Page 11 - CWA COVID-19 Coverage Restaurant Edition Part 1

What was the first thing that ran through your have a fair share of work and some income.
minds when you first heard of the measures
taken to curb the virus e.g. social distance, How do you feel about delivery platforms who
circuit breakers? Why did you feel that way? are currently working together with restaurants
to help deliver food all over Singapore? Are
We have taken the COVID-19 pandemic measures there aspects where they can do better?
very seriously since day 1, as we have to protect
both our guests and staff. We think that it’s We have been working with Grabfood, Foodpanda
very important to follow the guidelines given, and Deliveroo for several years now. Delivery COVID-19 + RESTAURANT
for the benefit of everyone in the long term. as a business is growing, and these platforms
are in a good position to take advantage of this
How has your business been affected situation. On the one hand, they have provided
since the measures were put in place? us with a platform for us to continue online
ordering, but they also have a hefty commission
We have 3 outlets at Clarke Quay (Cuba Libre Café fee and promotion schemes which mostly have
& Bar, Gabbar and Deutschlander) that the bar to come out from our pocket, the margin-left
industry is greatly affected by it with the nightlife for restaurants operators are very minimum.
scene. We see gradual declining on business on
the restaurant side (Shabestan) as well as people They should be more flexible on the support of
are worried about their health and safety to dine smaller establishments as well instead of only
out. For our other bistros which are located in favouring certain brands and pushing for these
Fraser Tower (Cuba Libre Café & Bar and Pita Tree brands solely. With the business growing and
Mediterranean Kitchen), the main audience is the economy of scale, we have not seen the changes
working crowd, as more people were beginning to in delivery rate commission. If the delivery cost
work from home, we saw an immediate impact on drops between 12-15% of the rate, it would be
our business. The same for our take away kiosks more sustainable for all restaurant operators.
(Pita Tree Mediterranean Grilled Kebabs), Orchard
Road has become a ghost town, no passers-by for If you are currently using (a) delivery platform(s),
takeaway for us as well. We are certain that other what have you been using? Can you rate them based
F&B players in the market are seeing a similar trend. on delivery, efficiency, costs? Are there any other
factors that you want to include during this time?
How is the restaurant coping with
operating expenses - overheads, rentals, There are pros and cons, Deliveroo is the most
delivery cost, packaging, employee expensive in terms of cost, but they are the most
welfare, salaries and benefits? How much efficient among the tree as they have a dedicated
has the three Budgets (Resilience, Unity account manager that helps us with operational
and Solidarity) helped for assistance? hiccups. Foodpanda and Grabfood are no longer
providing merchants with dedicated account
It is a tough time for everyone in the industry, managers, for menu changes etc, so we only can
rental support is only applicable for certain submit a form and talk to robots. Often there it
landlords, we still have to bear the operating takes a long time for them to get a menu right.
expenses, delivery cost, staff salaries etc. The
Singapore Government reacted quite fast by During this COVID-19 period, we have asked
assisting with manpower and rental support and them if they can be flexible to temporarily
facilitated temporary bridge loan facilities to help divert some of our restaurants address into a
a small establishment to raise funds to keep the temporary kitchen address so we still can gain
operations. A few of our landlords have gone some sales to help survive this situation. At this
beyond the government scheme to support our point, only Deliveroo has offered that flexibility.
business. We are yet to hear from other landlords.
What are the restaurant’s plans moving
We have to dip into our cash reserve. We forward? Have there been any challenges
try out best to survive and help the staff to adjusting to the situation now, and how did
rotate their working shifts so more staff can you get through or resolve the issue? What did

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