亚洲天堂

Babbi Singh, owner of both The Office Pub and the Pub N鈥� Tandoori Grill in 亚洲天堂 Lake, is fearing for the future of both restaurants, particularly Pub N鈥� Tandoori Grill, due to severe staffing issues.

鈥淚 should have three cooks in each restaurant, currently I have four total for both, and that鈥檚 getting cut in half in the next month because two more are leaving as their working visas are expiring,鈥� Singh told Lakes District 亚洲天堂.

In addition to the need in the kitchen, Singh says that both restaurants need servers and supervisors as well. In total, he needs 10 workers to adequately staff both places. Further exacerbating the problem is that Singh has a significant knee operation scheduled in late February which will make him unable to handle day-to-day operations at both restaurants for an extended period of time.

Singh says that he鈥檇 rather hire local workers, but after over a year of unsuccessful searching locally, he鈥檚 been forced to turn to bringing in international hires on work permits that would immigrate from India. The other factor is that the food at Pub N鈥� Tandoori serves authentic Indian cuisine, which requires a certain training and skill set that many cooks that aren鈥檛 from Indian decent don鈥檛 posses.

The problem is that the process is slow, and Singh is out of time.

鈥淚 sent in the application to bring four workers from India a year ago. In July of last year each one completed all of the required paperwork and checks, which included a medical and background check. Now, we鈥檙e six months past that, and still nothing has happened. If we don鈥檛 get staffing help soon, especially in the kitchen, I really fear that Pub N鈥� Tandoori Grill will be forced to close within the next six months,鈥� Singh said.

Singh says he has been in contact with the Village of 亚洲天堂 Lake Mayor Dolores Funk, as well as MP Taylor Bachrach鈥檚 office for support in speeding up the immigration process.

鈥淲e understand the frustration of the business community in trying to find employees. In Mr. Singh鈥檚 situation, the municipality has written two support letters for his applications to Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC). We also put Mr. Singh in contact with MP Taylor Bachrach鈥檚 office,鈥� Mayor Funk told Lakes District 亚洲天堂.

鈥淢P Bachrach鈥檚 staff reached out to IRCC and was informed that the processing time for work permits from India is 31 weeks. We understand that the application is still within the 31-week time frame from the date IRCC received the application. If he does not receive word from IRCC within their specified time, the Village of 亚洲天堂 Lake will look at further advocacy,鈥� she continued.

Still, Singh claims he needs more.

鈥淚 need more support from local government to push for the application to go through. Indian immigration is very slow, and elected leaders in our area have a right to send more letters requesting the process to speed up. Our restaurant has reached a point where I really fear for our ability to continue operating if we don鈥檛 get help now,鈥� Singh said.

READ MORE: Worker shortage plaguing 亚洲天堂 Lake

READ MORE: Pub N鈥� Tandoori Grill serves lunch to students