China News Service, April 27. According to the US "World Daily" report, in California, some Chinese restaurants that have experienced the impact of the epidemic have not ushered in the spring of retaliatory consumption in the catering industry.

Many owners said that various practical problems such as rising prices and high labor costs have made their restaurants difficult, and even an old Chinese restaurant in Southern California, which has been operating for more than ten years, is ready to sell in the face of loss, but did not expect that in the market. It has been sold for half a year, but no one is willing to take over.

　　Mr. Chen, a resident of Alhambra, Los Angeles, owns a Chinese restaurant in Los Angeles. Half a year ago, he put the restaurant in operation for more than ten years on the market, but no one cares so far.

Mr. Chen reluctantly said, "It is very difficult for our restaurant to survive. It has been losing money. After losing more than a year, I saw that the number of the bank account did not rise. I don't know where the money went."

　　After the full opening of California in the post-epidemic era, people who dined at restaurants began to gradually recover. Although business has improved, a serious problem has emerged. Inflation has led to skyrocketing prices, which directly affects the operating costs of restaurants.

Mr. Chen said, "The supplier has raised the price so much that I don't even want to see it. Meat has risen the most." When it was cheap, it was less than one yuan per pound, but now it is as high as more than 100 yuan per box, which has doubled directly.

In addition to meat, the price of edible oil has also doubled. "A barrel of edible oil was 19 yuan a year ago, and now it costs up to 40 to 50 yuan, which has more than doubled."

　　What troubles Mr. Chen the most is that it is difficult to recruit employees in the past year, and few people are willing to work in the restaurant, "We are really miserable, we have been raising wages, increasing hourly wages, and even paying employees in cash, but still no work. People are willing to do it." Mr. Chen's restaurant used to have eight employees, but now there are only five employees. "Some newcomers are unwilling to do it after working in the restaurant for a day. To be honest, I don't want to hire people anymore, and I don't want to continue. Do it."

　　Regarding the serious shortage of labor, Mr. Chen complained to reporters and hoped to express his voice through the media. He believes that if the government can open the door to work immigration, many difficulties will be improved. It will be resolved quickly, and other difficulties will also improve, the main thing for us is the lack of labor, there is no competition, so everyone is reluctant to work.”

　　"The price is expensive, the labor is expensive, and everything is expensive." Mr. Chen said pessimistically, many friends who run restaurants are facing the same predicament, "I know many restaurant owners whose stores are in the Chinatown area of ​​Los Angeles, and many people are now I don’t want to do it, I want to sell the restaurant, because I can’t do it anymore.” But many people are like Mr. Chen, the restaurant has been on the market for half a year, but no one is willing to take over.

　　Mr. Chen said with emotion that people will have fewer and fewer opportunities to eat good Chinese food in Los Angeles in the future, because the master cooking chef has retired and has no successor, "Just like my son's generation, they are not willing to When it comes to restaurants, the restaurant industry will have hope only if new job immigrants enter the U.S. market, otherwise everyone will soon have no good food to eat.”

　　Relevant media reports pointed out that since the epidemic has slowed down and the economy has recovered, the demand in the job market has increased significantly. At present, there are about 2 million job vacancies in the United States that cannot be filled.

Experts believe that this is related to factors such as the decline in the number of immigrants in the United States during the epidemic.

The data show that the number of immigrants entering the United States in 2020 has dropped to half of 2016, and the number of immigrants in 2021 has dropped to a quarter of 2016.

(Shao Min)