Covid-19 allows no planning in business: F&B operators feel slight relief post-MCO but face new challenges Despite massive revenue blows during the movement control order, F&B operators start to feel some relief in the new normal, but face new challenges to survive. — Picture by Ahmad Zamzahuri
After about 19 years of running the business, restaurateur Christopher De Mello can confidently declare that 2020 will be his worst year running in business. “We then entered phase two of MCO for an extended two weeks, which at that time we still could afford to just continue being closed. With the help of his nephew, who is an e-commerce expert, De Mello managed to gain back cash-flow by offering delivery options on food delivery app Beepit from April 22.De Mello said his business slowly started to gain momentum after the MCO was lifted and the restaurants were allowed to accept dine-in customers, but his revenue still remains between 40 and 50 per cent lower when compared to pre-MCO.
Despite the challenges, De Mello — who runs the business with his wife Jennifer Tee, sisters-in-law and a business partner — remained optimistic and hoped the situation would remain under control until the disease is totally contained. As most of their dessert options were curated for dine-ins, Lua said they had to close the shop for a week and quickly re-invent their menu to make it fit for takeaways and deliveries.
“We are blessed to be full-house some evenings, but revenue-wise, a full-house now is about 50 per cent of the revenue we used to get,” he added. Although they have now opened their doors for business, Kamaraj said the business hasn’t been too promising to cover his RM100,000 monthly commitments. “We were obviously not prepared for it and I don’t think anybody else was prepared for such circumstances.”