The new measures outlined by the government earlier today (April 3) have been swift, and for some F&B owners, very sudden. Today’s guidelines are the most stringent to date, though everyone is still allowed to freely leave their homes for essential services, unlike say in Italy, where citizens are required to fill up an official form before going out. According to a press release by Singapore’s Ministry of Trade & Industry, the recent measures “include the closure of workplace premises, retail outlets except for those necessary to support the daily living needs of the population, and limiting restaurants and food and beverage outlets to takeaway or delivery only”. All these are “additional measures to minimise further spread of Covid-19 cases”. They are to be enforced from 7 April (Tuesday) to 4 May 2020, “but this may be extended if necessary”.

We spoke to three restaurateurs from Tanuki Raw, Picnic and Naked Finn, and the general vibe was one of measured urgency as they scrambled to make sense of the new regulations and pivot from their usual business plans.

Since food is considered an essential service, food suppliers (including caterers), food retail (such as supermarkets, convenience stores, grocery & fruit stores, wet markets), F&B outlets (including restaurants, hawker centres, coffee shops and food courts), and pharmacies will remain open. However, all F&B outlets can offer take-away and deliveries only — no dining in is allowed. The press release adds: “Outlets which do not currently offer takeaway and/or delivery can do so or allow third-party food delivery services to do so for them. While patrons and delivery drivers can continue to enter the premises to access take-away services, there will be no dine-in service, and nobody should consume any food or drinks on-site whilst waiting for takeaway food. F&B outlets that remain open must adhere to the enhanced safe distancing measures in their premises, and minimise crowds by ensuring patrons are spaced at least 1 metre apart at all times (i.e. within the premise and when queuing)”.

Co-owner Howard Lo of the Empire Eats restaurant group, which owns eateries such as Standing Sushi Bar at Odeon Towers and Marina One, plus Tanuki Raw at National Design Centre, Orchard Central and Jewel Changi Airport says: “Of course we’ll be forced to do takeaways and deliveries only. Our CBD outlets will be dead as doornails”. Asked if he plans to cut back on staff to ease the strain from dramatically slashed sales, he replies: “We’re evaluating what kind of staffing action we need to take as food prep from SSB and Tanuki Raw for island-wide delivery requires only one kitchen, which means we’d have additional outlets that will be under utilised”. Fortunately, he and his wife–cum-biz partner Hui Nan “scrambled last week to get Standing Sushi Bar, Salmon Samurai and Tanuki up and running for island-wide delivery as the usual platforms like Deliveroo have too limited a range”. To circumvent the high commission rates required by traditional delivery platforms that cut deeply into already reduced profits, Howard adds, “We use the Squarespace platform and coordinate the food deliveries ourselves with transport services like Lalamove and Carpal .

However, with all his restaurants offering only takeout or delivery now, Howard shares that “this gives us an opportunity to bring back food from formerly shuttered brands like Sumo Bar Happy, Shinkansen and The World is Flat, which will each reach out to a different customer segment with the type of food offered”.

The owner of Wisma Atria’s 350-seat multi-concept F&B enclave Picnic Food Park is more sombre about the repercussions of the no-dine-in measures. Says Hsin Yao: “Sales have declined by 70 percent in the past six weeks, so we definitely did see the downturn coming. However, these “no dine-in” measures are a surprise as our government has been quite adamant about not resorting to a lockdown, which is effectively what this amounts to. We’re digesting the information and making plans as we speak. It’s a big change to process, with no prior warning”. As for possible staff lay-offs, he says: “I think it’s inevitable. No restaurant our size can survive a 90 percent decrease in sales, which is what we are expecting [over the next month]”. But he is determined to retain as many jobs as he can. “My priority is really saving the jobs of my core team. They have been with me for about seven years and they work really hard. I’ll be pulling out every trick in the book to save their jobs, including different cost-saving measures”.

“[The new measures are] a big problem for places like Picnic and other food courts. We are built for the specific purpose of dining in. There will be takeaway sales, but it’ll be a mere fraction of what our giant venues were built for,” shares Hsin Yao. Picnic houses several different concepts like Brother Cheng’s Chicken Rice, Omakase Burger, Supergreek and Daifuku by Seizan. Does he expect more customers over the next few days before the rules are enforced on 7 April? He replies ruefully: “It's possible. I think many people will be trying to visit their favourite restaurant one last time before the one-month lockdown”.

Hsin Yao muses: “Honestly, the biggest help for all F&B operators now will be a waiver of rental fees during this period. Food and labour costs are variable and can be managed, but my rent is fixed and it’s enormous for a big space like Picnic. No amount of takeaway or delivery sales will ever cover it. With no dine in customers, we’re essentially doing the same amount of sales as a kiosk via delivery and takeaway. But they are doing it with a 200 sqft space while we are doing it with 10,000 sqft. Anyone can see that the math doesn’t work”.

The founder of casual-chic seafood temple Naked Finn in the idyllic Gillman Barracks is taking the month-long no dine-in rule in his stride. “I think it’s very important [for our country] to do this — I’m behind it. It’s better to do it as soon as possible than wait till it’s too late, like in the US. I’m glad it’s still not too late for us, and I hope most people in the F&B industry in Singapore will survive this”.

Naked Finn’s takeaway menu launched just two weeks ago, and Ken shares that delivery orders have increased the past week, but he doesn’t know “for how long”. And that’s why on top of offering hot meals like Naked Finn’s signature lobster rolls and sister eatery Burger Labo’s burgers to-go, the brand will now sell frozen seafood and ready-to-cook meals. He says this move makes sense since they are importers for top-quality ingredients such as wild-caught salmon from Alaska and Hokkaido and wild-caught frozen prawns from Sri lanka, which they already supply to other restaurants. Ready-to-cook meals offered will include “marinated fish fillets for steaming or grilling, marinated chicken legs using chef Julien Royer’s (of Odette fame; the chef is a pal) recipe, and frozen soups in flavours like Teochew fish, lobster bisque, prawn and cauliflower (from $8 a serving).

“The good thing about Naked Finn’s location is you can easily drive all the way to its entrance, pay and drive away. We’ll bring the bill out to you so there’s no need for you to leave the car. You can call or text in advance to order. Of course our staff will take the necessary precautions like wearing face masks and providing hand sanitisers during collection”.

While all manpower and ops will be centralised at Naked Finn’s main kitchen now (Burger Labo will close), Ken says there “are no plans to retrench staff or reduce salaries for now”. He adds: “We are not overweight in terms of staffing and the recent rebates for F&B businesses from the government and SLA’s rental rebates have helped. From the start, we’ve designed our business to be streamlined. Our rental is much lower than those at malls. We only have eight kitchen and service staff for 64 dine-in customers at Naked Finn and five kitchen and wait staff for 40 customers at Burger Labo. My aim is to break even and to keep my team fully paid [throughout this month]”.