Restaurants becoming a less difficult place to work - out with the machismo kitchen culture

From behind the paywall at the San Francisco Chronicle Sunday 17 July 2016:

Ask almost any restaurant industry veteran about her early days on the job, and she’ll regale you with tales of screaming chefs, flying hot pans and countless slammed fists. The restaurant kitchen has long been, literally and figuratively, a heated place, heightened further by chefs’ egos and a hierarchical machismo culture that prides itself on instilling fear in those at the bottom rungs.
Today, particularly in the Bay Area, things are changing. Such stories certainly still exist, but the industry is beginning to experience a shift as it catches up to a more tolerant and enlightened general workforce.
Many believe it’s the direct result of a severe staff shortage, a problem that’s made it increasingly difficult for restaurants to operate the way they once did. The culinary field has become a much broader one, too, with tech companies and other big businesses luring cooks out of the kitchen, promising more humane hours, higher pay and enticing perks. Plus, organizations devoted to labor equality have shined a spotlight on issues that historically have made the restaurant a difficult place to work.
Yet a sexual harassment case this spring highlighted that not all restaurant employees feel as if progress has been made. Celebrity chef Michael Chiarello was sued by members of his Coqueta staff for alleged explicit advances and failure to pay wages, among other accusations. This served as a wake-up call for others to focus on safe, gentler workplace environments.