'We focus on getting through each day': Old KL eateries dig into savings while waiting out COVID-19 storm
KUALA LUMPUR: Petaling Street, a usually bustling expanse, was deserted and repose under the current full lockdown.
Peter Mentum, who has been running Restoran Kiew Yee Baru in the aforementioned spot since the 1960s, said they would showtime endmost the restaurant by 7.20pm on most nights and non even wait for the 8pm limit ready by the government.
"Take a look, there's goose egg going on," he gestured down Jalan Tun HS Lee.
"It's fifty-fifty quieter than it was during May thirteen," Mentum said, referring to the 1969 race riots in Kuala Lumpur and the subsequent curfew to quell the incident.
During the opening hours, Mentum'south son-in-law Chong Wan Heng merely fired upwards the stove whenever an gild came in, which was few and far betwixt. The eatery, operating out of an unassuming shop lot, serves "tze char" dishes like Cantonese fried noodles, mincemeat tofu and seafood fried rice.
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Malaysia entered a nationwide lockdown from Jun 1 to incorporate the spike in COVID-19 cases. Dine-in at restaurants are prohibited and shops can but operate from 8am to 8pm, while work from home is the default arrangement for non-essential sectors.
Simply two people per household are allowed to purchase essentials, with movement limited to a 10km radius from their residence.
The lockdown, which has since been extended until Jun 28, has dealt a serious blow to businesses and retailers. Time-honoured eateries that have been serving comforting, nostalgic dishes for decades are among those hit hard by the restrictions, specially when they have yet to bound on the commitment bandwagon.
They were unsure how long they could continue to operate as they are currently surviving on their savings, simply their immediate focus is to take things 1 twenty-four hour period at a time.
"Right now, I'm not even thinking well-nigh profits. As long as we tin break even, comprehend the cost of our ingredients, our gas, the utilities and workers' wages, I'm happy already," Chin said.
"When we were younger, yes we did worry that the eating house might not survive. Just we're at present an established eating house (lao zhao pai) and have such a long history, nosotros can use our savings to aid tide things over.
"Right now, there's not fifty-fifty time to entertain such thoughts nigh whether nosotros might have to shut or not, and we focus on getting through each day," he said.
Digging INTO RESERVES TO STAY AFLOAT
For Rosnah Husin, who manages Pak Din Ikan Bakar with her husband Zainuddin Abdullah, the cycle of lockdowns and reopenings in over a yr have depleted their businesses' reserves.
The grilled fish stall, which was founded in 1997, is a pop institution in central Kuala Lumpur'south Jalan Tanglin area. Earlier the pandemic, customers came in droves from areas as far as Kajang, Gombak and Subang, Rosnah said.
"The 10km travel limit and people's fright of existence fined have really badly affected us. Considering a lot of customers and our regulars don't just come from the surrounding area," she said.
In its heyday, the stall used up to 10 sacks or 100kg of rice from morning until tardily afternoon.
These days, they but use 2 bags of rice, Rosnah said. Customers as well just came to purchase grilled fish and rice, dissimilar when they were able to dine in and order more food.
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Rosnah said she and her hubby take stopped paying themselves salaries, and were just focused on ensuring the stall's survival each week. Half of their workers had left or were permit become; the remaining ones were willing to work at half their usual pay.
"Luckily we always put coin abroad for reserves, but equally this electric current lockdown drags on, fifty-fifty the loma has go flat," Rosnah said, playing on a traditional Malay proverb nearly slowly accumulating wealth.
When CNA visited their stall on Wednesday (Jun 16), orders were only trickling in slowly. Rosnah was taking orders on the telephone and her married man or the workers would wrap the grilled fishes in tin foil and pack them with rice and condiments made of chilli, shallots, sauce and tamarind.
"It is the same with my neighbours here. We're all only trying to survive, it's literally surviving on what we can scratch out in the morn," Rosnah said.
Likewise, Sathya Seelan Vijayakumar, the electric current proprietor of Sri Ganapathi Mess in Petaling Jaya, said he has to encompass function of the outlet's overheads from its reserves these days.
The banana leaf rice restaurant was started by his father some 20 years agone. Fried squid, crab rasam and mutton parathal were amongst the well-loved dishes.
Sri Ganapathi Mess is situated correct opposite a primary school, and had it been a normal lunch hour, traffic would oftentimes be a snarl as diners and parents jostle for parking space.
Now, the surface area was tranquility and the eatery was empty. An occasional call or online order would prompt the workers to ready and pack.
SIGNING Upwardly WITH DELIVERY PLATFORMS
While many restaurants and cafes accept signed up with delivery platforms such as Catch and Food Panda, some of these decade-sometime eateries said they were resisting the idea for practical reasons.
"I, I'thousand non very conversant with new engineering," said Restoran Kiew Yee Baru's Chin.
"2, the platforms accept commissions for every order, and the profit isn't very big for the basic dishes, then either I have the loss, or I accept to raise prices to encompass the costs of labour and ingredients," he added.
But if he were to enhance prices, he would be in danger of losing his customers.
Rosnah said her family unit'south grilled fish stall had merely just signed up with a major food commitment platform and was going through the approving procedure.
"But I had heard from my other friends in the food business about the committee construction, and for me, my primary concern is I have to take care of my customers commencement. Items similar fish are also seasonal and the prices are not stock-still," she said.
Both establishments have been relying on orders that came in through phone calls.
"Once we're done with cooking, we call the customer to let them know their order is ready and they can arrange either for a delivery passenger, or come up themselves to option information technology up," Chin said.
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Sathya Seelan's Sri Ganapathi Mess was initially not on any online delivery platform only he saw the need after suffering bad business organisation during final year's lockdown in March.
"After 10 days with no business concern, I had to shut everything downwardly for a calendar month, register ourselves on the platform, and then reopen for business organization," he said.
He acknowledged that business would be much worse without the delivery platforms and takeaways. In this current lockdown, electronic orders and takeaways helped cover 70 to 80 per cent of their overheads.
"More than importantly, nosotros can reach our customers who live beyond the 10km or inter-district travel limits during this total lockdown," Sathya Seelan said.
MISSING THE ATMOSPHERE
It has not been easy seeing their establishments stay quiet during the lockdown.
For Sathya Seelan, the thing he missed the well-nigh was the atmosphere.
"Usually, our busiest times are the weekend. Just last Saturday for case, it was 2pm and nosotros talked among ourselves because not many orders were coming in.
"And we were remarking that 'Hey, usually we would exist decorated running around the place serving rice, vegetable and curries,'" he described.
"Sales aside, we as well miss the interaction with our customers because we have some really long-time regulars, who accept been coming here since nosotros started business, or have been dining in for five, 10 years. They sometimes stop and linger over a cup of tea or coffee," he said.
Packing rice and vegetables into paper boxes was just not the same, he said.
"The whole point of assistant leaf rice is the assistant leaf. Packing our food into boxes makes us similar nasi campur (mixed rice)," he laughed.
Obviously, some customers as well miss the experience so much that they fabricated a special request to have their takeout boxes lined with banana leaves, Sathya Seelan said.
By his own calculations, Sathya Seelan said, the concern could run on its reserves until the cease of July, without having to let go of any of its workers.
"But by August, it becomes a question marking, and then I take to see how we are able to go along this business running," he said.
Read this story in Bahasa Melayu here.
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Source: https://cnalifestyle.channelnewsasia.com/asia/we-focus-getting-through-each-day-old-kl-eateries-dig-savings-while-waiting-out-covid-19-storm-293776
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