Kris Hall was always drawn to the fast-paced nature of hospitality. From watching his mum work in pubs to bartending in bars and nightclubs and managing supply chains for restaurants, Hall always found himself working in the sector one way or another. But beneath the surface, Hall’s mental health reached a crisis point.
“I packed my bags and tried to leave my family with nowhere to go because I genuinely felt like I didn’t belong anywhere anymore,” he told Club Management.
It was a wake-up call that prompted Hall to seek professional help. But the stigma and shame surrounding mental health issues made that first step incredibly difficult.
“I was physically looking around corners to make sure I hadn’t been followed [to my therapy appointments],” he said.
“The shame and stigma associated with the illness was that strong. It really did stop me from getting help.”
Kris’ recovery journey sparked a realisation about the hospitality industry he loved.
“I started to look at the industry that I had really fallen madly in love with, and I was looking at my friends in the trades,” he said.
“I said to them, ‘You guys do 80-hour weeks, you drink a hell of a lot, you’re using drugs to fuel your performance. How and why?’ And they’d just tell, ‘That’s the way it is. You just got do it. Man up, get on with it.’”
Determined to break the silence around mental health in hospitality, Kris started to take portraits of chefs and found getting behind the lens encouraged people to open up about their mental health struggles.
“People started to tell me more about their problems, more about suicide attempts, more about drinking problems, more about trauma, and because they were hidden behind my camera lens, all of a sudden it was just all coming out.”
Soon after, Kris began a merchandise brand to raise awareness and funds for mental health. Sales of the merchandise spread from England to other parts of the world including Australia, South Africa, North America, and Japan.
This was the catalyst for Kris to take the leap to establish The Burnt Chef Project, a not-for-profit organisation designed to eradicate mental health stigma in hospitality. Today, the organisation provides free, 24/7 mental health support to individuals across the globe, in multiple languages. They also offer e-learning modules on a range of mental health topics, which have been completed by over 55,000 people in the last two and a half years.
According to Hall, in Australia, the risk of burnout is high. Recent research found chefs in Australia are 1.4 times more likely to die by suicide than any other professional.
“We really want to rally individuals to learn about it, for business to put the right protection mechanisms in place, and to understand that despite the name, The Burnt Out Project, is not just for chefs; it’s here for the entire [hospitality] ecosystem, so your greens keepers, housekeepers, maintenance engineers, those who supply ovens or kitchen equipment or cutlery.”
But Kris’ vision extends beyond just providing support. He’s on a mission to transform the culture within the hospitality industry.
“Organisations are still quite slow to react to the shift in mental health awareness,” he said.
“It’s not the organisation’s responsibility to fix everyone’s life, but to provide provisions that allow an individual to access services and hopefully recover.”
The Burnt Chef Project is launching an accreditation scheme to give businesses a blueprint of how to create mentally healthy and sustainable workplaces.
“We want to be able to preventative rather than reactive. To have an accreditation scheme that people can sign up to and independently verify is great.”
This year also marks the first time The Burnt Out Chef Project has partnered with the Nestlé Golden Chef’s Hat awards where 21-year-old Archer Houghton has been named the 2024 Nestlé Golden Chef of the Year.
“The need for mental health support within the hospitality industry is paramount. Our partnership with The Burnt Chef Project aims to provide young chefs with access to mental health resources and tools to thrive, both professionally and personally, and have long, fulfilling careers,” says Nestlé Executive Chef and Golden Chef judge Elke Travers.
For workplace training on mental health support, visit The Burnt Chef Project.