beyond service hours. The issue is not only long working hours, but also the lack of control and consistency: shifting rotas, late finishes, and the expectation that kitchen demands will override personal commitments.

From an industry perspective, this challenges the long-standing belief that sacrifice is simply “part of the job”. Many chefs now interpret excessive or chaotic scheduling not as a rite of passage, but as poor management, and increasingly, as a reason to leave.

Toxic leadership and culture are pushing chefs out

Workload alone does not explain chefs’ attrition. Workplace culture and leadership behaviour emerge repeatedly as decisive factors. Chefs describe experiences of bullying, intimidation, humiliation, harassment, and fear-based management. In some cases, toxic behaviour appears tolerated when individuals are perceived as “high performing”, leaving others feeling unsupported and unheard.

Kitchen culture is not a peripheral issue; it is an operational reality. A workplace may uphold high culinary standards and strong brand recognition, but if the internal environment is hostile, chefs will not stay. The findings also raise concerns around inclusion and equality. Women chefs report sexist behaviours and limited awareness of gender-specific health needs, further compounding feelings of exclusion.

The evidence suggests that hospitality cannot afford to continue excusing harmful behaviours as “kitchen banter” or “old-school leadership”. Chefs are not leaving because standards are high; they are leaving because dignity and psychological safety are too often absent.

Overwork, understaffing, and mental health consequences

The report reinforces the structural pressures chefs face daily: understaffing, relentless workload, and expectations of unpaid extra labour. Chronic staff shortages intensify stress and extend working hours, creating a vicious cycle. Fewer staff lead to longer shifts and burnout, which in turn accelerates resignations and further understaffing. Once normalised, this cycle makes retention increasingly difficult.

Pay and overtime also emerge as persistent pain points. While flexibility has always been part of hospitality, the findings suggest that when flexibility becomes one-directional, demanded from chefs without fair staffing or time recognition, resentment grows and exit behaviour follows.

Most critically, these pressures are linked to deteriorating mental health. Chefs report burnout, anxiety, depression, and severe emotional exhaustion. Wellbeing, therefore, cannot be treated as an optional initiative; it is a predictable outcome of operational decisions. Notably, many chefs still report strong bonds with colleagues and a sense of shared purpose within teams. Peer support remains important, but it cannot compensate for broken systems.

What hospitality leaders must do differently

The overall message is clear: chefs are not leaving cooking; they are leaving the conditions surrounding it. For hospitality leaders, there is no sustainable future in recruiting new talent into workplaces that fail to retain experienced professionals.

Improving retention requires tangible operational change: more predictable scheduling, realistic staffing levels, fair recognition of working time, and leadership cultures that actively reject bullying and fear-based management. For many organisations, this means rethinking rota stability, staffing ratios, and how kitchen leadership behaviour is monitored and rewarded. Crucially, accountability must move beyond symbolic commitments and become embedded in daily management practice.

The industry often frames chef shortages as external problems, generational shifts, or post-pandemic disruption. This report suggests a different interpretation. A substantial part of the crisis is internal, produced by a working model hospitality has normalised for too long. If the sector wants chefs to stay, it must stop relying on sacrifice as the default business solution.

Download the full report here: https://doi.org/10.18746/tmds-5v59

Charalampos Giousmpasoglou
Principal Academic in HRM at Bournemouth University Business School
Bournemouth University