The Food & Beverage (F&B) division of  the Malaysian Retail Chain Association (MRCA) stated that dine-ins were still part of the food business and customer experience as deliveries and take-aways are not enough to supplement or replace the revenue from dine-ins.

MRCA stated that fees or commissions currently being charged by delivery service platforms were very high. Operators can only rely on deliveries and takeaways and the maximum F&B operators can achieve is probably around 10 percent to 20 percent of usual sales.

This is why it is hard for many outlets to cover rental costs and staff salaries.

Only small eateries have remained open for take-aways but most of the large Chinese and fine dining restaurants have closed.

MRCA in explaining why the government must allow dine-ins of at least two persons to a table stated that the number of online orders were actually very small as most people nowadays preferred to cook at home to save cost.

The majority of F&B players were badly affected and had to piggyback on the goodwill and compassion of their landlords while others even resorted to borrow loans from unlicensed moneylenders just to survive.

According to the Tourism Satellite Account,  F&B accounted for 18 percent of the tourism industry in Malaysia for the year 2019.

-THE MALAYSIA VOICE