However, under the China FTA the number of Chinese chefs is capped at 200 and the Immigration NZ website shows it took from 2008 until September 2011 to fill those places.
Jatinderjit Singh Grewal, who runs an Indian restaurant in Mt Maunganui, said he preferred to employ local chefs but he was struggling to find suitable candidates.
Prime Minister John Key said yesterday he "doesn't know where [Mr Little] is coming up with this stuff".
"I mean, honestly, we are a country based on migration. We welcome people, they do a good job, they work hard, we are a multi-cultural society."
After the immigration comments led last night's news, Mr Little tweeted that the story was "truly weird", and that the subject was raised by journalists and not himself.
In a later post on the Labour website, he repeated the assertion that media reporting of his comments was "baffling". In the post, he said he was asked about apparent concerns locals had with immigrant chefs by the Hutt News when he visited Lower Hutt last week.
"I said there was an issue with semi-skilled people being recruited under skills shortages categories but I doubt whether this related to chefs," Mr Little wrote.
"I was asked about Labour's policy on immigration generally. I said our approach was that as the economy slows there is a case to 'turn the tap down.'"
Mr Little said he repeated that statement when asked about the issue by political reporters yesterday.
- additional reporting Claire Trevett