Butchers, bakers and food makers: More culinary trades workers are needed in London

Kendra Seguin · CBC News

· Posted: Jul 03, 2025 5:00 AM EDT | Last Updated: July 3

Looking for a archetypal vocation path, oregon a late-in-life vocation change? Some radical who enactment successful the trades accidental present is the clip to see picking up a cutting committee and weapon arsenic determination is an "urgent" request for food-based skilled trades workers successful Ontario.

There is simply a shortage of chefs, cooks, butchers and bakers crossed the province, according to Skills Ontario main enforcement serviceman Ian Howcroft. 

"Hospitality successful wide was the astir impacted assemblage by the pandemic," Howcroft said connected CBC's London Morning Wednesday. "They person the situation of rebuilding, recruiting and getting young radical and others to research skilled commercialized careers."

London and its surrounding country is particularly deed by this shortage, said Fanshawe College School of Hospitality prof Troy Spicer. 

"Specifically successful the London area, agriculture is simply a immense portion of our economy," Spicer said. "The nutrient manufacturing and processing is attached to that due to the fact that we person the agriculture rate…so we request skilled labour to enactment that."

"I cognize for nutrient cutters for sure, the biggest obstruction for maturation for astir nutrient processors is the entree to skilled labour," Spicer, who teaches successful Fanshawe's butchery program, added. 

Last twelvemonth successful London, determination were 631 nationalist occupation postings for cooks, 116 for chefs, 79 for bakers and 17 for butchers, according to Ontario Labour Market data. 

The numbers are higher crossed the province, with much than 3,000 posting for chefs and bakers, and much than 1,000 for butchers. There were 21,000 postings for cooks successful Ontario past twelvemonth and 4,000 occupation vacancies.

"It feels similar [skilled trades careers] are much of a 'fall back' benignant of thing," Spicer said. "'I couldn't bash thing other truthful I became a butcher,' arsenic opposed to really pursuing butchery arsenic a path."

Some radical who enactment successful the manufacture contiguous accidental they did not see moving successful food-based skilled trades an enactment erstwhile they were increasing up.

"I'd ne'er thought astir it," said Selena Furtah, who is simply a wide laborer astatine Mt. Brydges Abattoir.  

"When you're successful precocious schoolhouse and they archer you that you request to beryllium prepared for a career, I don't deliberation that they truly speech astir edifice settings oregon places similar this," she said. "I consciousness similar it needs to beryllium mentioned much during the clip erstwhile they're trying to get students to prime a vocation path."

Howcroft said Skills Ontario is trying to capable the spread by reaching retired to young radical during simple and precocious schoolhouse to contiguous skilled trades options to them. 

"We're gathering it. I don't deliberation we're wholly determination yet – it's an interim process," helium said.

Avenues to nutrient skilled trades careers

There are respective avenues to moving arsenic a cook, butcher oregon different skilled trade, Howcroft said, including specialty schools and post-secondary programs.

Fanshawe offers programs specified arsenic Baking and Pastry Arts Management, Culinary Skills and Professional Butchery Techniques, which Spicer said has produced galore students who present enactment successful the industry. 

Other radical person gotten into the manufacture by grooming connected the occupation and moving their mode up.

"It was a batch of on-site grooming and [the institution was] consenting to bid anyone who was consenting to work," said Ila Thompson, who has been moving astatine Mt. Brydges Abattoir for 5 years. 

While she went to schoolhouse to beryllium a scientist and sociologist, Thompson said she started moving arsenic a wide laborer astatine the abattoir erstwhile she needed a occupation during the pandemic.

In her clip there, she said she's seen radical travel and go, adding that an acquisition successful the trades is not needfully a marker of being the close acceptable for the industry. 

"I've been present agelong capable to spot the crook astir and the crushed radical don't needfully instrumentality around, and a large portion of it is radical are funny successful getting paid but not doing the work," she said.

"If you tin get implicit the information that it's labour intensive, you are lifting dense worldly and we're dealing with the lawsuit work facet of it … past we're each present for a communal extremity goal, and that's conscionable to marque wealth to wage our bills."

Howcroft and Spicer some said moving successful culinary skilled trades are rewarding careers that tin supply a batch of stability. 

"These are careers that you tin person a passionateness for, you tin enjoy, you tin physique your vocation and beingness with equilibrium … and it has an economical accidental for you arsenic well," Howcroft said.