Tourism Kelowna, go2HR, and the Chefs’ Table Society of BC recently co-hosted a roundtable bringing together passionate and experienced hospitality professionals for an engaging session focused on building positive workplace culture and preparing for the summer season.
Held at Infusions Restaurant at Okanagan College, the event provided participants with the opportunity to discuss the benefits of their supportive, community-oriented environments, while also sharing common challenges in areas such as staff housing, recruitment, onboarding and training, employee engagement, and more.
During the session, the presenting organizations provided attendees with:
- Information on opportunities to join or maximize their membership benefits with Tourism Kelowna, including the 2025 Local Flavours program and Kelowna's bid to become Canada's first UNESCO City of Gastronomy.
- Templates and resources from Chefs' Table Society of BC that could be used for HR tasks, such as onboarding checklists, interview questions, performance review forms, and more.
- Insight into the resources available through go2HR, including their Job Board, HR Toolkit, Employee Handbook Template, How to Guide for Employers, and more.
- An introduction to the culinary programs at Okanagan College, including ways restaurants can engage with students (hire co-op students, post jobs on the OC Careers Hub, offer presentations for classes, etc.)
Attendees were also reminded that go2Hr offers complimentary HR consulting and advisory services. A copy of the roundtable presentation can be accessed here.
We thank Okanagan College for providing the use of Infusions Restaurant and give a big round of applause to their culinary students for creating a spectacular charcuterie arrangement, which included a show-stopping carved prosciutto leg.
If you would like to continue this conversation, find out more about Tourism Kelowna's advertising programs, or learn how your business can leverage your existing membership, please get in touch with me directly at jacqui@tourismkelowna.com.
For more information on any of the resources mentioned in this post, contact:
- Samantha Scholfield, Program Manager, Chefs’ Table Society of BC
- Ginger Brunner, Manager Industry HR & Mental Health, go2HR
- Chef Ruth Wigman, Okanagan College
