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Spotlights, television studios, famous guests juggling stoves and pans, but, in reality, Alessandro Borghese’s professional and personal life is made of concreteness and deep respect for the values and people around him. This is revealed clearly in a recent interview with Corriere della Sera in which the chef, born in San Francisco, raised in Rome and now a naturalized Milanese, talks about himself in full. Looking back over his beginnings in the kitchen, Borghese confides that the beginning of his career was anything but simple: “It was tiring, especially when you learned that my mother was an actress. I didn’t say it but obviously she was going out. And then: “He is Barbara Bouchet’s son, what is he doing here? Why is he between potatoes and artichokes if he was born rich? But I wasn’t born rich. If you are labeled you create a name only with facts.”
He was only 17 years old when he started traveling the world to pursue his passion for food and, since then, he hasn’t missed anything: even the shipwreck of the Achille Lauro off the coast of Somalia in ’94, where he was on board as a brigade boy. Energy, charisma, the ability to reach people are the traits that led him to be the Alessandro Borghese of today: chef, entrepreneur, pioneer of cooking shows. Despite the popularity and recognition obtained over the years, chef Borghese does not forget the cornerstones that have led him to be so loved by the public and, above all, by diners. Grateful for success and mindful of the effort needed to achieve it, he always has an eye for its staff and a very clear vision of how the hospitality industry should work.
Regarding the difficulty of finding qualified staff, he comments: “I try to get candidates to say yes by offering, in addition to a contract with 13th and 14th grade, corporate benefits and welfare: restaurant meals, subsidized medical expenses, consultants for finding accommodation, in-house lawyer for paperwork. I think I can say that my employees are happy, but we are always looking… The currency of exchange today is time: my generation made work a mission, 5 hours or 15 didn’t matter because we wanted to get there, now we are looking for more freedom: I can’t blame them. However, this job is tiring, you work when others are having fun, on holidays and – yes – on weekends: if I don’t fill the drawer how can I maintain the business? Of course the hours have reduced for me too: the double shift is only Saturday and Sunday (first always), closed Wednesday, the other days only dinner. I notice a lot of rotation among the young talents: you quickly get tired of one place, it’s easy to give up.
In my time you didn’t leave before a year, when you had understood and learned… Catering is spoiled by blackness and promises. Many say: come, make a CV but in the meantime you don’t earn a penny. It is profoundly unfair.” So even to those who come to him without any experience, Borghese offers a salary of 1,200 euros net which can reach 1,600 with extras (an hour to clean, diners who stay longer). Interns? He pays them, even if – he is ready to bet – in fine dining with “gigantic” brigades it is increasingly difficult for that to happen.
As an expert and excellent communicator, chef Borghese underlines how the world of social media is poorly managed and often turns into a real media pillory where hatred and envy are now considered a profession. Strengthened by his career and his strong values, if you ask him what his relationship with the haters is like, he replies: “I give hearts to even the worst haters because, at almost 50 years old, I think I know my worth and where I’ve reached. I’m more worried about an unsatisfied customer in the room. I know what I did well, they don’t upset me.”
