SIXTY percent of food and beverage (F&B) outlets are expected to shut if the dine-in ban continues, industry players said. 

The prolonged movement control order (MCO), which has prohibited dine-ins, have severely affected the F&B sector, leaving many of its businesses with cash flow problems. 

“Many F&B operators have less than two months of cash flow left. We are anticipating at least a 60% closure rate if the ban continues, and some 500,000 households will be affected,” said Jeremy Lim, a spokesperson for the F&B industry.

Lim said that the sector is now raising their own “white flag” as a cry for help from the government to ease the dine-in restriction, adding that a prolonged ban would impact the livelihoods of close to a million people.

“We estimate there are approximately 200,000 F&B outlets. Assuming each outlet hires an average of five Malaysians, we are looking at potentially a million Malaysian livelihoods at stake,” he said.

Lim, who is also the vice president of Restaurant and Pub Owners Association, said that the ban does not only impact restaurant owners, but also the ecosystem that supports the sector.

He said that industry players have urged the relevant ministries to engage, discuss, and debate with stakeholders before things get out of hand.

“Lives are at stake, continued restrictions will only bring more harm than good to the participants in our ecosystem and their families.

“Farmers, fishermen, suppliers, distributors and many more businesses make up a diverse part of our ecosystem.

“We urge the Ministry of Health, National Security Council, Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Ministry, and all related ministries to listen to us. This is a cry for help!

“Yes, our industry is allowed to ‘operate’ but you impose a dine-in ban without consultation or consideration. I believe the government does not realise how significant the impact is to the entire F&B ecosystem,” Lim added.

Lim also said not all restaurants are built for a delivery model or as a cloud kitchen, which rely heavily on deliveries rather than dine-ins.

He added that the prolonged dine-in ban has forced businesses to review their operation and manpower as revenue continues to drop.

“We invested a sizable amount into location, enhancing overall ambience and staffing.

“During this extended dine-in ban, we still incur monthly overheads like rent, staffing cost and utilities but the revenue generated is less than 10%. How is this sustainable?

“With the dine-in ban, there is very little need for waiters, hostesses, bartenders and even kitchen crew are not spared due to the significantly reduced orders. Businesses are forced to review and reorganise their manpower in order to reduce cost and survive,” he said.

Lim, who is also the owner of nightclub Dragonfly KL, said that the implementation of policies and standard operating procedure must be guided by data and science.

“We have been at war with this virus for more than 460 days now, everyone is tired, resources are running low and the reality is, defeat is not an option.

“We are not asking for handouts, instead we need the government to be reasonable.

“The F&B industry has been a significantly small contributor to new clusters because many businesses have been compliant.

“We appeal to Putrajaya to allow our people to return to work, save small businesses and let us contribute to the nation again,” Lim said. – July 14, 2021.