Extension of dining-in ban causes some to tweak Father’s Day plans; restaurateurs hoping business will pick up

• The Government announced that the ban on dining-in at eateries would be extended till June 21
• This led some to make alternative plans for Father’s Day on June 20
• Restaurateurs are hopeful that bookings will come in over the next few weeks
• They have seen a 75 per cent dip in revenue on average since the Phase Two (Heightened Alert) measures were implemented

SINGAPORE — After the Government announced that dining-in at restaurants would only resume on June 21 if the coronavirus situation here remains under control, Mr Samuel Ong, 34, had no choice but to cancel the reservation he made early last month.

The management consultant had made a booking for four people — which include his parents and his wife — at Keng Eng Kee Seafood restaurant in Bukit Merah to celebrate Father’s Day on June 20.

“We usually treat our parents to a meal during such occasions as a tradition and were hoping we could continue that with the end of Phase Two (Heightened Alert)... so the extension (of measures) was a curveball,” he said.

Mr Ong has since opted for his order to be delivered instead and might consider inviting his wife’s family to join the celebration at home.

The Government’s Covid-19 task force announced on Thursday that dining-in at food-and-beverage (F&B) establishments will resume only from June 21 as Singapore gradually relaxes safe distancing measures.

The task force had earlier banned this until June 13 following the spike in community cases that had no known sources of infection.

The extension to the ban had also disappointed Ms Sandra Cheok’s father, who was looking forward to dining out with her on Father’s Day.

Ms Cheok, a 26-year-old contract manager, said she had planned to dine out but had yet to make any reservations due to the volatility of the situation.

“Now the plan is to have a simple dinner with takeout fancy food… we can take this chance to support local (businesses) and explore new food ideas,” she said, adding that the plan works out as her father prefers intimate settings.

WORSE THAN DURING CIRCUIT BREAKER

Equally disappointed by the extension of the ban are restaurateurs TODAY spoke to who have seen a 75 per cent dip in revenue on average since the Phase Two (Heightened Alert) measures were implemented — worse than during the circuit breaker in April last year.

Mr Colin Chia, founder of Nutmeg and Clove at Purvis Street, said it was a double whammy for businesses located in the central business district, which have been hit by the dine-in ban and the scarcity of office workers as working from home remains a default.

“Even the number of deliveries and takeaways are not as good as the circuit breaker period last year,” he said.

The extension of the ban was also another blow to Mr Chia’s business, as he had to cancel more than 50 reservations from June 14 to Father’s Day on June 20 after the announcement. He also had to scrap plans to provide diners with a free engraving service on their liquor bottles as part of the celebration.

Mr Paul Liew, the owner of Keng Eng Kee Seafood restaurant, said he had to cancel over 20 bookings during the same period. A majority of these customers opted for delivery instead.

“Our customers are very understanding… they understand that the situation can change anytime. But because it’s Father’s Day, we’re sure they still want to celebrate, so we offered to deliver their orders,” he said.

Mr Andrew Tjioe, chief executive officer of restaurant chain Tung Lok Group, said its 26 restaurants islandwide received an average of 10 bookings each from June 14 onwards.

While many customers who have been informed about the changes to their bookings pushed back their reservations, he still saw some cancellations, he added.

HOPING FOR BUSINESS TO PICK UP

The restaurateurs are hopeful that bookings will come in over the next few weeks.

It will also help owners like Mr Chia, who hired two additional staff before the phase started, to avoid layoffs.

He had increased his headcount when he decided to open his restaurant for lunch on weekdays, to cater to the increasing number of workers returning to neighbouring offices at the end of April.

“We did our research and found that between the end of April and beginning of May, a good 60 per cent of office workers were back at work, so we decided to hire more manpower and open the restaurant for lunch on weekdays,” said Mr Chia.

“So when the Phase Two (Heightened Alert) kicked in and people returned to work from home, I had to bear the cost of two new employees because I didn’t want to fire them after hiring them.”

Ms Abbyshayne Lim, chef and owner of Symmetry restaurant at Jalan Kubor, believes business will pick up after dining-in resumes but is not sure if it will be significant, as she noted lower footfalls in malls and public spaces since the start of Phase Two (Heightened Alert).

“(This time around), people are not dying to go out,” she said.

Tung Lok Group’s Mr Tjioe is confident there will be an increase in bookings in the coming weeks leading up to the resumption of dining-in.

“With the number of infections in the community going down (in the last week), I think people are eager to make reservations to dine in.”

One restaurant booking platform saw its bookings jump by 30 times soon after the authorities unveiled its plan to reopen Singapore on Thursday.

Chope, which takes in bookings across some 1,700 restaurants islandwide, said it received some 8,000 reservations on Thursday.

Ms Jean Wee, general manager of Chope Singapore, said this showed that diners here were making early plans to dine out.

Fave, a discount deals platform, has seen a 10 per cent increase in F&B deals sold on its platform since Thursday.

Meanwhile, restaurant reservation platform Quandoo said it has yet to see a significant increase, although it anticipates diners to start making bookings soon.