Badly hit eatery operators cry out for lifeline from government
SIBU: Operators of coffee shops and restaurants desperately want the government to throw them a lifeline to help sustain their struggling business.
Sibu Coffee Shop and Restaurant Owners’ Association deputy officer of general affairs, Hii Hiong Siu, said many operators were worried how to sustain their business if the pandemic continues.
Hii, who has been in the business for more than 15 years, said eateries such as coffee shops and restaurants were not designed for take-aways.
Rather, the business depended highly on dine-in customers, now impossible due to the Covid-19 cases spiralling out of control in Sibu.
“I am speaking on behalf of people in the same business. We do not discourage the government from taking drastic measures to curb the Covid-19 cases in Sibu because we know it is necessary.
“But, in doing so, the government needs to help us, we do not know how long this pandemic will last and how long we can continue to be like this,” he said when met yesterday.
All eateries have been struggling since the beginning of this year when the government implemented the no dine-in policy due to the Covid-19 outbreak in Sibu in January.
Coffee shops and restaurants were then allowed to open for dine-in under strict standard operating procedure (SOP) for a short while, before the town went back to the ‘no dine-in’ policy again due to another outbreak.
It is these uncertainties that worry the coffee shops and restaurants operators the most, Hii said.
Hii said since they paid taxes every year, the least the government could do was to help them during this difficult time.
“Do not keep asking us to be patient and saying that you are still finding solutions to solve our problems. This pandemic has been going on for more than a year and yet no solution is in sight for us.
“I think the best solution is for us to receive subsidies like the first time the government gave during the first Movement Control Order (MCO) last year. At least, it can take some pressure off us,” he said.
He also believed that before there was a solution, all tax payments or any business licence payments should be halted temporarily.
Hii, who operates a restaurant at Jalan Aman said he had to lay off three workers and the remaining two workers to work with 25 per cent salary cut so that the restaurant could still go on.
He said he had to make such a decision because business had dropped between 70 per cent and 80 per cent.
“I need to make sure that the business can continue. Before this, I had to fork out my savings to pay for the expenses.”
He also said he is grateful that the shoplot owner was very kind to give him 50 per cent discount of the monthly rental so that his business could continue.
However, not all coffee shops or restaurants operators are this lucky, he said.