Stop slaughtering F&B as the sacrificial lamb

RESTAURANTS occupy an interesting space in the fabric of society. On the one hand, you can argue they are increasingly dispensable. People can cook or order home delivery.

Restaurants are costly to run, burdensome and volatile, performing roles that may soon become automated. It's a risky business, for sure.

Then again, restaurants serve as some of our last communal and social spaces, designed with the purpose of hosting and serving people under the guise of food and beverage service. Whichever way you slice it, a restaurant is first and foremost a place of people, by people and for people.