PETALING JAYA, June 14 — Banana leaf restaurant Kanna Curry House is offering free iPhone SEs to local Malaysians willing to work as waiters at any of its branches for a minimum of six months as well RM10 hourly wages.

The move comes after all its seven branches desperately sought local employees to fill vacancies after 50 of their foreign staff returned to their home country since the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The restaurant’s manager Yoga Kannan told Malay Mail that since the beginning of Covid-19, many foreign workers from India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Nepal had gone home to reunite with their families.

“Due to the pandemic, many of these foreign workers found other jobs in their home country while waiting for the travel restrictions to ease and air travel allowed.

“We usually employ a rotation method where if three workers were to leave to their home country in a month, there would be another three that would be hired — but that came to a halt.

“Not just that, the cost to hire foreign workers have skyrocketed as we need to pay for the air fare tickets which have gone up coupled with Covid-19 tests and other documentation fees,” he said.

Kanna Curry House general manager (in blue) Siva and and manager, Yoga Kannan (red) together with staff. during at the Puchong outlet. — Picture by Shafwan Zaidon
Kanna Curry House general manager (in blue) Siva and and manager, Yoga Kannan (red) together with staff. during at the Puchong outlet. — Picture by Shafwan Zaidon

Yoga added that the hiring banners which have been put up across Kanna Curry House restaurant branches is aimed at attracting Malaysians in the Klang Valley ages from 18 to 40.

So far, about five locals have been hired and have received their iPhones after working for a minimum of six months.

“Earlier, we realised that many Malaysians only worked for a short period of time and left — some for two weeks, others for a month.

“While others who applied were from other states such as Kelantan and Johor — this wasn’t ideal as our branches are all in Klang Valley.

Kanna Curry House waiter serving the customers. — Picture by Shafwan Zaidon
Kanna Curry House waiter serving the customers. — Picture by Shafwan Zaidon

“That was when we wanted to appeal to the local crowd by giving them the iPhone SE and reduced working hours — from 9am till 5pm instead.”

Normal working hours are in effect for Malaysians to work for eight hours although operation hours is from 8am to 8pm daily.

“We are also opening up part-time spots where working hours are from 11am till 3pm for six days a week.

“The waiter jobs are solely for those who would serve customers as we want to retain our cooks, our South Indian dishes and those who make drinks so that the taste of our food remains the same,” said Yoga.