An Indian Cook in a Tonkatsu Kitchen—How Labor Shortages Are Changing Japan's Restaurant Landscape

The other day, my wife went to a neighborhood tonkatsu restaurant specializing in Japanese breaded pork cutlets and found that the staff member was now a foreign worker who appeared to be Indian.

I would not be surprised if everyone working at a Chinese restaurant were Chinese. Seeing an Indian person working at a curry restaurant would feel perfectly natural too. But I have to admit, seeing an Indian person frying tonkatsu would be a little surprising.

What is more, according to my wife, “It doesn’t seem to taste as good as it used to.”

To be honest, I doubt that anyone can learn to fry delicious tonkatsu after only a brief lesson. Even a Japanese part-time worker would probably find it difficult. If they cannot communicate well in Japanese, it becomes even harder for both the person teaching and the person learning.

That said, the restaurant industry’s labor shortage is severe.

As the declining birth rate reduces the number of young workers, how many people would willingly work in a hot kitchen while getting covered in oil? Restaurants have little choice but to rely on foreign workers.

Why Foreign Workers Can Serve Delicious Soba, or Japanese Buckwheat Noodles

Meanwhile, there is also a soba chain in my neighborhood that employs foreign staff.

It is inexpensive and delicious. I have never been dissatisfied with the food just because the employees were not Japanese.

The reason is simple: the cooking process has been mechanized.

The restaurant can maintain consistent quality by following established procedures without relying on a craftsperson’s many years of experience and intuition. The work is also easier to learn even when there is a language barrier.

In fact, restaurant chains have increasingly adopted machines and detailed manuals so that even inexperienced part-time workers can prepare the food.

If the industry is going to make up for its labor shortage with foreign workers, systems like these will become even more important.

Will Only Chain Restaurants Survive in the End?

Tonkatsu restaurants should move in the same direction.

Unfortunately, however, many neighborhood tonkatsu restaurants are independently owned. They may not be able to afford expensive cooking equipment.

Major chains, by contrast, can invest in equipment and standardize their cooking methods. That makes it easier to maintain quality even as employees come and go.

The difference between them will probably grow as the labor shortage becomes more severe.

Eventually, independently owned tonkatsu restaurants may disappear, leaving only mechanized chains behind.

It would be sad to lose the chance to eat tonkatsu fried by an old-school craftsperson, but perhaps that is simply the direction of the times.

And someday, sushi restaurants may follow the same path.

You take a seat at the counter, and a robot in front of you skillfully prepares your sushi.

You ask, “Chef, what do you recommend today?” and it replies, “Displaying today’s recommended menu.”

That future may be closer than we think.