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The surge of COVID-19 cases saw the Government implementing a two pax dining cap at F&B establishments from 27 September to 24 October 2021.
Some food and beverage (F&B) businesses are relieved that the Government still allowed dining in, amid the recent spike in COVID-19 cases, reported Channel News Asia (CNA).
The hike in COVID-19 cases has forced the Government to introduce new restrictions, in which dining in at eateries is allowed for groups of two persons from 27 September to 24 October. This is down from the previous group limit of five.
“Two pax is still better than suspending (dining in),” Kennet Lim, Head Chef of The Market Grill, told CNA.
While the restrictions did not come as a surprise, Lim noted that things had recently slowed down on the streets outside the restaurant in Telok Ayer, with footfall declining by around 80%.
He shared that the restaurant posted a 25% to 30% decline in reservations last week, prompting them to scale back their supply orders.
Sara Yip, who opened cafe Syip in June, also expressed relief that “a little dine-in” is still allowed.
“As long as we can open for dine-in, I don’t think it’ll be so bad,” Yip told CNA, adding that she expects revenue to drop by about 10% to 20%.
Daphne Goh, who owns five cafes, including Apollo Coffee Bar and Columbus Coffee Co, said the two-person limit also has its “advantages”, saying that the turnover is faster, as shown by their previous experience during similar rounds of restrictions.
“We see people who come in between running errands or waiting for their children to finish tuition. We get quite a lot of ‘in-and-outs’,” she said as quoted by CNA.
She added that the two-person limit also entails less checking to ensure that there are no inter-mingling among groups and that tables are appropriately spaced out.
And while Goh remains optimistic about the situation, some industry players are preparing for the worst.
Brian Stampe, Chief Operations Officer of Commonwealth Concepts, which operates 40 outlets under brands like SwissBake, PastaMania and The Marmalade Pantry, said they are making plans for worst-case scenarios even as they are hopeful that things would go back to normal.
“Contingency plans are being put in place for such a suspension of dining in, in terms of cost reduction and manpower redeployment across the group,” he told CNA.
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Cheryl Chiew, Digital Content Specialist at PropertyGuru, edited this story. To contact her about this story, email: cheryl@propertyguru.com.sg.