Temasek, CapitaLand, NTWU to pilot table separators in some food courts, canteens

TEMASEK Foundation on Thursday said it is partnering CapitaLand and the National Transport Workers Union (NTWU) to install and pilot tabletop separators for over 500 dining tables in participating outlets as Singapore resumes dining-in at eateries under Phase Two of its reopening.

The separators will be installed in food courts operated by Kopitiam and Food Junction in CapitaLand malls IMM, Junction 8, Lot One Shoppers' Mall, Plaza Singapura and Tampines Mall.

They will also be rolled out in NTWU staff canteens for frontline transport workers at public transport depots in Bulim, Loyang, Seletar and Woodlands.

Funded by Temasek, the separators will be rolled out at four NTWU canteens on Thursday, with further installations continuing over the next week.

Temasek Foundation is also working with coffee chain Ya Kun to see how these separators can work in small cafes to "pilot safer hangouts for friends and family", it said.

The separators can help "reduce the exchange of speech droplets during meals, and provide a safer and friendlier environment for family and friends to socialise when they remove their masks for their meals", it added.

Each separator is treated with a self-disinfecting antimicrobial coating that lasts for three months. Different separator designs will be installed to assess which configurations work best for food and beverage operators' respective settings, and for diners to provide feedback.

Temasek Foundation has also shared different safe dining design and usage considerations with interested providers of the transparent table-top separators, it said.

Temasek Foundation chief executive Ng Boon Heong said pilot safety measures, such as the introduction of tabletop separators, would "provide more assurance for everybody as we resume dine-in... (and) improve lives and livelihoods, particularly among the small and medium enterprises".

Temasek Foundation said the installation of tabletop separators complements its earlier exercise with the Restaurant Association of Singapore to provide more than 100,000 face shields to frontline staff, chefs and food preparers.

Last week, ComfortDelGro said its advertising arm Moove Media will sponsor acrylic shields for dining tables in Koufu's Thomson Plaza food court, as part of a month-long trial that will begin in Phase Two.