Indian restaurants in UK face closure due to chef shortage

Indian restaurants in UK face closure due to chef shortage

FPJ BureauUpdated: Friday, May 31, 2019, 11:04 PM IST
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Britain’s curry industry is estimated to be worth £3.6 bn

Lomdon : With an average two Indian restaurants in the UK being forced to close down every week due to shortage of curry chefs, their owners have called on Prime Minister David Cameron to introduce short-term work visas to help them source cooks.

Curry, as Indian food is popularly referred to in the UK, is estimated to be a 3.6 billion pounds industry. However, latest reports indicate that around two curry houses are being forced into closure every week due to staff shortages.

The reasons are largely a two-fold result of the first generation of curry house owners from the Indian sub-continent approaching retirement and immigration rules making it tougher for them to bring trained chefs into the country.

The Indian restaurant owners have prepared a submission for Cameron and other cabinet members which warns that 90 per cent of Indian curry restaurants are “under the threat of a chef skills shortage”.

“We know historically that immigration is a political exercise for any party who wants to use it to gain a political advantage, but sadly it is the curry industry that is paying the price for it.

“We therefore urge the government to help our industry and we strongly recommend that the immigration laws covering bringing in chefs from abroad be made, even on a temporary basis, more adequately flexible,” a submission prepared by the Enam Ali, founder of the British Curry Awards, reads.

Ali warned that it can take up to three years to train a chef and that “hundreds” of restaurants could soon shut down.

“One suggestion would be short-term visas, similar to Germany, the US and the Middle East, where they have to leave the country after their term…There would be no burden at all on the welfare system or the taxpayers,” the submission adds.

Indian restaurants, run by Indian, Pakistani and Bangladeshi origin immigrants, employ an estimated 100,000 people.

The UK government’s view has been that their children train in their parents’ profession but most of the second and third generation are attracted to alternative professions.

“They have their own choices to make in life. We can’t force them into a profession. And hiring locally becomes equally difficult because it is a very culture-specific skill,” explains Amin Ali, founder of Red Fort, one of London’s most famous Indian restaurants.

“London is the capital of the restaurant world and a good Indian restaurant requires trained chefs from India. What the government fails to see is that for every chef we bring in at least 10 more jobs are created locally in the form of his support staff,” he adds.

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