Preparations for dinner in the kitchen of Chinese-Indian restaurant Lotus are in full swing. The sauces are already simmering and two chefs are cutting peppers and cucumbers.
“We expect between one hundred and twenties and one hundred and fifty orders,” says owner Zhen Zhou. “Then I have not included the restaurant.”
But the question is how long Zhou can still handle this amount of customers, because he has a shortage of chefs. He currently employs four chefs. Two of them almost retire and the work permit is not extended from another. And that means only one thing, according to Zhou. “No cook, no wok.”
Asian restaurants were allowed to set specific function requirements to chefs for years, as an exception to general labor migration rules. Because a restaurant owner wants someone who knows the language, culture and the kitchen well and so restaurant owners could easily get work permits for chefs from Asia. The rules have become stricter on July 1 last year. Restaurant owners are no longer allowed to set those job requirements and first have to look for chefs in the Netherlands and Europe. But that is precisely what causes problems, because those chefs cannot be found here.
“Food is very important in the culture in China. It is brought in with the spoon. Food is made fresh by grandmothers and parents. That is a very complicated process. From blanching, cooking techniques, cutting to various herbs and flavors. Unknown sauces that are not used in Western cuisine,” Zhou explains.
According to him, it is difficult to teach a European cook. “The government wants us to accept chefs in Europe with no cooking experience or no experience in Chinese cuisine. We have to train it within two months. That is not doing. That takes years. You need experience and you have to know the flavors.”
The scheme has stopped because the Labor Inspectorate found abuses. Under strict conditions, it is still possible to get chefs from Asia, but now restaurant owners first have to search for a cook in the Netherlands and Europe for three months. The sector made a lawsuit against the Ministry of Social Affairs, but was told from the judge this week that they should follow a different legal route. Entrepreneurs must tighten a business themselves. A petition has since started to preserve the Asian hospitality industry.
“We will certainly get into trouble with this,” says Zhou. “Not only we, but hundreds of restaurants are bothered by this. No new chefs means that we have to close. But it also means that the greengrocer and the butcher loses customers.”
According to Zhou, the application process must be accelerated and the rules must be relaxed. Because closing is something that Zhou definitely doesn’t want to think about.
“I like the contact with the guests. I have been living in beautiful Paterswolde all my life. Most guests have seen me grow up from an early age. I love my guests and I don’t want to disappoint them.”