The most common complaint I hear from restaurant owners is this: "I can't find good chefs, good waiters."
This sentence is not just a problem of one restaurant. It is a structural problem of the entire HoReCa sector. Because there are workers in the market, but there are few systematically trained, measurable, certified, and job-ready personnel.
A restaurant hires an employee, trains them from scratch, the employee leaves, and quality drops again. A hotel takes on new staff and gives the same training all over again. A café trains a barista, then that employee moves somewhere else. As a result, the business owner constantly faces the same problem: finding staff, training staff, retaining staff.
This problem is not solved simply with salary, job ads, or "finding a worker through an acquaintance." Because the issue is not an individual worker problem — it is the weakness of the vocational education system.
Therefore, this is no longer the issue of one restaurant, but of one sector; not just of one sector, but of one country.
1. Problem: shortage of trained and certified personnel
Why is service inconsistent?
Because chefs, waiters, baristas, bartenders, housekeeping staff, and receptionists often do not undergo systematic vocational training before starting work. In many cases, a young person enters the job and begins learning the profession on-site.
This creates three serious consequences:
- The business owner spends time and money on every new employee.
- Service quality remains dependent on the employee's personal ability.
- Because there is no standardization, the guest experience is inconsistent.
This is the most dangerous situation in the restaurant and hotel business: quality remains dependent on chance, not the system.
Good service one day, poor service the next; good service at one branch, messy operations at another; stable taste with one chef, a kitchen system that collapses when that chef leaves.
The root of this problem is not the employee. The root problem is that the system that trains them is not fully formed.
2. Example from Turkey: "Vocational School is a National Issue"
One of the strongest examples of a strategic approach to this subject in Turkey is the "Meslek Lisesi Memleket Meselesi" program launched by Koç Holding.
In 2006, Koç Holding, together with the Turkish Ministry of National Education and the Vehbi Koç Foundation, brought vocational education to the agenda not just as an education project, but as a fundamental issue for the country's economic future.
The strength of this model was not only in the scholarships it provided. Its main strength lay in building a system:
- Vocational schools were brought into the process.
- Companies were linked with schools.
- Scholarship, mentorship, and internship opportunities were created for students.
- A real bridge was built between the business world and the education system.
- Vocational education was removed from being a "second-class choice" and presented as a vital element of economic development.
According to official data from Koç Holding, the program covered 264 vocational schools and supported over 8,000 students. Over time, the model developed as a "School–Industry Cooperation" approach.
The main message was simple: A vocational school is not just a school's issue. It is a shared issue of industry, the state, and society.
3. What was the secret of the Koç model?
What made the Koç model successful was not just the name of a large company. The model was built on three pillars:
The State
The state provides the school, educational infrastructure, and the official framework.
The Industry
Companies provide the real work environment, internship opportunities, mentorship, and future employment opportunities.
The Foundation and Corporate Support
Scholarships, sustainability, project management, and the social responsibility side are ensured.
💡 Useful information: The strength of the Koç model lies in linking the state, industry, and corporate support toward the same outcome. When these parties work separately, the impact remains limited; when they work together, it creates not just a simple course, but a national workforce training system.
This model is very valuable for Azerbaijan as well. Because our HoReCa and tourism sector faces the same problem: the market is growing, restaurants are increasing, hotels are expanding, gastronomy tourism is gaining momentum, but the pool of job-ready personnel is not growing at the same rate.
4. Opportunity for Azerbaijan: turning the personnel issue into a national system
In Azerbaijan, the field of gastronomy and tourism has gained more strategic importance in recent years. The tourism potential of the regions, the promotion of local cuisine, gastronomy routes, service quality, and the international guest experience are becoming part of the country's brand.
But behind this brand stands the human element.
Even the most beautiful restaurant concept, the most expensive equipment, the best interior loses its value with poor service. For the guest, the brand is not just a logo; it is the waiter who greets them, the chef who prepares the food, the barista who presents the coffee, the housekeeping staff who prepares the room, and the receptionist who creates the first impression.
For this reason, for Azerbaijan's tourism and gastronomy goals, personnel training is no longer a secondary matter. It is a fundamental infrastructure issue for the sector's growth.
At this point, the Turan Gastro Tourism Academy — TQTA — established with the support of TİKA, emerges as a real and applicable model for Azerbaijan.
5. TQTA: The practical translation of the Koç model for Azerbaijan
The Turan Gastro Tourism Academy is a modern gastronomy and tourism education center established in Sumgait. The Academy operates with training infrastructure created with the support of TİKA and sector partnerships.
This is not just a course center. Properly managed, TQTA can become the "School–Industry Cooperation Sumgait Model" for Azerbaijan.
The basic logic of the model is as follows:
- The student learns the profession not only through theory but in a real equipment and practical environment.
- Industry enterprises create internship and practical experience areas for students.
- The business owner meets ready and tested personnel.
- The young unemployed or job seeker acquires the skills demanded by the market.
- The Academy plays the role of a bridge between the sector, the state, and the business world.
If this model is properly scaled up, it can start from Sumgait and spread to Baku, Ganja, Sheki, Gabala, Lankaran, Naftalan, and other tourism regions.
6. TİKA's role: an impact greater than equipment
TİKA's role in this project should not be understood only as providing equipment. There is a more strategic matter here: the transfer of Turkish experience to the Azerbaijani vocational education system.
In the project approach, these directions stand out:
- Meeting the middle-level personnel needs of the tourism and service sector.
- Equipping young people with job-ready skills.
- Creating practical training in fields such as cooking, waiting, barista, housekeeping, reception, and tourism services.
- Linking training with collaboration with employers and employment opportunities.
- Making the model established in Sumgait applicable for other regions.
This approach is very important. Because vocational education is not just about giving lessons; it is about employment, social development, sector quality, and regional economy.
The kitchen, training halls, and practical training infrastructure established with TİKA support are a beginning in this regard. The real value lies in turning this infrastructure into a sustainable personnel system.
7. CTH cooperation: an international framework for local training
Another important advantage of TQTA is that it is an Approved Teaching Centre by CTH — Confederation of Tourism and Hospitality.
This is important for Azerbaijan for two reasons.
First, local training aligns with international standards. This allows programs to be built not just as "local courses" but as a more measurable and quality-bound system.
Second, the value of the certificate for the graduate increases. The HoReCa and tourism sector is becoming an increasingly mobile market. Good chefs, good baristas, and good hotel staff are in demand not only in one city but within the country and in the international market.
According to CTH official centre information, TQTA offers programs in culinary arts, barista skills, restaurant service, and tourism-hospitality English.
In this regard, the TQTA model should offer not just a profession but a career path for Azerbaijani youth.
8. What falls on the business owner?
Waiting for the state to build a large system is not the right approach. The business owner can be part of the process starting today.
1. Train staff systematically, not by chance
Leaving a new employee with the principle of "let them learn on the job" is not correct. There should be a standard training plan for each position: orientation training, hygiene, product knowledge, service procedure, sales skills, guest interaction, complaint management, and team discipline.
2. Collaborate with academies
A business owner who collaborates with centers like TQTA gains a base of trainee personnel and also gets the chance to get to know future employees in a real work environment. This reduces hiring risk.
3. Prioritize certified personnel
A certificate is not just a piece of paper. In a proper system, a certificate shows that the worker has passed a certain standard. For the business owner, this serves as an initial filter in recruitment.
💡 Practical outcome: Certified and trained personnel create more stable service. Stable service means more satisfied guests, repeat sales, and a stronger brand.
9. The economic logic for the business owner
Personnel training is often seen as a cost. In reality, it is an investment that prevents hidden losses.
The costs of untrained personnel are often invisible to the business owner:
- Guests lost due to incorrect service.
- Wasted product.
- Incorrect portioning and food cost problems.
- Complaints.
- Lack of discipline within the team.
- Time the manager spends constantly solving the same problem.
- Weakening brand reputation.
Trained personnel do not just perform the job. They protect the system. They represent the brand the business owner has built in front of the guest.
For this reason, personnel training in the restaurant and hotel business is not a cost item, but a risk management tool.
10. Proposal for Azerbaijan: From the Sumgait Model to a National Personnel Platform
The TQTA experience can be transformed into a broader system. For this, the model must be built in stages.
First stage: Sumgait pilot model
TQTA's existing infrastructure, training kitchen, barista and bartender equipment, service trainings, and tourism programs should be structured. Results should be measured for each program: how many students started, how many completed, how many did internships, how many were employed.
Second stage: Employer network
A formal cooperation network should be established with restaurants, hotels, cafes, tourism companies, and food production enterprises. Each enterprise should state how many trainees and how many graduates they can accept in which field.
Third stage: Certification and quality system
Training programs should not be limited to only a certificate of participation. Practical exams, skill matrices, job readiness assessments, and behavioral standards should also be measured.
Fourth stage: Regional expansion
After Sumgait, the model can be adapted to regions with tourism potential. The needs of each region differ: in Naftalan, health tourism personnel; in Gabala, hotel and service staff; in Sheki, local gastronomy; in Lankaran, regional cuisine and tourism guiding may be more prominent.
Fifth stage: Digital personnel platform
The portfolios, certificates, internship enterprises, skill levels, and job suitability of graduates should be tracked in a digital system. This would speed up the recruitment process for the business owner and make results measurable for the academy.
📝 DOĞAN NOTU: “I have been in this sector for 36 years and every time I have seen the same truth: a brand is built not with a signboard, but with people. The finest menu, the most expensive equipment, the best interior — all lose value with poor service. The guest remembers a restaurant not only for the food, but for the attitude shown to them. When Turkey declared vocational education a 'national issue,' it made a great statement: the country's industry, service, and future begin with the professional individual. Our time has come too. Don't just try to 'find' staff. Train staff. Because a systematically trained worker is more valuable than the most expensive equipment.”
Conclusion
The HoReCa and tourism sector in Azerbaijan is growing. But for the sector to grow, only new restaurants, new hotels, and new concepts are not enough. Behind this growth, there must be systematically developed human capital.
The main lesson the Koç model has shown in Turkey is this: vocational education is not just the job of the school. The state, industry, foundation, academy, and business owner must work together.
In this regard, TQTA, established in Sumgait with TİKA support, is a real starting point for Azerbaijan. If this model is properly managed, it can become not just one academy, but the nucleus of a nationwide personnel training system.
The root of service is in personnel. The root of personnel is in education. The power of education is in the system.
How does DK Agency help?
DK Agency and TQTA — Turan Gastro Tourism Academy — work to train trained, certified, and job-ready personnel for the HoReCa and tourism sector.
Our approach is simple: personnel is not a cost, it is the foundation of the brand.
TQTA prepares young people and current sector employees for work with practical training programs in cooking, pastry, waiting, barista, bartending, housekeeping, reception, tourism, and service fields. DK Agency supports business owners in integrating this personnel system into restaurant, café, and hotel operations.
Our goal is not just to conduct courses. Our goal is to build a measurable, sustainable, and certified personnel ecosystem in the Azerbaijani HoReCa sector.
Next step: If you want to systematically train your team and join a pool of job-ready personnel, contact DK Agency / TQTA for training programs.
Source note: Official statements of Koç Holding's "Meslek Lisesi Memleket Meselesi" program; CTH information for TQTA Approved Teaching Centre; TQTA and TİKA-supported academy materials.