MORE than two weeks after the government allowed fully vaccinated people to dine in, restaurants have seen their business volume increase by only up to 20%, eatery owners said.

Some food and beverage operators are still opting to suspend dine-ins for now until all their employees complete the 14-day wait after their second dose of a Covid-19 vaccine.

Jawahar Ali Taib Khan, president of the Malaysian Muslim Restaurant Entrepreneurs Association, said most members are not open for dine-in but for those who are, business has increased by 10%.

Customers who are still worried about the spread of the virus, he said, are sticking with takeaways.

“We hope when the number of daily cases drops to four digits, the situation will improve,” he told The Malaysian Insight.

“Since some of the employees just received their second dose and have not completed the 14-day period to be considered fully vaccinated, we are also being cautious.”

Daily Covid-19 cases have been above 19,000 most days in the last two weeks. Movement restrictions, however, have been gradually eased as the government adopts endemicity as a new position. And despite the high number of infections, the bulk of them are in the asymptomatic and mild symptoms categories of Covid-19 as vaccination rates increase.

However, complaints about confusing standard operating procedure (SOP) for dine-ins are still a problem.

Jawahar said the SOP set by the National Security Council (NSC) and the enforcement officers differ, causing confusion.

Jeremy Lim, vice-president of the Restaurants and Bistro Owners Association, agreed with Jawahar that the enforcement agencies are not aware of the SOP and business owners take it upon themselves to explain or risk fines.

The confusion stems from the number or percentage of employees allowed to work.

“We need to explain to officers what the NSC SOP are. Once 70% of our employees are fully vaccinated, 60% are allowed to work.

“But the enforcement officers say that this is not allowed. So, we have to spend time explaining to them with examples,” Lim said.

Lim said most of the association members have not resumed dine-in business as they are waiting for workers to be fully vaccinated.

Takeaway still preferred

Joshua Liew, spokesman for the Malaysian F&B Operators Alliance, said its members have reported a 20% increase in business volume after dine-in resumed.

Be that as it may, Liew said takeaway volume has not decreased as many consumers are still afraid to eat out.

Some members also have not opened fully for dine-ins. Restaurants with more than one outlet have opted not to open all of them as not all their employees have been fully vaccinated.

“We have not fully reopened due to a lack of manpower,” Liew said, adding that even when they allow dine-ins, the number of customers will be limited.

The hard truth, however, is that eateries need to rely on dine-in traffic in order to stay in business.

Liew said those who are still refraining from allowing dine-ins and depend on takeaways have seen their business volume decrease, and that demand for takeaways will drop after a while.

20% of coffee shops open for dine-in

Malaysia Singapore Coffee Shop Proprietors’ General Association president Wong Teu Hoon said only 20% of coffeeshops nationwide are open dine-in orders. Takeaways are still the norm for most.

The decision was also made based on the vaccination rate in several states, which is still slow, he added.

Those who cater for dine-in customers are also not seeing an improvement in their business as people choose not to eat out.

With all the emphasis on ventilation to curb virus transmissions, shops that have an open-air dining area might see at least a 10% increase in business, he said.

Liew said while it was the government’s decision to lift the ban on dining-in, the industry has to bear the brunt of criticism and are even accused of causing outbreaks.

When daily Covid-19 cases were hovering around the 2,000 mark, the government banned dine-ins. With more than 20,000 daily cases reported since the month of June, the government decided to lift the ban on August 20.

“There are now so many confirmed cases and most restaurants are not open for dining-in. So, we should not be blamed for causing any outbreaks,” he said.

Sarawak Coffee Shop and Restaurant Owners’ Association chairman Donny Hii Hung Yii said with the recent hike in Covid-19 cases in the state, businesses are suffering.

“Sarawak allowed dine-ins to resume more than a month ago. Now that infections are up and some areas placed under the enhanced movement-control order (EMCO), dining-in is banned again.

“When the cases were still under control, business improved by 30%. Once dining-in was allowed, the volume increased by 60%, but now it is back to square one,” he said.

Sarawak allowed dining-in at eateries state-wide on July 16. Since then, the state has seen an influx in Covid-19 cases despite having more than 80% of its population fully vaccinated. The state has been overtaking Selangor in recent days in terms of the highest number of new cases in recent days.

Dining-in is only allowed for those who are fully vaccinated. This means 14 days after the second shot for two-dose vaccines and 28 days after for single-dose vaccines. – September 10, 2021.