A traditional restaurant in the small Bavarian town of Deggendorf has turned to Bulgaria to find trainees to work in its kitchens.

Deutsche Welle program ‘Made in Germany’ told the story of three fellow Bulgarans, who are new recruits at the local restaurant and undergo a steep learning curve.

Traditional Bavarian dishes like "Zwiebelrostbraten" are a whole new world. But the initiative has been a success.

The restaurant was not able to find suitable apprentices closer to home, a problem, which has become widespread in Germany. So, in 2011 the town of Deggendorf started going abroad to find fresh talent.

The three fellow Bulgarians in the kitchen are friends from schooldays. A lot of the dishes and the way they are cooked are new to the trainee chefs, but this owner hired them after her earlier search for German chefs proved fruitless.

Chefs in Germany are widely considered overworked and underpaid, but for many Bulgarians the professional opportunities back home are not ideal.

One of the guys explains that even though it is relatively easy to become a chef in Bulgaria, wages are low and the conditions are bad.

“It isn’t much fun,” the Bulgarian guy adds.

In Germany they earn EUR 400 a month as apprentices, roughly the same as a qualified, professional chef gets in Bulgaria.

But for German graduates an office job is more appealing, the job in the kitchen putting them off because they have to work on weekends, birthdays and even on Christmas.

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