Bullying in the Kitchen: A Research on Culinary Interns

Commercial kitchens are one of the departments in the hospitality industry where high employee turnover creates significant problems. For this reason, it is necessary to investigate the reasons that lead to job dissatisfaction or quit. One of these reasons, bullying, has been frequently mentioned in the literature as one of the prominent arguments. The aim of this research is to find out whether kitchen interns are bullied and how this affects their job satisfaction levels and intention to leave their job. In addition, it was examined whether there are differences in exposure to bullying based on gender variable. The sample consisted of associate and undergraduate program students in culinary arts, gastronomy and/or cooking programs of 5 different public and private universities in Izmir, Turkey. Data were collected from 129 kitchen interns between September and December 2023; SPSS was used for regression and t-test analyses. The empirical results show that there is a moderate level of exposure to bullying among the interns; female interns are more likely to be bullied than their male counterparts in the kitchen, and that bullying increases the intention to leave among all interns while decreasing job satisfaction levels. This study aims to guide food and beverage companies in developing a well-planned training program for interns and creating a positive work environment to increase job satisfaction and reduce turnover. Although the subject is not new to the hospitality sector, it is seen that there is little research on bullying among kitchen interns. Therefore, it is aimed to contribute to the literature, especially in the context of bullying in the kitchen.