Bermuda's restaurants will be forced to hike prices or go bust if Government insists on mandatory overtime for staff, the Chamber of Commerce warned yesterday.

And delays in getting work permits plus restrictions on bringing in foreign entertainers are strangling the industry, Chamber restaurant division president Philip Barnett said.

Speaking to Hamilton Rotary, Mr. Barnett said the industry was increasingly having to look to Asia because of the difficulty getting European and North American staff.

He said increased Government red tape over work permits and entertainers was hampering restaurateurs' ability to give the public what they wanted.

Bar and restaurant owners have lobbied Labour and Home Affairs Minister Terry Lister to get exemptions from the Employment Act which makes it mandatory to pay overtime for work over 40 hours.

Mr. Barnett, the managing partner of the Pickled Onion, said most restaurants lost money for eight months of the year and had to work flat out for four months during the tourist season to be profitable.

"Our industry is seasonal, and as employers we need to make hay while the sun shines and we have to have our employees work 50 or 60 hours a week," he said.

"If we are mandated that we have to pay overtime on those hours, it will destroy many restaurants and will impact the product, and prices will go up by 15 to 25 percent to cover it because restaurants are on a knife edge.

"We have been lobbying the minister very hard and we are hoping the minister will see there is some validity in our point.

"It is not fanciful scaremongering, it is true facts. Bermuda without its restaurants would have a severe impact on the tourist product."

And he said long delays in getting work permits were severely hampering restaurants.

"Every day we go without staff we lose sales because of our inability to provide services to our customers. It is getting very difficult waiting two, three or four months in order to get work permits through," he said.

"It is anti-business in my personal opinion and we need to change. If there is a proven shortage of staff in a specific category, who is getting put out of a job?

"If a Bermudian walks through my doors and they have any sense about what the business is about and have a great attitude, that's the secret.

"We've had issues where that's not happening and we need to be able to let the restaurants do the job they need to do.

"Restaurants can't wait because it impacts our business on a daily basis, because when they need staff they need them immediately."

Restaurants were forced to hire foreign workers because Bermudians were not applying for positions, or were not prepared to start at the bottom and work up, he said.

Owners were frustrated when Immigration refused work permits for foreign entertainers, forcing them to hire Calypsonians when they wanted bands to play pop or reggae.

"We have got to take the barriers away and let the businesses do what businesses do best, which is being creative and bringing people in. You can't tell the public what they want, they tell us what they want," he said.

"The entertainment industry has gone downhill for the simple reason that they are not viable, and are not creative because we've taken away the foreign acts that set a standard.

"That's why the industry has lost its interest and fun. There are no young people getting into entertainment anymore."