Dining ban 'unfortunate' for newly opened F&B establishments
THE upcoming month-long ban on dining out will be a setback to food and beverage (F&B) operators, especially for those that had recently opened or expanded with new outlets.
"Even though we anticipated the newly announced tightened measures, they definitely came at an unfortunate time, especially with our opening of Thomson Plaza outlet today," said Lee Haoming, managing director of home-grown coffee chain Huggs Coffee.
"The response for our opening day has been great so far, but we will have to close off all dine-in options as of this Sunday, and that is very disheartening," Mr Lee added. "As a chain, Huggs will also definitely be affected in terms of sales."
Senshi Sushi & Grill, a Japanese a la carte buffet restaurant opened by Far Ocean Group last week, also said the dine-in ban is "very unfortunate" as it had been fully booked till next weekend.
Newly-opened local cafe ClickAFood expects that an increase in delivery orders may help to offset the loss of dine-in revenue, although it may have to reduce the number of part-time staff as well, said owner Hong Junyang.
Other recent openings include Kenny Rogers at Marina Square by Lao Huo Tang Group and Qin by Tung Lok Group. RE&S Holdings has also opened two Yakiniku-Go restaurants, with plans to open two more by the end of this year.
Still, F&B operators said they understand the need for measures to curb the resurgence of Covid-19 infections, and that they would do their best to adapt to the situation.
"In a way, we have had this drill a year ago and so our response this round is faster and we are less stressed, knowing what to expect from this," said Sam Lim, director of operations at PizzaExpress.
"However, it's still extremely disruptive and costly to change our entire operations in less than 48 hours," added Mr Lee. Huggs Coffee is now "scrambling" to churn out takeaway and delivery promotions, and has procured more takeaway packaging in anticipation of the increase in delivery orders.
Other establishments working to come up with delivery and takeaway promotions include Lao Huo Tang Group and Senshi Sushi.
White Restaurant, meanwhile, started stocking up on takeaway packaging since the government reduced the size for group gatherings, said chief executive Alan Wah.
The demand for takeaway packaging had surged last year when Singapore went into a partial lockdown and dining out in restaurants was banned.
Food establishments also welcomed the increase in wage support for when the dining ban is in effect.
Under the Jobs Support Scheme (JSS), the government will raise its wage support for F&B establishments to 50 per cent, up from 10 per cent currently.
To support hawkers and coffee shop stallholders, who are self-employed and do not benefit from the JSS, the government will waive one month of rent for hawker stall and coffee shop tenants of government agencies.
"It will help us defray the costs quite a bit, and that is very important for us as a delivery-only setup is going to be very high on costs," said Mr Lim.
White Restaurant said the support will help it retain all employees, including the 55 it hired this year.
But landlords should also extend their support to F&B tenants through this period, "considering the long-term partnership", Mr Wah added.
The government has also encouraged commercial landlords to support F&B tenants during this period.
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