Chinese restaurants down south desperate for staff

Compiled by ARFA YUNUS and ALLISON LAI

SOME Chinese restaurants in Singapore are offering wages of up to S$40 (RM141) per hour to secure temporary workers following the huge number of reservations from diners wanting to welcome the Lunar New Year.

Oriental Daily quoted the managing director of a restaurant who said that bookings for reunion dinners had reached 95% capacity.

With more customers expected this year, he said temporary staff had been hard to find.

“Very few people are willing to work long shifts of up to six hours. We have had to shorten the shifts to four hours to attract workers.

“Wages have also increased from about S$20 (RM70) to S$22 (RM77) hourly.

“On Chinese New Year’s Eve, which is the busiest day, we offer a salary of S$180 (RM635) for the night, which is more than S$40 (RM141) an hour,” he added.

The executive director of another Sichuan restaurant also lamented about the difficulties in hiring temporary workers.

“We are offering higher hourly wages than usual this year – some can earn up to S$30 (RM105) per hour.”

Another restaurant chain representative said switching to a central kitchen helped improve production efficiency and reduce reliance on manpower.

He said the use of electronic menus and payments, including delivery robots, helped lighten the workload of his staff.

Singapore lifted all pandemic-related restrictions in February last year. As such, the coming Lunar New Year will be celebrated in “full force”.

> The daily also reported that the Prince of Love Songs, Jeff Zhang Xin Zhe, is set to make history by performing at the iconic Dubai Media City Amphitheatre for his “The Future Style” world tour next month following an invitation by the Dubai Tourism Board.

This would be his first overseas stop in his world tour.

It will be a new record for both Zhang and the Chinese music industry, as he becomes the first Chinese singer to hold a large-scale solo concert in Dubai after international stars like Eric Clapton, Ed Sheeran, John Legend and Backstreet Boys.

> China Press reported that South Korea has issued a health warning against the consumption of fried toothpicks made of starch.

The practice of eating these fries, which resembled curly fries, had gone viral on social media.

However, the Food and Drug Safety Ministry said that its safety had not been verified.

Made either from corn starch or sweet potato, the toothpicks are often added with food colouring to give it a green hue.

They are considered biodegradable and environmentally friendly.

However, they contain sorbitol, which is harmless if consumed in small amounts, but over-consumption could lead to vomiting, inflammation and diarrhoea.

The above articles are compiled from the vernacular newspapers (Bahasa Malaysia, Chinese and Tamil dailies). As such, stories are grouped according to the respective language/medium. Where a paragraph begins with a, it denotes a separate news item.