Nowadays, most food establishments cater to numerous food delivery and takeaway orders. Singaporeans would’ve seen these orders placed openly at an area in the outlet for delivery riders or customers to pick up.
Most of us, however, wouldn’t dare take these orders if they aren’t ours.
However, a woman allegedly took a takeaway order that wasn’t hers from a restaurant in Paya Lebar Quarter (PLQ).
Source: TungLok Group on Facebook
Though they didn’t call the police, they wanted to warn others about this.
In a Facebook post on Sunday (23 Apr), TungLok Group said the incident occurred on Saturday (22 Apr).
Source: TungLok Group on Facebook
It took place at one of their restaurants named Duckland, which serves duck-related dishes in PLQ mall.
They included CCTV footage of what happened.
The 1-minute clip started off with a shot of the restaurant’s front counter, with delivery riders seemingly waiting to pick up orders.
Source: TungLok Group on Facebook
Soon, a woman wearing a black top, black pants and black face mask, carrying a black tote bag on her shoulder and a plastic bag in her left hand, ambles into the restaurant.
Source: TungLok Group on Facebook
She looks off towards the left of the frame, as if looking for something.
The woman first moves behind a delivery rider standing there, then shifts to a position in front of him and bends down towards something that’s in front of her.
Source: TungLok Group on Facebook
Though staff can be seen behind the counter, not once does she speak to any of them.
After several moments, the woman re-emerges carrying a brown paper bag in her right hand. She wasn’t holding it when she entered the restaurant.
She then casually walks away.
In the Facebook post, TungLok said the auntie “helped herself” to an order meant for food delivery riders to pick up.
Elaborating on what happened, Ms Carolyn Tan, TungLok’s Senior Vice-President of Marketing & Corporate Communications, told Shin Min Daily News that the package taken contained half a roast duck and a sliced duck dish.
The order was worth a total of S$86.18 including taxes.
It was made online by a customer who was supposed to pick it up at the restaurant.
They realised the order was gone only when the customer arrived, whereupon they prepared another one for them.
Ms Tan said this was the first time such an incident had occurred since the restaurant opened in August 2019.
As the pick-up area is close to the cashier, their staff usually can monitor the orders left there.
However, the day of the incident was a weekend and also the Hari Raya Puasa festive season, so they were short of staff. Their staff thus didn’t notice what the woman was doing.
As the incident “wasn’t too serious”, the restaurant didn’t make a police report, Ms Tan said.
They chose to publicise it online just as a reminder to other F&B establishments.
It also serves as a deterrent, she added.
Unfortunately, this isn’t the first time the restaurant made the news due to allegedly illegal actions.
In March 2022, a customer who ordered roast duck walked out without paying after declaring that his duck wasn’t Irish.
At that time, they also posted CCTV footage and said they would make a police report.
The diner later returned to pay the bill and the restaurant clarified that no police report was made.
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Featured image adapted from TungLok Group on Facebook.
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