We’re nearing the end of the second week of Phase 2 (Heightened Alert) and many F&B establishments are experiencing a slowdown amid the heightened safety restrictions. Until June 13, dining in is prohibited and while restaurants are better equipped with providing deliveries, takeaways, this mini lockdown is still taking a toll on their operation and profits. Even with pivoting to a delivery or takeaway model, many establishments are expecting a steep decline in their sales.
Here are some of the initiatives headed by organisations to help F&B operators pull through this period.
Food delivery support
From now until Jun 15, Enterprise Singapore will fund 5 percentage points of the commission cost charged by the three food delivery platforms - Deliveroo, foodpanda and GrabFood.
In the same period, the agency will fund 20 per cent of the delivery costs for food delivery orders made through third-party logistic partners, such as Lalamove, Zeek Logistics and Pickupp.
Staff salary support
The Government has also increased support for F&B businesses under the Jobs Support Scheme (JSS) to 50 per cent from the 10 per cent support of wages paid up to June 2021.
Under the JSS, co-payment by the government will apply to the first S$4,600 of gross monthly wages paid to local employees during the period for which dining-in is prohibited.
Rental support
In 2021, due to the dine-in suspension in place during Phase 2 (Heightened Alert), hawkers and coffee shop stallholders who are tenants of government agencies will receive a one-month rental waiver.
Digital tools support
The Digital Resilience Bonus (DRB) aims to uplift the digital capabilities of a broad base of enterprises in the Food Services and Retail sectors, which are more affected by safe distancing requirements in the reopening of the economy.
The DRB is given on top of enhanced digitalisation assistance provided under the SMEs Go Digital Programme. Food Services and Retail enterprises that have PayNow Corporate accounts without suffix, e-invoicing, and use pre-defined categories of digital solutions for Business Processes, Digital Presence and Data Mining and Analytics can receive bonus payouts of up to $10,000.
Support from F&B technology suppliers
Covid-19's impact on the industry is a clear indication that there is a paradigm shift towards technology in the F&B sector. There is increased interest in moving towards virtual channels because of the reduced costs, improved productivity and improved sales cycles. Taking this time to relook at certain operational workflows and adopting automation or technology is vital in moving beyond just surviving the pandemic but actually thriving in the near future.
Here are some digital solutions that are providing support during Phase 2.
FoodRazor
Automating the invoice processing and management workflow eliminates painful data entry keyed into spreadsheets and accounting systems. This gives you back the hours you need, increases data accuracy by removing human errors, keeps staff on more customer-facing duties, and eliminates the need to manage and archive paper invoices.
Accuracy – Ensure exact invoice data by line-item is captured and uploaded to the accounting system
Actionability – Gain deeper and granular insights from accurate invoice analysis and comprehensive dashboards
Priorities – Give your staff the time to get back to their critical daily tasks instead of menial administrative work
Accountability – Track messy supplier invoices, returns, and handwritten invoice adjustments and reconcile any discrepancies with suppliers easily
Practicality – Remove the need to manually manage and store paper invoices
This Phase 2, FoodRazor is supporting businesses by extending the free trial to 200 invoice pages until 31 May.
StaffAny
The human resource structure is at the core of the hospitality industry, and the staffing cost accounts for a large portion of expenses in the restaurant business. This, coupled with the capital-intensive nature of this industry, makes running a restaurant a very costly affair. This also makes it necessary for F&B operators to stay in control of their labour costs to maintain profit margins.
This Phase 2, StaffAny is supporting businesses with an extension of 2 months free, on top of 80% off on grants for all new businesses. The promotion lasts till 31 May.
Talenox
Gone are the days when managing staff data and payroll meant manually recording, editing, moving and merging data on spreadsheets. Talenox offers a cloud-based platform where payroll become easily manageable while recording and storing staff data in one single location. Profiles, payroll and leave apps are seamlessly synced and updated in real-time for intelligent management across the organisation. F&B operators can effortlessly handle full-time and part-time staff across multiple locations without having to worry about missing information.
Talenox is currently offering a free plan for basic payroll and employee data storage.
Last updated 28 May, 2021.
