Call for NZ chefs to return backed by airfare offer

AUCKLAND: Celebrity chef Josh Emett is pleading for New Zealand chefs to come home and is offering to pay part of their airfare back.

Emett, who is also behind Queenstown restaurants Madam Woo and Rata, said many hospitality businesses in New Zealand were seeking chefs.

The problem had first arisen as New Zealand borders shut due to Covid19 and migrant workers were locked out.

‘‘Isn’t it about time you headed home? Here are a few reasons,’’ he wrote on Instagram. It’s summer here in NZ, we are not in lockdown, restaurants are busy, your skills are in demand.

‘‘Send me a DM [direct message] with what you are looking for. I could put some money towards your flight home.’’

Emett, who also runs popular Auckland restaurants The Oyster Inn and Onslow, later said he constantly had one or two positions that he sought to fill in his restaurants.

Along with chefs, other kitchen staff such as porters, for tasks such as dishwashing, were hard to come by at present, he said.

There were many talented New Zealanders living overseas who usually would not want to come home under normal nonpandemic situations who were now thinking about returning, Emett said.

He first put out a call for international chefs on Instagram during the middle of last year, and said he found it a good way to attract and recruit staff.

This is the first time Emett has offered to foot some of the bill for returning chefs’ flights.

He had received inquiries from about a dozen chefs.

‘‘What we’ve subsequently found out that even from somewhere like the UK, the wait to get back into New Zealand is out almost to April at the moment, so even if they do want to come home it isn’t a quick process,’’ he said.

The New Zealand pool of hospitality staff was ‘‘nowhere big enough’’ to service the market without any transient workers, Emett said.

Two of the major hospitality industry groups said the industry was grappling with skills shortages across a range of roles, including chefs.

Restaurant Association of New Zealand chief executive Marisa Bidois said the hospitality industry was already suffering from severe labour shortages before the pandemic.

Ms Bidois said regular surveying of Restaurant Association members showed there was a lack of New Zealanders applying for hospitality roles, despite operators’ preference to hire locals.

The industry needs to attract 10,000 New Zealanders into the sector, she said.

‘‘This is a critical time for our industry.

‘‘Hospitality has been in growth for more than 10 years and yet we’ve struggled to find the necessary workers to fill the demand.’’

Hospitality New Zealand chief executive Julie White said a survey conducted during the first lockdown showed the majority of commercial operators relied on migrant workers.

About 60% of the more than 600 respondents surveyed said that at least 40% of their workforce was made up of migrants.

Both Hospitality New Zealand and the Restaurant Association of New Zealand have partnered with the Ministry of Social Development to launch pilot training programme Springboard, which will offer training opportunities to 200 alreadyemployed hospitality workers. — The New Zealand Herald

❛ What we’ve subsequently found out that . . . the wait to get back into New Zealand is out almost to April at the moment

Josh Emett