reporter2
23-08-21, 16:55
Singapore F&B players bid farewell to traditional buffets
Aug 20, 2021
WITH no end in sight for the current ban on self-service buffets in Singapore, Seoul Garden Group on Thursday announced the end of its buffet line as it transitioned fully to a new a la carte menu with immediate effect.
This comes after over 30 years of operating as a buffet restaurant chain, known for its all-you-can-eat Korean-Asian grill and steamboat dishes that were for the most part available on a self-service basis before Covid-19.
In its press statement, the group cited challenges faced by food and beverage (F&B) operators to meet “the urgent need to provide diners with a safer dining environment under (Singapore’s) safe management measures”.
It also noted changes to dining rules that have “understandably needed to be frequent in response to a climate of uncertainty in face of clusters in the community”.
“Seoul Garden’s decision to pivot its dining concept aims to answer this call and was an important consideration in the group’s adoption of an a la carte dining experience,” said the group, adding that its strategy pivot was a “more sustainable way towards achieving zero food waste in the long run”.
Self-service dining has been banned in Singapore since April 2020. Many surviving F&B businesses offering such a dining model have since reinvented their buffet lines to introduce staff-served buffet meals as well as a la carte menus.
One such restaurant is Straits Kitchen, which launched its staff-served food line on April 13 this year - to coincide with Ramadan, post the lifting of Phase 2 (Heightened Alert) restrictions.
In a response to queries, Grand Hyatt Singapore’s director of food and beverage Sebastian Kern said Straits Kitchen has implemented a unidirectional queue system at each of its live cooking stations.
Service staff are also present to function as “safe distancing officers” to ensure that guests remain at a physical distance of one metre from any other person from a different group than their own.
All live cooking stations are served by the restaurant’s in-house chefs and protected by food shields, and guests will not be allowed to handle the food on their own, he added.
Under previous Covid-19 restrictions, it had offered buffet dining on an “a la minute” basis, where orders would be taken at and served to tables.
Mr Kern also noted that regulars have been returning to dine at the hotel’s various restaurants including Straits Kitchen since their reopening this month. “Our guests have also been supportive in abiding by the safe management measures, and since then we have seen business continuing healthily,” he said.
Speaking on behalf of the I’m Kim Korean BBQ brand of restaurants in Singapore, Chris Chew, director of operator Kingdom Food Group, said the restaurant chain is not considering following Seoul Garden’s footsteps at this point – although the group will not rule out such a possibility in the future.
“For a la carte dining, the key merit is that we can keep the food cost more controlled, especially with the surge in raw supplies and reduce wastage of food. On the other hand, we might lose out on existing customers who are looking for more value-for-money buffet dining options,” Mr Chew said.
Kingdom Food currently operates a total of five buffet restaurants, including three I’m Kim Korean BBQ branded outlets in Singapore. Two other buffet restaurants were closed over the last two years as the group was “not able to sustain them”, said Mr Chew.
He shares that having to serve buffet items a la carte to guests versus its previous self-service model has increased overall manpower costs by 30 per cent across its restaurants, as customers are now required to fill out menu chits for service staff to pick and serve to them accordingly.
That – in addition to a sharp decline in sales revenue due to reduced seating capacity under Singapore’s Covid-19 measures – has resulted in the group being “way below break-even” he said.
“With the high rental, manpower surges, food cost increment, it is an extremely difficult time for us, and many F&B operators. Many have shut over the last two years. We hope to receive more support from the landlords and government especially on rental and manpower cost, and that they can help local businesses stay afloat and tide over this period,” commented Mr Chew.
Aug 20, 2021
WITH no end in sight for the current ban on self-service buffets in Singapore, Seoul Garden Group on Thursday announced the end of its buffet line as it transitioned fully to a new a la carte menu with immediate effect.
This comes after over 30 years of operating as a buffet restaurant chain, known for its all-you-can-eat Korean-Asian grill and steamboat dishes that were for the most part available on a self-service basis before Covid-19.
In its press statement, the group cited challenges faced by food and beverage (F&B) operators to meet “the urgent need to provide diners with a safer dining environment under (Singapore’s) safe management measures”.
It also noted changes to dining rules that have “understandably needed to be frequent in response to a climate of uncertainty in face of clusters in the community”.
“Seoul Garden’s decision to pivot its dining concept aims to answer this call and was an important consideration in the group’s adoption of an a la carte dining experience,” said the group, adding that its strategy pivot was a “more sustainable way towards achieving zero food waste in the long run”.
Self-service dining has been banned in Singapore since April 2020. Many surviving F&B businesses offering such a dining model have since reinvented their buffet lines to introduce staff-served buffet meals as well as a la carte menus.
One such restaurant is Straits Kitchen, which launched its staff-served food line on April 13 this year - to coincide with Ramadan, post the lifting of Phase 2 (Heightened Alert) restrictions.
In a response to queries, Grand Hyatt Singapore’s director of food and beverage Sebastian Kern said Straits Kitchen has implemented a unidirectional queue system at each of its live cooking stations.
Service staff are also present to function as “safe distancing officers” to ensure that guests remain at a physical distance of one metre from any other person from a different group than their own.
All live cooking stations are served by the restaurant’s in-house chefs and protected by food shields, and guests will not be allowed to handle the food on their own, he added.
Under previous Covid-19 restrictions, it had offered buffet dining on an “a la minute” basis, where orders would be taken at and served to tables.
Mr Kern also noted that regulars have been returning to dine at the hotel’s various restaurants including Straits Kitchen since their reopening this month. “Our guests have also been supportive in abiding by the safe management measures, and since then we have seen business continuing healthily,” he said.
Speaking on behalf of the I’m Kim Korean BBQ brand of restaurants in Singapore, Chris Chew, director of operator Kingdom Food Group, said the restaurant chain is not considering following Seoul Garden’s footsteps at this point – although the group will not rule out such a possibility in the future.
“For a la carte dining, the key merit is that we can keep the food cost more controlled, especially with the surge in raw supplies and reduce wastage of food. On the other hand, we might lose out on existing customers who are looking for more value-for-money buffet dining options,” Mr Chew said.
Kingdom Food currently operates a total of five buffet restaurants, including three I’m Kim Korean BBQ branded outlets in Singapore. Two other buffet restaurants were closed over the last two years as the group was “not able to sustain them”, said Mr Chew.
He shares that having to serve buffet items a la carte to guests versus its previous self-service model has increased overall manpower costs by 30 per cent across its restaurants, as customers are now required to fill out menu chits for service staff to pick and serve to them accordingly.
That – in addition to a sharp decline in sales revenue due to reduced seating capacity under Singapore’s Covid-19 measures – has resulted in the group being “way below break-even” he said.
“With the high rental, manpower surges, food cost increment, it is an extremely difficult time for us, and many F&B operators. Many have shut over the last two years. We hope to receive more support from the landlords and government especially on rental and manpower cost, and that they can help local businesses stay afloat and tide over this period,” commented Mr Chew.