Looming staff shortage as a result of border reopening forces Malaysian restaurant to reinvent itself

Selera Malaysian Restaurant owner Miki Ong hopes her satay concept will help her business pull through until the situation gets better. Photo / Alex Burton

Newmarket restaurant Selera owner Miki Ong thought the announcement that borders will be reopening in July will spell the end of her staffing woes.

Instead, many in her mainly migrant staff workforce have applied for leave to head off overseas - leaving Ong with little choice but to re-invent her Malaysian restaurant that she's been operating for the last 15 years.

A Restaurant Association survey of 120 members found about half of the businesses experienced people or staff applying for leave to travel overseas when borders reopened.

"Business have been really tough honestly, first with the increase in food costs, the border closures and now this. If we don't make a change, our business will just die," Ong said.

Several staff at Selera Malaysian restaurant in Newmarket are planning to travel when the borders reopen. Photo / Alex Burton

Gone will be the a la carte sharing dishes like the popular sambal fish, assam king prawns and mummy sauce pork ribs - which will instead be replaced instead by beef, chicken and pork satay.

"We have already been scrambling to cope with staffing issues since the start of the pandemic, but the border reopening is definitely going to make it worse," Ong said.

"I had to make the hard decision to change our menu which will effectively turn our restaurant into kind of a satay club - because satay is one dish that can be pre-marinated and not really dependent on having too many chefs."

Satay is skewered and marinated grilled meat dish served with a peanut dipping sauce, that's very popular in Malaysia.

DO NOT USE - OLD PICTURE Marisa Bidois, Restaurant Association chief executive. Photo / Supplied

Ong is cautiously optimistic that her satay concept, along with a menu that still includes simple Malaysian street food dishes like laksa, mee goreng and nasi lemak, will help her business pull through until things get better.

Restaurant Association chief executive Marisa Bidois said that while the association welcomed the early opening of borders, it acknowledged this may present a challenge for restaurant owners.

"Some staff are heading off on their OE and others are applying for leave to take long overdue visits to reconnect with friends and family overseas," she said.

Bidois said the impact of staff shortages in hospitality was already significant with employers struggling to manage the uptick in business due to limitations resulting from staff shortfalls.

Satay, skewered and marinated grilled meat dish served with a peanut dipping sauce, can be pre-prepared not dependent on chefs. Photo / Alex Burton

"Losing more employees, even temporarily, may further significantly impact the industry," Bidois said.

Over the month of April, 53 per cent of its members had to temporarily close due to ongoing staffing shortages.

"We are also seeing businesses adjust their opening hours and days to manage the situation," Bidois said.

"Hospitality proprietors are making serious sacrifices by not operating at full capacity at a time when there is so much accumulated debt to pay back."

Selera restaurant owner Miki Ong says the business has been scrambling to cope with staff shortages since the start of the pandemic. Photo / Alex Burton

However, Bidois said the border reopening also meant restaurant owners would have access to skilled and unskilled migrant workers.

"Especially those coming in on student and working holiday visas now, and in July other workers who may find work in New Zealand through the Accredited Employer Work Visa," she said.

"Being able to rely on the immigration lever when local talent head abroad or cannot be found in the country is vital to help address our staffing issues in the short term."

Bidois said the association was helping grow the local workforce by attracting and training local talent so it can be less reliant on migrant workforce in the longer term.

Before the pandemic, a survey found about 43 per cent of restaurant staff were migrant workers.

"We are working hard in partnership with the Ministry of Social Development to deliver the HospoStart training and Springboard programmes and have recently launched a new cookery traineeship, Te Tupu Tahi, in partnership with Northtec," she said.

"We aim to transform the perception of hospitality from a sector that is viewed as a stepping-stone job for secondary students and a stop-gap job for tertiary students, to one that provides meaningful and fulfilling, life-long careers."