Britain's curry houses have been hit by a double whammy - soaring rice prices and a shortage of kitchen staff.
The Home Office is being urged to ease restrictions on migrant workers entering Britain from Bangladesh to help restaurants fill vacant posts.
They are struggling to fill thousands of kitchen staff vacancies, says the Immigration Advisory Service.
For years, many staff in the UK's 9,000 curry houses have been recruited directly from Bangladesh.
But restrictions on the workers have been tighter since eastern Europeans were given employment rights.
The IAS has written to Immigration Minister Liam Byrne asking for them to be given a special dispensation.
To add to their problems, restaurants are struggling to remain competitive because of a huge increase in the cost of rice.
The price of basmati rice, one of the most popular varieties in the UK has almost doubled in the past year.
The Rice Association says big producers including India and China have restricted their exports to keep prices low in their own countries.
Thailand and the US are now the main suppliers to the world market, but stocks are "rapidly declining", the association warns.
All these factors are expected to have an impact on the price British consumers pay for rice in shops and restaurants.
"If you are a restaurant owner and you are buying a lot of rice you either reduce your margins or you put your prices up," said Alex Waugh, director of the association.