Disgruntled diners serve up drama
Fake vaccination certs among challenges faced by eateries as dining in resumes
FOOD and beverage (F&B) establishments had to turn away customers with fake vaccination certificates and some whose full vaccination status were not yet valid, following the resumption of dining in.
Thai restaurant 87 Just Thai Killiney in Killiney Road had to reject 10 customers on Tuesday, the first day dining in resumed.
Co-founder Eric Tan said several customers had shown up in pairs to dine in, having assumed that the non-air-conditioned restaurant was a coffee shop.
Only hawker centres and coffee shops can accept groups of two diners regardless of vaccination status.
Groups of up to five people who are fully vaccinated, have recovered from or tested negative for Covid-19, can dine together at restaurants.
The restaurant’s other outlet, located in Pasir Panjang, also faced similar challenges.
“There were also others who didn’t understand that if there is no green tick in your app, we can’t let you in ... one couple got really upset and stormed off after saying ‘good luck to your business’,” said Tan.
The Straits Times spoke to 10 restaurants, bars and F&B groups, six of whom had to turn away a handful of guests this past week.
Businesses can verify the vaccination status of guests via the Tracetogether or Healthhub mobile apps, physical Covid-19 vaccination cards or by scanning their Tracetogether tokens.
A person is considered to be fully vaccinated if he has received the full regimen of the Pfizer-biontech/ Comirnaty or Moderna vaccine, with an additional two weeks for the vaccine to be fully effective.
A green tick in the app denotes that the person has completed the full regimen.
Venues can also admit those who have received a negative result on a S$20 (RM62) pre-event test by a Ministry of Health-approved Covid19 test provider in the last 24 hours.
The Empire Eats Group, which owns eight brands of restaurants and bars, had guests who did not understand the requirements, and even some who tried to hoodwink their staff.
“We encountered some people thinking they could dine-in while unvaccinated if they were in a group of two.
“Some people also presented fake certificates or insisted that they were fully vaccinated before the 14-day milestone,” said the group’s director Howard Lo.
On Aug 11, Health Minister Ong Ye Kung warned against using another person’s vaccination certificate in order to be allowed to dine at restaurants, adding that the authorities would take enforcement action.
Both 87 Just Thai and Empire Eats restaurants have posters clearly explaining the dine-in rules at their outlets.
But they are concerned about the repercussions on their businesses if cheats slip through the cracks.
“The authorities have demonstrated that they will mete out severe penalties to the restaurant for any infraction, even if it is out of the restaurant’s control,” said Lo.
Covid-19 restrictions are slated to be eased further come Aug 19, including increasing permitted event sizes and capacity limits for malls and attractions.
Up to 50% of employees who work from home may also return to the workplace.
The requirement for temperature screening in public premises will also be removed.