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Staff shortage hits Indian restaurants

London: Owners of Indian restaurants here are currently struggling to deliver orders due to severe staff shortage. New immigration rules prevent the owners from recruiting chefs from the Indian sub-continent, and many owners and consumers are facing an acute problem. This crisis facing the £3.5-billion Indian restaurant industry hit the streets of London on Sunday as thousands of chefs, owners and consumers staged a three-hour protest against restrictive immigration rules.

Chinese and Turkish restaurant industries, also facing similar staff shortage problems, joined the protest organised by the newly formed Ethnic Catering Alliance, representing over 40,000 restaurants.

Connoisseurs of Indian cuisine believe that cooking food is a cultural process that needs the right material and cultural inputs. They believe that without years of experience and sensitivity, it cannot be performed by people outside the Indian cultural zone.

But Indian restaurant owners here have been encouraged to employ Polish, Bulgarian or other migrants from the expanded European Union. They do not need permits to work in Britain.

Leaders of these large migrant communities claim they can cook Indian dishes equally well, but the owners disagree, insisting that only chefs from the Indian sub-continent can do the job well.

The Alliance believes that nearly 30 per cent of its restaurants are under threat because of the new rules requiring non-European Union origin staff to meet strict criteria, including a demonstrable ability to speak English.

Foysol Choudhury, general secretary of the Bangladesh Samity Association in Edinburgh, said: “Our chefs don’t need to speak English. Their curry talks.”

Industry estimates say that at least 50,000 people are employed in Indian restaurants, with the majority of restaurants in the sector being Bangladeshi-owned.

The Immigration Advisory Service says that 27,500 extra workers are required to keep the thousands of Indian restaurants in the U.K. working.

After the new rules were implemented earlier this year, immigration and police officers raided several Indian restaurants and arrested people working illegally. — PTI

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