HALTING business at 8pm under tighter movement-control order (MCO) standard operating procedure (SOP) will hurt food delivery riders and restaurants, those in these jobs said.

Eatery operators are already badly hit as dine-ins have been prohibited, said restaurant owner and cook Muhammad Arif Asyraf Rusli.

He said the latest changes to the SOP are a new blow and hoped that MCO 3.0 will be the last lockdown imposed on the country.

“For a year, we have been getting so many directives. This is the third time we are placed under a lockdown, but there is no sign of improvement,” the 27-year-old who sells Italian and Mexican food in Setia Alam, Selangor, said.

“I was relieved when we were under the recovery MCO, but then, Covid-19 cases increased again and restaurant owners like me can’t accept customers. With takeaways, our profits were not as good as dine-ins.

“When the government allowed restaurants to operate until midnight, it was good, but now, if we have to close at 8pm, it will certainly affect our earnings.”

Effective tomorrow, business hours are from 8am to 8pm, except for pharmacies, which can remain open until 10pm.

The shortened hours are among tighter SOP announced on Saturday to reduce the number of new daily Covid-19 infections, which has been exceeding 6,000 in recent days.

“Not all restaurants open at 8am. Some open at noon while some closed at 5pm. How many hours do we have?” said Arif, who also operates a food truck.

He hoped the government would reconsider the new operating hours and let eateries stay open until 10pm.

Others have said closing at 8pm will cause problems for people who work late as well as for food delivery riders.

In other types of retail businesses, the shorter hours may also lead to crowding or longer queues as people try to beat the closing time.

Another restaurant owner in Shah Alam, who wished to be known as Azel, hoped Putrajaya will reconsider the operating hours and allow eateries to operate beyond 8pm as other measures such as physical distancing are already in place.

“It’s not just for restaurants but also for the people after work who need time to get dinner,” said Azel, who sells Malay food.

“With every MCO that is imposed, our business is affected. We don’t know how badly we will be affected this time.”

Loss of extra income

Food delivery rider Faris Bakri, from Kota Damansara, Selangor, predicted the same chaos from backlogged orders as experienced before when restaurant closing times were shortened under the previous MCO.

“Restaurants will take their last order at around 7pm and there will be customers making last-minute orders. There is a possibility that orders will arrive late and customers will be not happy,” said the 24-year-old.

“We have dealt with such scenarios before and customers were upset when restaurants had to cancel their orders. And customers won’t be able to find food elsewhere as all other shops have to close at 8pm as well.”

For delivery riders like him, it will mean loss of extra income.

“If we can deliver until 10pm, we can certainly earn more. But if everything closes at 8pm, our income will surely be affected,” he said.

For port worker Mustapha Yusof, the earlier closing time is not so much an inconvenience, but it has stirred his irritation with the government’s changing SOP.

Night-shift workers can still get food by buying meals ahead of time or preparing food at home, he said.

“We are not that worried about getting food. What really irritates us is that there has been so much back-pedalling. People are frustrated with the continuous flip-flopping by the government,” said Mustapha, who works with Northport (Malaysia) Bhd.

“They allowed people to go to malls when cases were high, and when things got more serious, they locked down the country. Then, the instructions kept on changing,” the 50-year-old said. – May 24, 2021.