Page 13 - CWA COVID-19 Coverage Restaurant Edition Part 1

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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