Skills crisis in curry restaurants

An evening out at a good curry house could be a reward for lots of hours spent revising during the Easter holidays, but could be under threat. Surely another example of the Law of Unintended Consequences – the tightening of the immigration rules last year has caused a shortage of skilled chefs entering the UK, and the government is holding an “ethnic chef summit” on Thursday to meet Indian, Bengali and other restaurateurs and to discuss a serious skills shortage in the industry. Enam Ali, chairman of the Guild of Bangladeshi Restaurateurs, says 150 curry houses have closed this year, in an industry worth £3.5bn each year.

A combination of factors can be blamed, including lower demand during the economic downturn and the rising cost of imported foodstuffs due to the weakness of the pound. But the skills gap seems to be a contributory factor as well - Abdul Azad runs an agency that supplies chefs to Indian and Bangladeshi restaurants all over the UK and has up to 150 requests a day from restaurants seeking qualified staff. But he says he turns most job-seekers away, because they’re illegal immigrants or failed asylum seekers - and in the last year there has been an increase in police raids on restaurants suspected of employing them.

The Bangladesh Caterers’ Association is seeking ways to improve the qualifications for specialists in Asian cuisine in order to improve recognition of their skills and so raise the supply of labour to the industry. Read the full report here, and you can also watch a video of how to make a good chicken korma!