Page 13 - CWA COVID-19 Coverage Restaurant Edition Part 1
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image source: Mr Federico Asaro                                                            COVID-19 + RESTAURANT
               Tamarind Hill






               Federico Asaro, Founder & CEO, Villa Samadhi



               What  was  the  first  thing  that  ran  through  your   of  what  was  happening  around  the  world.
               minds  when  you  first  heard  of  the  measures   We’ve  had  restaurants  in  Malaysia  that  were
               taken  to  curb  the  virus  e.g.  social  distance,   already  closed  due  to  their  own  preventive
               circuit  breakers?  Why  did  you  feel  that  way?   measures and lockdowns, so we were prepared.

               Having  lived  through  SARS  we  were  quite   How   has   your   business   been   affected
               prepared  for  the  social  distancing.  A  main   since  the  measures  were  put  in  place?
               feature  of  all  the  Tamarind  restaurants  is  that
               tables  are  always  kept  far  apart  to  ensure   Normally, we are not  a restaurant that does
               privacy;  this  worked  well  for  us  during  SARS   deliveries,  and  our  location  in  a  park,  meant
               and  was  working  fairly  well  this  time  too.   that  we have zero income due to the enhanced
                                                           measures where all park outlets are not allowed to
               However, a big difference between then and now   operate delivery. I would say it can’t get any worse.
               is social media, where everyone has an opinion.
               Most  opinions  are  made  with  untrue  facts,   How   is   the   restaurant   coping   with
               resulting in bad misinformation. The media which   operating  expenses  -  overheads,  rentals,
               is bombarding negativity daily doesn’t help either.   delivery   cost,   packaging,   employee
                                                           welfare,  salaries  and  benefits?  How  much
               We  were  prepared  for  closure,  just  because   has  the  three  Budgets  (Resilience,  Unity
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