AS inflation and the rising cost of living continue to impact most Malaysians, two major restaurant associations in the country have decided not to raise food prices yet. 

The two associations — Malaysian Muslim Restaurant Operators Association (Presma) and Malaysian Indian Restaurant Owners Association (Primas) — have a combined membership of about 12,000 restaurants nationwide, mostly selling the popular nasi kandar and banana leaf meals. 

They said they would try their best to maintain the current prices but at the same time would have to keep an eye on their income too. 

Presma vice-president Abdul Mukthahir M. Ibrahim said that the association’s president Jawahar Ali Taib Khan had recently urged members to maintain the status quo. 

“Our president urged our members not to increase the food prices now as it would only add to the people’s burden. 

“Already the price of goods is going up and he said if we increase the prices of food and beverages in our restaurant, it will surely not help the situation,” Abdul Mukthahir told The Malaysian Insight. 

In July, Abdul Mukthahir said they had no choice but to raise the selling price of nasi kandar to cope with the introduction of ceiling prices for chicken and eggs as well as the added cost of cooking oil following the removal of subsidies.

Besides that, the costs of other ingredients also escalated. 

There was no timeline set by the association to maintain the current food and beverage prices but Abdul Mukthahir said they would review the situation from time to time. 

“We will maintain the price as long as we can sustain and don’t incur heavy losses. 

“Hence, we will look into the situation and take the next action, if necessary,” he added.

Meanwhile, Primas president J. Suresh agreed with Abdul Mukthahir‘s view, saying that they would not be increasing food prices any time soon. 

He said they were trying to help the government in its efforts to keep the cost of living at a manageable level. 

“We can assure our customers that no price increase will happen for now,” Suresh told The Malaysian Insight. 

Suresh said he welcomed the government’s efforts to address the rising cost of living with immediate action taken by Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim following his appointment. 

Anwar had called a meeting with relevant government departments and agencies to address the issue. 

He gave a two-week ultimatum to all parties involved to come up with strategies to tackle the matter. 

Suresh admitted that time was needed for the government to come up with a proper solution. 

“They are a new government, we understand. 

“They will take some time, but we are just hoping for good news in the end,” he said. 

Worker shortages being fixed 

Meanwhile, on labour shortages in restaurants, Abdul Mukthahir said that the problem was slowly being put right. 

He said almost 80% of the registered members had been able to resolve their shortage of workers. 

“Our members managed to settle the issue of hiring foreign workers. 

“Only some 20% of restaurants were not able to fulfil their workers’ requirements because of documentation issues.” 

He expected the problem to be fully resolved soon. 

Suresh, meanwhile, said some 30% of their members had managed to hire foreign workers. 

He hoped the new government would expedite the hiring process of foreign workers so that they could completely focus on business recovery. – December 15, 2022.