Young Australians are attracted to the "rock star" chef lifestyle depicted in reality cooking shows, but don't want to put in the hard graft to get there, Good Food Guide editor Myffy Rigby says.

Rigby has just released the latest annual Sydney Morning Herald Good Food Guide and said while the food industry was going strong, many restaurants were still having a tough time finding staff.

"They constantly struggle," she told ABC News Breakfast.

Myffy Rigby and Roslyn Grundy say diners are embracing a casual restaurant experience. ( ABC News )

"You've got to think, if you were looking for work, start in a kitchen as a kitchen hand and work your way up.

"You are guaranteed to actually make a career out of that."

A Deloitte Access Economics report last year found a current gap of 38,000 staff across the tourism and hospitality sector, a shortage predicted to increase to 123,000 by 2020.

The report predicted demand would be strongest for chefs and restaurant managers.

However, Rigby said young people in particular just weren't prepared for the years of physical toil it required to make it to the top.

"I think there's a little bit of MasterChef-itis, I'm going to call it."

"People are seeing it as this real rock star career, but what it takes to be that rock star is going through every single stage to get there.

"It's really actually driving and picking away and a lot of people don't want to do that hard work. It is heavy labour. It's manual labour."

'Fun dining, not fine dining'

Ms Rigby joined fellow Good Food Guide editor Roslyn Grundy at the Age Good Food Guide 2017 Awards in Melbourne on Monday night, and said there was a noticeable trend towards a more casual dining experience.

The night celebrated a number of new additions to the restaurant scene, and included the controversial awarding of best new restaurant to a wine bar.

"[It] caused a bit of a scandal last night," Grundy said.

"But great food and great drinking, they've kind of come together, that blurring of the lines."

Rigby said the award simply reflected the changing tastes of Australian diners, who were after a dinner and show.

"The thing is about the industry in Australia is everyone is getting behind this idea that it's more about fun dining rather than fine dining now," she said.

"One of the greatest things about eating at the bar is that you're right in the centre of the action as well.

"You've got the chefs, the bartenders, your fellow diners, and it's that conviviality that people are really looking for now."

Also challenging the silver service set is the rapid rise of home delivery services.

Once just the domain of pizza shops, there is now a plethora of third party apps that will deliver food from a variety of restaurants.

"It's quite a big trend now," Ms Grundy said.

"Even high-end restaurants are now buying in to that delivery service, so you can get high-end food delivered to your desk, whether it be at one end of the day or at lunchtime."

The takeaway sector is going through a boom period at the moment and is now worth $17 billion a year.

The annual turnover of home delivery services grew by 4.8 per cent in the last financial year — more than double the growth in the restaurant and cafe sector.

It takes the total cafe, restaurant and takeaway industry to more than $41 billion a year.