Legislator-cum-restaurateur Andrew Chan Chak Mo, who chairs the United Association of Food and Beverage Merchants of Macau (UAFBMM) and heads Future Bright Holdings Limited, yesterday expressed pessimism about the restaurant sector’s business in the run-up to and during the upcoming Chinese New Year holiday period due to the ongoing COVID-19 situation in neighbouring regions.
Chan made the remarks while speaking to reporters after chairing a closed-door meeting of the legislature’s 2nd Standing Committee.
Chan noted that the local government has been urging community associations not to organise banquets in celebration of the Chinese New Year due to the ongoing COVID-19 threat that Macau is facing, aside from the fact that neighbouring regions, namely Zhuhai and Zhongshan, are still being affected by COVID-19, because of which, he said, the business performance of Macau’s restaurant sector is being adversely affected.
Consequently, Chan said, residents are increasingly unwilling to have their CNY family dinner in restaurants, and 70 to 80 percent of banquet reservations by community associations have been cancelled.
“The restaurant industry is struggling,” Chan said.
Chan, one of Macau’s best-known restaurateurs, noted that the restaurant sector is heavily reliant on visitors. If the Zhuhai and Zhongshan authorities continue to require their residents to spend their CNY holiday there, i.e., barring them from travelling, Macau’s restaurant sector could expect a “poor” business performance during the CNY period.
Chan also said that many restaurants have asked their employees to take unpaid leave, adding that some have not renewed the employment contracts of some of their staff, non-resident workers in particular.
Chan noted that the number of visitor arrivals to Macau last year stood at some seven million, a huge decline from the almost 40 million in the pre-pandemic 2019, because of which, he said, Macau’s restaurant sector was expected to take a long time to recover. Consequently, Chan said, local restaurants have to change their business strategies to survive in a tough market during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
Chan also said that although the restaurant sector has been affected by an increase in food costs as well as in food delivery and logistic costs due to the COVID-19 pandemic, he believed that most of the business owners in the sector will not raise their prices out of fear of “losing their customers”.
Asked by reporters about the fact that the Macau government is urging non-resident workers from the mainland to stay put in Macau rather than returning to their hometowns during the CNY holiday, Chan said that the city’s food and beverage companies would “definitely” arrange local accommodation for their staff if need be.
He also said that restaurants were getting used to the government’s requirement to ask their patrons to scan the contact-tracing-function QR codes, aka venue codes, adding that most customers are willing to comply with the measure when entering catering venues.
Legislator-cum-restaurateur Andrew Chan Chak Mo talks to reporters on the sidelines of yesterday’s meeting of the legislature’s 2nd Standing Committee. Photo: Ginnie Liang
