Central hospitality businesses will benefit from government measures to ease visa requirements for migrant chefs and extend the median wage threshold exemption, but the pressure continues for owners struggling to find staff. 

The Stoaker Room co-owner Sue Barbara said the situation is “absolutely dire” and the shortage of staff was across the board, not confined to chefs.

“We’ve stayed open right through, now we’re closing Wednesdays and Quintin and I are doing Tuesdays to give our staff two days off.

“Staff are exhausted… we’ve had two people waiting to be sponsored [visa’s granted] and it’s taking ages.

“We rely on migrant workers and they used to walk in almost every day and that’s just not happening.”

Sue said her business does not need chefs, they need people to train for other roles. 

The Stoaker Room is planning to open a restaurant in Wānaka but with the tight labour market timings were uncertain as staff needed to be hired.

The Gate’s general manager Glen Christiansen said the Hospitality NZ response, supporting the changes, was on point for Central.

“I was looking okay for staff and then I wasn’t. I currently have three chef applications in with Immigration and fingers crossed for a positive result.”

Immigration Minister Michael Wood said as the world recovers from Covid-19 labour shortages continue to be a “persistent ongoing global symptom”.

“We are listening closely to the concerns of the hospitality and tourism sectors, and working with them to take practical steps to support them with these challenges where we can as businesses work towards more productive and resilient ways of operating.”

The requirement for chefs to hold a New Zealand Certificate of Cookery (Level 4) or equivalent qualification has gone; and employers hiring chefs will now only need to meet the median wage and market rate requirement, enabling them to recruit from a larger pool of migrant chefs.

Hospitality New Zealand* chief executive Julie White said removing the qualification requirement for chefs under the Accredited Employer Work Visa is an excellent move.

“This will allow hospitality businesses to bring in chefs who have trained in some of the best kitchens across the world.

“Under the existing system, someone like Jamie Oliver, who has a qualification in home economics, would not have met the criteria to enter New Zealand to work as a chef, but now he could – as could others who have worked under Michelin Star chefs.

“This will hopefully save businesses that might otherwise have been forced to shut.”

The decision to extend the transition towards the full median wage for an additional year was made to “help the industry as it continues to rebuild” after being hit hard by the pandemic and impacts of disruption to international travel and tourism, Michael Wood said.

The difficulty in securing workers for hospitality in Central is evident from job listings on The Central App. 

Currently there are vacancies for a wide range of roles; baristas, duty managers, bakers, cafe team members, front of house and wait staff. 

Check out listings on the Community|Jobs button.

*Hospitality NZ represents the interests of around 3,000 hospitality and commercial accommodation businesses.