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- Hult, Kajsa, 1993-
(författare)
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Changing the idealization of hospitality?
- 2023
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Konferensbidrag (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The idealization of hospitality as a restaurant practice has permeated the late modern service culture as part of a profitable strategy for the restaurant companies (Ritzer, 2007). A typical portrayal is that the guest always is right, and that the duty of the staff is to please the needs (Gustafsson et al., 2006; Hult et al., 2023; Kim & Aggarwal, 2016) in other words, being subordinated to the other. However, in a time of novel taste regimes, aesthetics and crafts related to gastronomy (Bell, 2007; Lugosi, 2009; Scander, 2023; Smith Maguire, 2018), the currently evolving restaurant culture have started to value other aspects in the provision of meals. That is, performing in ways that fits the professionals’ own needs and interests (e.g. Cameron, 2020; Koponen & Niva, 2020; Ocejo, 2010; Wilson, 2019). Consequently, the social context in which the hospitality takes shape have great impact upon how the hospitality is perceived and received, as it serves belonging, self-representation, and creation of identity (Lugosi, 2008, 2009). Therefore, there is a need to question the idealization of hospitality and rethink the way of understanding dining room professionals’ practices. This conceptual paper aims to reflect upon the idealization of hospitality in the context of contemporary restaurants that do not always adhere to norms such as “the guest is always right” and other attributes that variously subordinate the professionals and source the guests, which often is significant in the valuation of “good” hospitality. The paper argues that, in order to rise the status and to make the profession more attractive, there is a need to shed light to the individuals performing the hospitality in relation to their acquired tastes and interests.
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- Hult, Kajsa, 1993-, et al.
(författare)
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Constructing the hospitality superstar in restaurant dining rooms
- 2023
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Ingår i: Scandinavian Journal of Hospitality and Tourism. - Oslo : Taylor & Francis. - 1502-2250 .- 1502-2269. ; 23:2-3, s. 264-281
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The need for competent hospitality workers is significant for the sustainable development of the restaurant industry. However, with the recurring challenges of recruiting and retaining a competent workforce, there is a need to understand how employers portray and communicate hospitality work in the recruitment process. Therefore, this study examines how employers construct the image of the hospitality worker, by analyzing what job advertisements signal and communicate to the applicants. Through thematic analysis of 100 job advertisements in Sweden, we found that the ideal hospitality worker is an individualized team player with occupational passion. This means that social capacities and commitment to hospitality and gastronomy, factors that are difficult to measure, are of relevance to gaining employment. Additionally, by asking for social capacities, the distance between work and leisure is diminished and the employee is constructed as a commodity for the purpose of improving service. In contrast to the common image that hospitality work is work that anyone could do, we conclude that the qualifications for becoming a hospitality worker in the restaurant industry are fairly complex.
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- Hult, Kajsa, 1993-, et al.
(författare)
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Contemporary dining room professionals : towards a “hip” style of hospitality identity
- 2023
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Ingår i: Research in Hospitality Management. - : Taylor & Francis Group. - 2224-3534 .- 2415-5152. ; 13:1, s. 11-21
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Interest in having an occupation that connects with consumption practices of taste has increased in the contemporary creative economy. In addition, the restaurant scene in Sweden as well as globally has recently been moving towards a casualisation of high-quality restaurants, which presents new questions about how to understand and practise the work in restaurant dining rooms. The study focuses on dining room professionals working in an evolving culinary restaurant scene, with the purpose of investigating them and their search for sense in contemporary restaurant venues. We use identity perspectives and hospitality as concepts to understand how the professionals create meaning in their work through interviews with professionals working in a subset of restaurants in Sweden. With such an emphasis, this study identifies a certain culinary hospitality identity that needs creative spaces, social exchanges and the idea of authentic materiality to make sense of the restaurant work. In contrast to the way dining room work has traditionally been pictured, this article shows that the industry needs to understand hospitality professionals who put their own authenticity in the foreground, which also guides their choices about where to work and how to perform in these contexts. This also helps the industry to become more attractive, as it is in a vulnerable position after the coronavirus pandemic.
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- Hult, Kajsa, 1993-, et al.
(författare)
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Contemporary restaurant structure and representation of Self
- 2023
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- This ongoing ethnographical study looks at the work in restaurant dining rooms in a particular type of restaurant segment that has been growing in recent years and differs from the traditional way of how leading high-end restaurants have been designed (e.g. Halawa & Parasecoli, 2019; Koponen & Niva, 2020; Pearlman, 2015). From a dining room perspective, these restaurants seem to maintain relaxed and informal service manners, guest interactions appear to be as friendships, yet the work practices are highly knowledge driven (Halawa & Parasecoli, 2019; Koponen & Niva, 2020). Overall, though well-planned and throughout, the dining room culture attempts to be perceived as impulsive, irregular and authentic (Halawa & Parasecoli, 2019) which put new topics on the agenda regarding hospitality and service (Blain & Lashley, 2014; Lashley, 2015; Lugosi, 2008). Because contemporary restaurants today rarely have a clear line between the kitchen and the dining room (Palmer et al., 2010; Pearlman, 2015), as in the case of gastropubs (Lane, 2018), the guests and workers come closer together through the blurring line between frontstage and backstage. This study elaborates on dramaturgical concepts of scene performance and representations of Self (Goffman, 1990/1959) to understand how these contemporary restaurant venues contributes with the dining room professionals’ representations of themselves through their work practices. As such, this study aims to investigate how dining room practices take shape in contemporary restaurants with regards to the restaurants’ conceptual framings and through the professionals’ representations of Self.
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- Hult, Kajsa, 1993-
(författare)
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Forskning : Dåliga jobbannonser sänker restaurangyrkets status
- 2023
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Ingår i: Hotellrevyn. - Stockholm : Hotell- och restaurang facket. - 1654-7683. ; :21 november
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Tidskriftsartikel (populärvet., debatt m.m.)abstract
- Arbetsgivare i branschen måste sluta skriva generiska jobbannonser. Det säger Kajsa Hult, doktorand i måltidskunskap vid Örebro universitet, som studerat kraven som ställs i platsannonser till restaurangjobb.
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- Hult, Kajsa, 1993-, et al.
(författare)
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Hipster Hospitality : Blurred Boundaries in Restaurants
- 2024
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Ingår i: Journal of Gastronomy and Tourism. - : Cognizant Communication Corporation. - 2169-2971 .- 2169-298X.
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The restaurant industry is currently experiencing a shift in taste judgements. Practices and discourses on taste are communicated and expressed in contexts where food enthusiasts meet, resulting in a complex debate about the production and consumption of “good and bad” taste. This study aims to explore the intricate dynamics that shape the performances of dining room professionals in contemporary restaurants. Based on autoethnographic fieldwork at two restaurants in Sweden, this study uses cultural taste and dramaturgical theory to understand the social processes in restaurant culture. The results demonstrate how dining room work is organized within an unstructured environment through organic service, aesthetical framing, and self-representation. Based on these findings, the article argues that the interplay between the restaurant’s ambiance and the self holds value in shaping specific hipster hospitality. For instance, this is achieved through the blurred line between frontstage and backstage. This study contributes to the understanding of the changing role of work in contemporary restaurant culture, in which a less pronounced distinction between private and public, and between formal and informal service are some of the elements.
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