The COVID-19 pandemic has almost destroyed the Food & Beverage (F&B) industry in a matter of weeks. Singapore restaurant sales went down by 90% in March 2020 and with the recent introduction of Circuit Breaker in Singapore, restaurants, cafes and hawkers are unable to offer dine-in services for their customers and many F&B merchants have scrambled to join the main delivery apps in Singapore—GrabFood, Food Panda and Deliveroo.
Since the start of Circuit Breaker in Singapore, there are more and more food places in Singapore that started to offer islandwide food deliveries in Singapore. And it’s not just restaurants and cafes that are doing that.
Before COVID-19, most hawker stalls are not even on food delivery apps. But since then, many hawker stalls have started to offer islandwide food deliveries by partnering with courier companies and local drivers. Other food places have also come up with takeaway menus and promotions during the COVID-19 period in order to stay afloat.
At the same time, many F&B places have chosen to close temporarily as the Circuit Breaker situation simply isn’t in their favour (operating costs wise) to continue.
F&B merchants have been appealing to delivery platforms for weeks since the worsening of the COVID-19 situation to reduce their commissions. So far, the delivery apps refused, further profiting from the COVID-19 crisis.
We have been huge advocates of food delivery services since they first started in Singapore several years ago. We order our meals using food delivery apps at least 3-4 times a week. But we have to say that it is time for us to minimise using food delivery apps because they are charging up to 40% commission for deliveries and to order directly from restaurants, eateries and hawkers as much as possible to support them. #SaveFnbSG
