More Eateries May Close Down If Dine-Ins Aren’t Allowed After ‘Circuit Breaker’ Ends: Chope Survey

Singapore Eateries Face Close Down Risks If Dine-Ins Still Not Allowed In Coming Months

Many of eateries in Singapore have suffered massive losses this ‘Circuit Breaker’, as dining-in was banned since early April.

Though many of them have signed up for delivery services, it seems like they’re still not making enough to cover their losses.

According to a survey by Chope, more eateries here risk closure if their operations continue like this for the next few months.

Most eateries fear having to close down with drop in revenue

Chope’s survey was based on over 150 responses after a month without dine-ins after ‘Circuit Breaker’ was implemented on 7 Apr.

They found that 62% of restaurants had experienced a drop in revenue of 50% or greater in Apr 2020 – compared to Apr 2019 – while operating only with takeaways and delivery services.

Image taken when dine-ins were still permitted

These restaurants are already working with reduced operating costs, as 11% of them have retrenched full-time staff, and 25% considering to if the situation doesn’t improve soon.

42% of eateries risk closure in 2 months

At the rate they’re going at now, 42% of the eateries surveyed fear that they risk closing in the next 2 months.

81% said they wouldn’t be able to survive past 6 months without dine-ins to add to their revenue.

Image taken when dine-ins were still permitted

88% of restaurants shared that takeaways and deliveries only accounted for around 10% of their revenue previously.

The high operating costs and logistical fees have been eating into these eateries’ revenue, and is said to be their greatest burden.

Rental rebates not yet received by many

Though a rental tax rebate policy was announced during the Resilience Budget, but by May 2020, only 57% of restaurants surveyed had received the rebates, or heard news of receiving them soon.

Apparently, 12.7% of the eateries had neither received rebates, nor heard confirmation from their landlords that they would receive it.

The average rating restaurants gave the government’s support to their situation was a 5.9 out of 10, with most awarding them 5 or 6 points out of 10.

Dining-in may not resume so soon

Unfortunately, it looks like more may share that grim future, as dining in won’t be allowed for at least 4 weeks after 1 Jun, according to Phase 1 of reopening the economy.

Reinstating dine-ins will be a big move for Singapore, and we can’t be certain exactly when in Phase 2 it’ll be rolled out.

That said, the survey pointed out that eateries in similar metropolitan cities like Hong Kong experienced a jump in dine-in demand once social distancing measures relaxed.

Support your favourite eateries if you can

Now that the ‘Circuit Breaker’ is finally coming to a close, we can start looking forward to the day we’re able to eat out with friends again safely.

Finances are tight for many now, but if you can, you could help your favourite food haunts by ordering food directly from them once in a while.

It looks like they need all the support they can get now, especially if we want to visit them in the future.

Featured image by MS News.