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Food stall owner Eric Ng has an unusual hiring policy - he makes job candidates take a urine test for drugs.

While this may seem a little harsh at first, the 47-year-old has a good reason - his staff are all former convicts.

Ng's stall at ABC Brickworks Market is one of a growing number of eateries hiring former offenders to work in their kitchens.

The food business is ideal for former prisoners, because it does not require formal qualifications and offers them the chance to work away from front-line jobs where they could be handling money or dealing with customers.

They are also helping to ease the labour crunch in the burgeoning food scene in Singapore.

Ng, who is not a former convict himself, has trained more than 50 former offenders to cook Western dishes at his stall, called Wow Wow West, over the past six years.

His longest-serving employee lasted four years, while his shortest-serving quit after only two hours.

Chef Ryan Hong, who used to host television show Chef For Hire, said: "It is one of the few professions where you can make it to the top through apprenticeship alone."

He is now a volunteer in the Yellow Ribbon Project, which aims to rehabilitate former offenders. He trains a group of 10 inmates in cooking a few times a month. They are between six months and 18 months away from being released, he said.

The project's spokesman said former convicts face less stigma in the food industry than elsewhere. Most owners do not mind having them in the kitchen, as it is not a front-line job.

"In the background, it is easier to pick up the skills and learn to survive in that industry," the spokesman explained.

He added that despite their criminal past, these workers can be useful, as the sector is facing a staff crunch. "There is definitely a shortage of manpower. Restaurants are getting people from the Philippines and China to fill the void. So, we are also trying to help these former offenders and inmates to go into this sector."

The Yellow Ribbon Project is run by the Singapore Corporation of Rehabilitative Enterprises (Score), which helps people gain skills and training while they are in jail. A spokesman for the statutory board said that about 20 per cent of the inmates who approach its employment assistance unit find jobs in the food and beverage industry.

Score chairman Kong Mun Kwong was one of the first to spot the potential for former offenders to work in the sector.

"When the Singapore Prison Service was building the Changi Prison Complex in 2003, the growth of the food industry in Singapore became apparent around the same time, and I saw the potential to start a food hub inside the prisons," he said.

The hub is now up and running, and consists of a bakery and four workshops.

It also manages a central kitchen with the help of the NTUC Foodfare Cooperative. This supplies meals to about 8,000 inmates a day.

Instructors from hospitality management school Shatec also run classes for prisoners interested in picking up cooking skills. As part of the program, the inmates also work in the catering kitchen.

Of all the eateries helping to rehabilitate former offenders, Western restaurant chain Eighteen Chefs is perhaps the best-known.

Its owner Benny Se Teo is a former inmate himself, and former convicts make up 30 per cent of his staff, spread over three restaurants.

The 51-year-old said he employs former offenders because he knows from experience that they often have low self-confidence when they are released from prison.

Se Teo, who had been in and out of jail due to a heroin addiction, said: "In 1993, when I came out from prison, I couldn't talk to anyone face to face. I felt alienated, and most of the guys are like that."

He added that most former inmates do not know where to start looking for a job.

"Most jobs offered to them are positions such as dishwashers or car washers. These jobs give them even lower self-esteem and hinder their rehabilitation. I give them a job where they can at least hold their head up higher," he said.

He added that he usually sees an increase in their confidence after a while.

It has not always been smooth sailing, however. Se Teo said that he has had his share of bad experiences with employees, including thefts, break-ins, fights and them turning up to work drunk.

"At times, I felt like I was spending more time handling their problems than running a business," he said.

But he added: "I have no regrets. I know what I am doing, and I have to follow my vision. This is part and parcel of my work."

Reprinted courtesy of Straits Times Indonesia. To subscribe to Straits Times Indonesia and/or the Jakarta Globe call 021 2553 5055.