2nd October 2008

More people dream of opening a pub than becoming an astronaut

In a survey of over 2860 Brits, almost 1 in 4 respondents said they dreamt of opening their own pub or restaurant. Only 19% dream of becoming a fire fighter, 11% admit to dreaming of becoming a doctor and 8% dream of becoming an astronaut.

The survey, conducted by Caterer.com (an online recruitment site), revealed that over 80% of Britons believe that in recent years the catering industry has become more appealing – a statistic that has been corroborated by a leading catering university. Could this change of attitude have been brought about by a couple of Hairy Bikers, a foul-mouthed chef and a school dinner’s campaign as featured on TV?

When the 24% of respondents were asked why they dream of opening their own pub, 92% said the hospitality industry had become increasingly appealing and celebrity chef personalities, such as Gordon Ramsey and Jamie Oliver injected fun into the industry.

68% of all respondents said their opinion of the hospitality and catering industry had changed over recent years; 81% of which said they saw the passionate aspect of the sector through TV and celeb personalities.

61% of respondents admitted to taking an interest in at least one catering television programme and 21% of these respondents claim to have had no previous interest in cooking.

Ian Burke from Caterer.com comments: “We have certainly noticed an increase in the amount of people looking for careers within hospitality and firmly believe that strong television personalities, such as Jamie Oliver and Gordon Ramsey have made the sector appealing to a whole new variety of people.”

Caterer.com carries over 20,000 vacancies for hospitality professionals looking for a career in hotels, restaurants, contract catering, pubs and bars.