A claypot rice restaurant chain in Hong Kong is facing a shortage of cooks for the demanding work of preparing the popular meal.

The owner of the 44-year-old Hing Kee Restaurant, which has five outlets, is hiring after three cooks quit just two weeks into the job, but no local applicants have shown up for the claypot cooking positions, The Standard (TS) reports.

Claypot rice cooks have to endure intense heat and long hours in front of open flames. The owner told Sing Tao Headline that he was forced to hire cooks from mainland China, which is more costly because he has to cover their accommodations.

Even then, the owner is worried he may not be able to hire more claypot rice cooks which would force him to close the restaurant.

Meanwhile, a young Chinese entrepreneur from Shenzhen, China has introduced a new profession through his service startup.

The 32-year-old Zhang Xiaoqiao opened his first store called Suma in the city’s Baoan District in early May and business was very good so he opened a branch in Futian District a month later, South China Morning Post (SCMP) reports, citing the Xiaoxiang Morning Herald.

“We serve both male and female customers, with males comprising about 70 percent. Some customers have said our service is more relaxing than a massage, leading to a strong base of returning clients,” Zhang said, according to SCMP.

Boasting that his two stores are earning 100,000 yuan monthly, allowing him to recover his investment, Zhang plans to open 100 Suma outlets nationwide, which would establish itch-scratching as a widely recognized profession, SCMP reports.

Suma staff wear specially designed pointed nails to gently scratch customers’ bodies while they lie face down on beds, as in a massage setting, according to SCMP.

The business was inspired by social media videos featuring a woman scratching her husband’s itches that Zhang watched. He noticed many viewers commenting that they would pay for someone to do the same for them, so he put up such a facility, SCMP reports.