Plentiful Employment Opportunities in the Cambodian Food and Beverage Sector

By BUTH REAKSMEY KONGKEA

People with cooking skills seldom experience long-term unemployment, according to Sy Ra, director of the Food and Beverage Center (FBC), a training center specializing in teaching students the culinary arts, bar tending and restaurant management. He said the majority of his graduates found employment very soon after completion of his courses.

Since the establishment of FBC in 2006, roughly 500 students have attended the center’s training courses. 80 percent of them have found jobs with local or international restaurant chains. Hotels in Phnom Penh, Siem Reap and Sihanoukville are also pleased to hear from his graduates. They can command wages as high as US $80 to US $250 per month.

Ra said, “People take pleasure in the finer things in life—food that is as pleasing to the eye as it is to the palette, good drink to induce relaxed conversation, all taken in a pleasant dining environment. It is not surprising that cookery skills, pastry making, cocktail mixing and restaurant management skills are in high demand in Cambodia.”

With the increase in the number of hotels and restaurants, workers with experience in this sector will always be in demand. Ra mentioned that every year when his students were about to complete their courses, local restaurateurs and hotel chain managers beat a path to his door to claim the best for further training and employment in their businesses.

According to the Annual Development Review 2007-08 conducted by CDRI (Cambodia Development and Research Institute) there were 351 major hotels in Cambodia.

Thong Khon, minister of Tourism, said that his ministry appreciated the efforts made by FBC in providing essential food skills training.

Speaking to the Cambodia Weekly by telephone August 20 he stated that until recently, the state of Cambodian cuisine had suffered because there had been no organization to provide adequate training in the production and sale of food and beverages.

The Minister said that FBC’s efforts have helped the Royal Government of Cambodia in promoting tourism. They have provided an increasingly sizeable pool of culinary talent that is able to cater to the tourist’s demand for the exotic and unusual.

However, he also suggested that all restaurants and hotels should provide a properly balanced dining table, featuring not just traditional Khmer delicacies, but items from the South East Asian region as a whole and western style food as well. Now that Cambodia is more than able to serve as gracious host to the peoples of the world, their return visits may be assured.

Ra said each year both males and females attend professional training courses at his center in Phnom Penh. According to the center’s records, the average attendance for each year is 300 students.

He said the FBC center was created in 2006 and aimed at providing professional knowledge and skills for students. For those who require it, financial support is available. One of the center’s areas of focus is the provision of opportunity for students from less well to do sectors of the community to find meaningful employment and a sense of purpose.

Because of the growth and development of Cambodia, Ra said in the future, FBC will open branches in Sihanoukville and Kep. He said that FBC will also provide more scholarships, targeted at orphanages and other children’s organizations located in the provinces. This will give the youngsters a specific and saleable set of skills and qualifications, as well as a profitable direction in life.

Ra also said that FBC has plans to organize a cooking competition which will be held in mid-December 2008 in Phnom Penh. He added that according to feedback, at least 500 Cambodian cooks throughout the country will take part in the competition.

Lim Dararattana, administration manager of FBC, provided details about the skills her organization has to offer. Students are able to learn about bartending and cocktail making, bakery and fancy pastry making, cake decoration, fruit carving, restaurant and hotel management, purchasing, storage management, kitchen management, marketing for restaurants and accounting.

She also mentioned that fees run from as little as US $50 for a short-term course to US $350 for longer courses of study. A 50 percent waiver is available for those students who may have difficulties with the fees. Tuition is provided by experienced chefs, many with international experience in the field.

Heng Samang, 45, a local restaurant owner in Phnom Penh said he opened his operation just over a year ago, following a successful course of study at FBC in 2007. He was very happy with his clientele, which included international as well as local customers.

He said, “I am happy that I can operate and manage my restaurant in Phnom Penh. To attract more customers, I will have a look at expanding my menu to include further food ideas I learned at the FBC.”

Leng Saren, 22, a former bachelor degree student in Hotel and Tourism said that he had learned food skills, bartending and cocktail making at FBC for six months ago.

“I decided to study food and beverage skills because it is easier to find the work to do in Cambodia,” Saren said. ‘I hope that after the completion of my studies at FBC, I will find work as a cook with local or international restaurants or hotels in Phnom Penh.”

“I also plan that after ten-years of working experience, I will open my own restaurant in my province, Kampong Cham,” he added.

Kong Sopheap, 22, another FBC trainee who is studying bakery and bartending, said she decided to study these courses because she wanted to use this knowledge to build a firm financial foundation for her family.

Sopheap said, “I hope that after the completion of my studies with FBC, I will be able to cook many different types of foods, as well as mix a mean cocktail.”