In response to calls for increased professionalism in the restaurant industry, this paper aims to show how it is constituted in the daily practices in the industry, and to clarify ideas of professionalism held by the practitioners in the industry. Micro practices of daily activities performed by restaurant practitioners were identified in 13 small restaurants: 8 in a tourist destination and 5 in cities. The sayings and doings in kitchens and dining rooms noted in transcripts of interviews and observations were sorted with an insider's interpretation. The findings were then analysed by means of components of practice theory: knowledge and learning, communication, corporeality, and time use. Among the restaurant practitioners, professionalism is conceived to be a combination of craftsmanship, a customer orientation involving observant management, and loyal perseverance. This conceptualisation is important to understand in discussions about how hospitality and culinary arts education can develop.
This paper contributes to research on restaurant work, which plays an important role in culinary arts research. The aim of this study was to make visible and elucidate the daily work practices in eight small restaurants in a seasonal tourist destination on the Southeast coast of Sweden. The central methods used were observations and participant observations and interviews, along with an e-mail questionnaire and examination of published information concerning all the restaurants. By means of practice theory, three central elements were used to identify and understand the configuration of the activities involved in daily work in small seasonal restaurants. These three elements, knowledge/ competence, technologies/materiality and creation of meaning, formed four practices. The practices identified in this study were managing time and seasons; planning, strategising and controlling; knowing and having skills; and dreams and lifestyle. The conclusion of the study indicates that small restaurant practices may be conflicting, as they involve an extremely timeconsuming workload, vague planning and lingering knowledge growth in contrast to the ideas of creativity and development that are a part of the restaurant owners' dreams and lifestyle.
ARTICLE HISTORY
This paper contributes to research on the growing expectation of hospitality businesses to implement sustainability strategies. By using the theoretical framework of professional knowledge cultures, as discussed by Nerland [Nerland, M. (2012). Professions as knowledge cultures. In Professional learning in the knowledge society (pp. 27-48). Brill/Sense], together with concepts of leadership and management, the study presents a novel approach. The aim is to explore the knowledge culture and the processes of learning and leadership formation in the restaurant industry to understand how these impact sustainable decisionmaking in restaurants. Through a narrative method, a typical industry career is illuminated, which mirrors the route to becoming a leader while adopting sustainability strategies. One podcast interview was used as research material to introduce a new data source derived from social media. The sampling considers the relevance of the narrators' knowledge and experience of the chef's profession and is therefore representative of a naturally occurring data. The analysis, based on knowledge culture, leadership practices, and sustainability, shows that the size of the restaurant matters for financial and socially sustainable decision-making. This is explained by the production flow in large organizations, which depends on calculated and effective work methods. Environmental sustainability strategies appear as a personal concern and are thereafter transformed into the knowledge culture, identified as a normative leadership.
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