Café Suffers $95K Loss As “70 Percent” Kitchen Staff Down With Covid Amid Omicron Surge

F&B businesses, already battered by dine-in restrictions over the past two years, are facing yet another challenge amid the Omicron wave: massive manpower shortages due to sick staff, leading to skeleton crews and sporadic forced closures (veteran hawkers like Mui Siong Minced Meat Noodle weren’t spared either – they’re closed from February 24 to March 3 after one of the hawkers got infected with Covid-19).

The wave has also affected delivery folk. Chef-owner Alan Lee of seafood restaurant chain Greenwood Fish Market says: “The lack of delivery drivers is very evident now. We are closing most delivery [slots in favour of] self pick-ups,“ he says. “We can’t even get drivers [when booking ahead]... so the food always ends up being late.”

All these mean the fear of even more revenue loss is very real, amid rising utility bills and cost of raw ingredients. 8days.sg spoke to seven F&B owners.

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Coexist Coffee Co delays opening new outlet after “70 percent” kitchen staff down with Covid

Hip new cafe Coexist Coffee Co, which opened its first Insta-worthy outlet in an ulu Bukit Batok industrial building last June, has had to pull the reins on its expansion plans due to the Omicron wave.

While their second outlet in Keong Saik opened last November without a hitch, the cafe recently announced that the opening of their third outlet (pictured) — the largest in their collection with 94 seats — in the Lifelong Learning Institute at Paya Lebar, has been delayed from February 23 to March 2 instead. Nicholas Lew, one of the founders behind the biz, tells us that five of their seven kitchen crew there had tested positive for Covid-19 “one after the other” during the third outlet’s soft launch. One out of their six service crew also tested positive for Covid-19. “Even two out of our three founders got it,” he adds.

“We had mixed feelings [about the delay]. The team was very motivated for the launch, and all the hype that we built among our followers was dampened. But we told the team to take it as an opportunity to rest before the work really begins when we reopen,” he shares.

He estimates that the delayed opening of the two-storey space in Paya Lebar will cost them around $95K in rental, manpower costs and lost revenue.

Pagi Sore’s boss: “I was cooking by myself for one week, manning four woks”

Other F&B establishments, like Pagi Sore Indonesian Restaurant in Telok Ayer, were also hit with a manpower crunch due to the virus, but managed to stay open with shortened opening hours. A fortnight ago, two out of the four kitchen crew members tested positive for Covid-19, while the third cook was visiting family in Malaysia via the VTL. “It was down to one man cooking – I was cooking by myself for one week, manning four woks,” says Park Tan, second-gen owner of the restaurant.

“When the team starts falling sick one by one, the other concern is also to ensure the rest of the team are not overburdened to the point that it results in injury or exhaustion,” the chef tells us. “We’ve had to change our operating hours during the past two weeks to ensure that the remaining team members get enough rest.”

Sing Swee Kee and Kopi & Tarts: Office staff deployed to work at eateries

Chicken rice restaurant Sing Swee Kee on Seah Street, which has two food court outlets in Toa Payoh HDB Hub and Jurong Point, has also been down around “25 percent” of their 25-strong staff force recently, “affecting operations and increasing waiting time [for food], especially during peak periods”. “Some of our staff didn’t get Covid themselves, but their children’s caretakers got affected and they needed to take leave,” says a spokesperson for the brand. “Our office staff had to go over to help the outlets [with service duties].”

Halal-certified coffee and pastries chain Kopi & Tarts, owned by family-run Mayson Bakery, is facing a similar situation. A recent announcement on their Facebook page states: “It has been a challenging time for us operationally, and some outlets may see a change in operating hours or closure without any prior notice given.”

Executive director Sydney Teo tells us that it’s hard to say which of the eleven outlets islandwide (two of which are franchises) are affected “as we are dealing with manpower issues as they arise every day. Sometimes, if [their 32 cafe workers] start to cough and feel unwell, we’ll ask them to go home on the spot rather than risk it.”

“All of our staff are very overworked – we are about 30 percent down [in terms of staff],” he tells us. Like Sing Swee Kee, he and other office staff have had to fill service staff vacancies at Kopi & Tarts’ outlets. “We do everything that we can do – make coffee, serve customers or just cover [during the staff’s] lunch break,” he adds. “It’s a very tense and tiring period for F&B, especially with the surge in electricity bills. I’m hoping that the government can mandate some sort of rental relief from landlords or provide subsidies to help us during this period.”

He estimates that loss of sales amount to around “15 to 20 percent across the board”, taking into account the temporary closure of their Marina One outlet and sporadic closures at others.

“F*** Covid” says MasterChef judge and Artichoke chef-owner Bjorn Shen

Middle East-inspired restaurant Artichoke announced on Facebook last week that “some of [their] team may have been exposed to Covid.” They shut their doors for two days (Feb 23 & 24) and sent in “a cleaning crew to disinfect surfaces”.

In a followup post, they reopened the kitchen for takeaways only from Feb 25 to 28 over the weekend as their “service team is down, but [their] kitchen is ready to serve”. They have since reopened.

In his usual no-holds-barred style, the restaurant’s chef-owner Bjorn Shen had this to add in an Instagram post: “F*** Covid. @Artichoke_SG’s front of house team is down and out, so no dine-ins this weekend, sorry. But… the kitchen is still running takeaways with a fish & chippy-inspired menu. Thanks in advance for your support.”

8days.sg has reached out to Bjorn Shen for comment.

Famous JB 101 Firewokz’s owner: Additional costs to prevent further infections

Zi char restaurant Famous JB 101 Firewokz, which has two outlets at Bukit Batok and Singapore Science Park, is also short on “30 percent” of her 30-strong staff force due to the Omicron wave. Owner Joanne Lau tells us that she’s able to keep both her outlets open as “staff that are well offered to work without taking their day off. Kitchen crew also came out to help the service staff.”

However, she’s had to spend additional time and money to prevent further Covid-19 infections across her largely foreign workforce. “Our Malaysian and other foreign staff all stay together in the lodging [provided]. Whenever one contracts Covid-19, we really have to scramble to find alternative arrangements, like booking hotels to keep the rest of the crew safe.”

These extra bills – which the zi char restaurant owner is footing – are just some of the additional expenses she’s facing. “Our current biggest challenge is the surge in electricity pricing. From October to December, the bill went up threefold – from $6K to $18K at one point,” she shares. “Suppliers have all raised their pricing due to high freight costs. Margins are getting so thin with higher cost in hiring manpower, food supplies and exorbitant electricity charges. These costs will have to eventually transfer to consumers in order for F&B to survive.”

Does this mean that Famous JB 101 Firewokz will be increasing its prices? “Not yet, but definitely in the near future. We haven’t increased our pricing for the last three years, but this time really no choice,” she laments.

High St Tai Wah Pork Noodle towkay: Incubation period the biggest worry

Gerald Tang (far right), towkay of the Michelin Bib Gourmand bak chor mee stall High St Tai Wah Pork Noodle at Hong Lim Food Centre, tells us that while none of his staff have gotten Covid-19, about “30 percent” of his 30-member crew have been down at one point with MCs, or Health Risk Notices”. The hawker aggressively expanded over the past year with seven new outlets (don’t confuse the brand with the one-Michelin-starred Hill St Tai Hwa Pork Noodle, as that unaffiliated single outlet is run by his uncle Tang Chay Seng at Crawford Lane).

Gerald closed his Hong Lim HQ outlet a day earlier than planned before Chinese New Year when he found out that his brother (who works with him at Hong Lim) had been in close contact with a Covid-19 case. “I didn’t know if I would get it, and if we passed it to customers that would’ve been very bad. So I decided since we were going to close already [for CNY], we might as well close earlier,” he says.

While he only lost a day’s worth of ingredients, he says the uncertainty is the real worry. “It’s very common [for hawkers] at Hong Lim Food Centre to be a close contact of a Covid case. But even if you test negative, it doesn’t mean that you’re safe [because of the incubation period],” Gerald says.

“The biggest problem is you can’t be sure if you have [gotten Covid-19] after you’re a close contact, because it will take a few days before showing up. So should we stay open, or should we close?”

Photos: Coexist Coffee Co., Pagi Sore Indonesian Restaurant, Sing Swee Kee, Famous JB 101 Firewokz, Artichoke, High St Tai Wah Pork Noodle

All photos cannot be reproduced without permission from 8days.sg