FOOD business operators are not exactly rushing to open up their outlets although the government has allowed dine-in for fully vaccinated individuals in all states under the national recovery plan.

The high number of daily Covid-19 cases, and deaths, is still giving them the jitters, they told The Malaysian Insight.

Malaysia yesterday recorded its highest number of new infections in a single day when it logged 23,564 cases, taking the cumulative total to

1,513,024.

Fast food giants, popular tearooms, cafes and restaurants have decided that it is still best to keep customers away from their outlets.

But fear of infections is not the only problem they face. Lack of workers as well as uncertainty over standard operating procedure (SOP) introduced by the incoming government were also among their concerns.

Renyi Chen, co-founder and managing director of MyBurgerLab, told The Malaysian Insight that they were “seriously” short of staff to handle dine-ins and takeaways at the same time.

Chen also said the current political uncertainty and what new rules an SOPs the new government might introduce was also making him adopt a wait and see approach.

He said with the previous government having a history of changing and chopping the SOP, he would rather wait for things to settle down first before deciding to reopen.

“We don’t know what’s going to happen. Will there be a change in policies in tackling the epidemic?

“Will there be new SOP? We won’t know.”

Yong Jiunn Harng, one of the partners in the Ah Ma Ho Liao restaurant in Malacca, said reopening now when the Delta variant of the Covid-19 is rampant would be a “hasty and dangerous” decision.

The 30-year-old Yong said moreover, quite a number of his staff have not been fully vaccinated.

“Like I said, for us to reopen would be a hasty decision. My staff have not completed their vaccination and they are vulnerable to getting infected.”

He said with the high number of cases in Malacca, he believed that even if they reopened, there wouldn’t be many customers, as many people are still afraid to come out.

Yut Kee, a popular restaurant at Jalan Kamunting in central Kuala Lumpur, posted a notice on their Facebook page notifying their customers that while the government has allowed dine-ins, they will only serve takeaways.

“We are not allowing it (dine-in) for now,” it stated.

Cafe Yamatatsu, a Japanese cafe at Jalan Klang Lama in Kuala Lumpur, similarly announced on its Facebook page that they are not opened for dine-ins as yet.

However, they are still offering takeaways and deliveries.

The cafe said even though the government has allowed dine-ins, the “record high number of confirmed cases” has made them wary for the time being.

“In a week or two. We’ll see if it’s appropriate to reopen. We’ll let you know.”

The chic cafe at Kuala Lumpur Chinatown’s Kwai Chai Hong lane, Pandan Republic, and the FYF Kopitiam at Mount Austin in Penang have also taken the same route as Yut Kee and Cafe Yamatatsu by going to social media to announce they are not open for dine-ins yet.

They said they will not follow the government’s announcement for the time being and will reopen when the outbreak stabilises.

Other food places that have said they are not accepting dine-ins just yet are Park Le Space, a homestay restaurant, Caffeinees and Japanese restaurant Papa San.

“Without knowing everything about the (new) SOP, we (have) decided to put our reopening on hold,” Papa San posted on their Facebook page.

“Give us some time and we’ll be back soon.”

Fast food outlet McDonald’s has also said that with the exception of certain outlets in selected states, they were not ready for dine-ins just yet.

In a post on its social media, the fast food chain restaurant said since their customers’ safety has always been their priority, only selected restaurants in phase 2 and 3 states – Perlis, Sabah, Sarawak and Labuan –“that have met our store-opening criteria” are allowed to reopen for dine-ins.

Caretaker Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin on Thursday announced that dine-ins would be allowed for individuals who are fully vaccinated against Covid-19 from yesterday in all states.

However, director-general of health Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah in a posting later on his Facebook, stated many places were being reopened due to economic reasons and not because it was already safe from Covid-19. – August 21, 2021.