Hunched over sizzling grills and shrouded in smoke, trainees at the Yueyang Barbecue Academy in southern China roast skewer after skewer of succulent beef tendon, perfecting the skills that could land them a restaurant job.
Zhang Tengfei, a former factory worker who spent a decade in the car industry, joined China’s first dedicated barbecue school hoping to launch a career behind the grill.
“When I was laid off... I was at a loss for a while,” Zhang, 34, said at the academy in Hunan province, handing a fistful of lightly charred kebabs to an instructor for review.
Looking “to start my own business”, Zhang now plans to open a stall in his hometown in Henan province to provide for his wife and three children.
With China’s economy slowing and well-paying jobs in traditional sectors harder to come by, many blue-collar workers like Zhang are looking to retrain.
For him and his classmates, the month-long barbecue course, which costs students 5,800 yuan (RM3,483), offers hope of new employment as chefs or restaurateurs.
At the academy on the banks of a quiet lake in Yueyang city, trainees spend six days a week learning to cook ingredients from aubergine to pork belly, and how to run a kitchen, market their products and turn a profit.
Though the academy only admitted its first batch of students in April, founder Jiang Zongfu aims to train 10,000 grill masters within five years.
Interest is high, with more than 4,000 applicants for just 45 spaces on the June course, the academy’s second cohort.
They include novices straight out of education, laid-off construction workers and barbecue business owners seeking new inspiration.
To graduate, trainees must pass an exam where they cook for a panel of experts.
But even with their grilling certificate, success is not assured.
Graduates will enter an economy struggling with weak consumer demand, where year-on-year retail sales contracted for the first time in three years in May, and revenue in the catering sector rose by 0.6%.
“You used to be able to just pick a good location, but now you need to understand marketing, management, internet traffic,” he said, adding that without those, even good technique “is useless”.
Despite the barriers, student Zhang Tengfei remains optimistic.
“Food is still a primary need... so I feel there’s a good future in it,” he said. — AFP
