Chefs rally against anti-gas government policy
Australia’s chefs have hit out against a plan by the Federal government to move businesses from gas to electric, saying a refit of kitchens would be far too expensive and diminish the quality of restaurant food.
The Albanese has agreed to the Greens-led move, which would take affect from next May’s budget.
Restaurant industry leaders say the cost of the refit could be in the hundreds of millions of dollars for the industry.
They say it would drive costs higher and those costs would be passed onto diners.
“If restaurants are forced due to skyrocketing gas prices to refit their kitchens the cost could blow out into the tens of millions – if not hundreds of millions – of dollars,” Wes Lambert, deputy chair of the Australian Foodservice Advocacy Body, said. “Plus, the available menu items would change based upon the lack of gas cooking.”
The Greens are working hard to remove gas appliances from Australian buildings and cut a deal with the Albanese government to support electrification in return for support for the Prime Minister’s energy intervention policies.
They can expect push back from the hospitality industry.
“You need everything to be fast in a kitchen so having gas that you can adjust within a second is instrumental in cooking quickly for service,” Sydney chef Lizzie Tillett said.
“Also, with the actual fire you can then manipulate ingredients, like charring things directly on a flame is going to give you an entirely different flavour than indirect heat.
“As a vegan chef I want to change the way people think about vegetables. I don’t want them to associate vegan food with boiled brussels sprouts, and fire gives you the opportunity to enhance flavours without adding ingredients.”
A short-term change to electric would be near impossible according to Australian Hotels Association president Stephen Ferguson.
“Chefs cook with gas for a reason – it’s the greatest heat, it’s instant, they can turn it up and turn it down. If you take the gas out of a kitchen, they won’t be able to prepare a meal unless it’s in the microwave.”
Australian Culinary Federation vice-president Andre Kroop noted the exorbitant costs, saying it could cost each restaurant more than $18,000 to bring in induction heat.
“Induction is fantastic, fuel-efficient and economical but it would be a massive expense considering about 95 per cent of all commercial kitchens run on gas,” Kroop said. “A new induction stove costs about $7000-$9000 and a restaurant would typically need at least two of those. Then you’ve got installation fees on top … so it can be quite an expensive exercise.”
“Initially you could probably see restaurants put up the prices on their menus to cover the return on investment. It might be a few months or even years before they get that repayment.”
There is an argument for induction in that it provides for a cleaner and healthier way to cook and Australia is well behind Europe in introducing this method.
However, the transition needs to be made at a pace that doesn’t further hinder restaurants and their diners.
17th January 2023
