Comfort Food #16: Kristian Baumann – The impact of the crisis on the unwritten rules in our kitchen

„It’s our responsibility as an employer to create an environment where people want to stay longer.“ Kristian Baumann –
Restaurant 108, 09.05.20 

Kristian Baumann is chef and co-owner of the Copenhagen restaurant 108. Since the Corona shutdown in Denmark, the restaurant and the bar (@thecorner_108) are closed. Instead, Kristian has been strengthening his global community and the appreciation of the people behind the scenes through Instagram take-overs and the introducing his team on social media. Even before the crisis, Kristian had already been addressing issues beyond the plate. 

Kitchen work is hard work. Added to this are partly-outdated structures and the pressure of expectations that come with the job’s image: the restaurant employee should be stress-resistant, strong and rarely show weakness. Why the hospitality industry has to change its unwritten rules and open itself up to new forms of work, was the topic of our conversation with Kristian Baumann in our Comofort Food Talk no. 16. Together with his team, he is developing various concepts promoting open and empathic communication and which make it easier to deal with stress. He is also working on a collaborative discount system that allows restaurant employees to visit other restaurants at a more accessible rate and get inspiration from them. Because: “Whatever you learn outside the kitchen, will be just as important as what you learn inside the kitchen.” We couldn’t agree more, and are working on a system ourselves that will enable trainee chefs to experience other restaurant concepts in spite of the usually low training salary. 

The conversation was moderated by our director Friederieke Gaedke.

Kristian Baumann: Instagram | Facebook 
108: Website | Instagram | Facebook