• F&B businesses in the CBD are glad that dining in at eateries is resuming
• However, some said there will not be much of an impact unless the office crowd returns
• Others said they will mostly only allow a maximum of two diners a table as it is hard to make sure that groups bigger than two are from the same household

SINGAPORE — Food-and-beverage (F&B) establishments in the Central Business District (CBD) said that the easing of measures to allow a maximum of two people to dine out together from June 21 is "better than nothing", but what they really need is for the office crowd to start coming back to the CBD.

Mr David Cheung, founder of The Sandwich Shop that has three outlets in the CBD area, said on Sunday (June 20) that he does not think the dining in will be a big game-changer since work-from-home is still the default arrangement for most companies.

“If they allow dining in but no one is working (in CBD), still no point, there is not going to be much difference,” he said.

Ms Dawn Thong, supervisor at the Sarnies cafe at Telok Ayer, said: “Obviously, the office crowd definitely will boost sales in general, but you know, better than nothing.”

However, both Mr Cheung and Ms Thong, as well as managers of other F&B establishments in the CBD, told TODAY that they were still glad that they are able to reopen for dining in on Monday because “every little bit counts”.

Mr Jagan Rajasingam, the general manager of Charlie’s Restaurant and Bar at Boat Quay, said that relying on takeaway during the heightened alert period from May 16 to June 13 did not help much because there are no residents in the area.

Even though there are still no office workers now, he said that his regular customers can now dine in. It has already received a few reservations since the Government announced that dining-in would resume for two people at most.

He added that his establishment lost 95 per cent of its business when dining-in was not allowed as compared to when five people could dine in together.

Ms Thong said that having dine-in customers would provide another source of revenue on top of just takeaways, and that helps with the expenses.

Although Sarnies is located in the CBD, she said that there are a few residents living around the area who are its regular customers.

Mr Darel Russel, assistant manager of Italian restaurant Luka, which is located in Tanjong Pagar, said that the restaurant would be introducing a new menu in preparation for the reopening.

Business has been slow on weekdays during the recent heightened alert phase, he said, and he is excited that dining in would be resuming.

Over at Japanese restaurant Don-Don at Tanjong Pagar, manager Yuki Matsuki said that he would be able to have more customers dining in with the new restrictions, as compared with before, due to the layout of the restaurant.

Whereas previously he would have an unused table due to the need to maintain a 1m separation between two groups of five customers, from Monday, he can have a maximum of six groups of two spread out over three tables.

ENFORCING SAME HOUSEHOLD EXCEPTION

F&B businesses have opted for different methods to enforce the exception of allowing more than two diners if they are from the same household.

Mr Jagan said that his staff members will be checking the identification cards of diners to make sure that they are from the same household, while Mr Russel said that they will take the customers’ word for it.

While he recognises that there are some who may abuse the system, he said that it is tough to argue with customers.

“We can’t say, ‘Hey, I have to check’ when the guests already say they are from the same household.” 

Mr Matsuki said that his outlet will only allow dining in for more than two if they make a reservation and allow their identification cards to be checked, but only pairs will be allowed for walk-in customers.

As for Sarnies, Ms Thong said that the outlet will mostly allow a maximum of two diners, unless it is obvious that they come from the same household, such as when the group consists of parents and their children.

She added that Sarnies might turn away customers in groups of more than two even if they claim to be from the same household.

“Rather than to check everyone’s ID... You need one person to do this, and that’s not really efficient,” she said.