A SYDNEY chef says he has been forced to close his restaurant because young chefs “who can’t even cook an omelet” are demanding wages higher than their skill sets.

David Poirier, owner of La Grand Bouffe in Rozelle, this week closed the restaurant he’s run for 13 years.

He said there were too many restaurants in Sydney and not enough talented chefs to properly staff them all. This high demand has led desperate restaurateurs paying underqualified chefs inflated salaries.

“Because we’re so desperate for chefs, apprentices with little training are becoming head chefs,” Mr Poirier told news.com.au.

“My kitchen hand was with me for 18 months and then he became a head chef, because we couldn’t find anyone else,” he said.

“[Restaurants] are so desperate they will give [chefs] anything money wise. They want a big salary and if we say no, they know they can get a job anywhere. If you look on Gumtree, there are thousands of ads for chefs.”

The trainee chef who Poirier told Fairfax couldn’t “even cook an omelet” demanded a $1200 weekly pay cheque.

“Entry level chefs are usually paid around $50,000-$60,000 a year and a head chef would be $80,000-$120,000 and we get penalties on Sundays and Saturdays,” he said.

Mr Poirier will open a new restaurant, a French chicken rotisserie called Le Coq, in February next year.

“I’m going to be the chef, so that way I’m not going to have any more headaches with head chefs,” he said.

Mr Poirier isn’t the first seasoned restaurateur to criticise the attitudes of young chefs entering the industry.

Colin Fassnidge, My Kitchen Rules star and owner of Sydney restaurant 4Fourteen, blamed the diminishing number of chefs in kitchens on Gen Y, saying young people refused to do the hard yards required by the industry.

“I think it’s a generational thing, myself,” he said in May. “A lot of young people don’t want to work hard — it’s now all about kids with tweezers wanting to put dots on plates.

“So when they start out, they’re like ‘oh this is hard’. Being a chef is like being in the army. You have to get stuff done, and it has to be good.”

It’s been a bad year for fine dining restaurants. Just this week, chef Guillaume Brahimi announced he will close his signature Paddington restaurant at the end of the year.

The announcement follows the closure of Mark Best’s Marque in June and Neil Perry’s Rockpool Est. 1989, which will soon rebrand itself as Eleven Bridge.