GEORGE TOWN: While many food operators remain cautious about receiving diners again in view of the high number of daily Covid-19 cases, the ones that have done so are seeing few patrons.One such outlet is a Korean barbecue restaurant run by Lim Kuan Ee, 34, who said they recorded a low turnout since reopening for dine-ins on Aug 10.
“There have been only about 20 people since we welcomed diners again in the past week,” he added.
Regardless of the lukewarm response, Lim said they needed to reopen and continue their business.
“We can’t wait around and hope that things will go back to normal.
“This is what we need to live with for now,” he said at his restaurant in Bayan Baru yesterday.
Lim said many of his customers had told him that they would return for dine-ins after being fully vaccinated, but it might take a while.
Despite being keen to open its doors to diners again, a popular biryani restaurant branch in Bayan Lepas is not in a hurry to do so.
Its chain manager Imthiaz Mahmud Abdul Wahab said the management needed more time to plan and prepare.
“All our workers across the branches have received their first dose and will be fully vaccinated by next month.
“There is no rush to accept dine-ins for now. People are still not ready to eat out.
“It’s best to wait until all our workers are fully vaccinated,” Imthiaz Mahmud added.
Dining in is permitted for fully-vaccinated individuals in Penang, which entered Phase Two of the National Recovery Plan on July 7.
Under the strict standard operating procedure, operators of food premises are also required to display at the entrance the number of workers who have been fully inoculated.
Dine-ins are subject to a 50% capacity with physical distancing and good ventilation systems in place.
At the Sri Aman Food Court in Bayan Lepas, owner Lee Guan Cheng, 56, said they had concerns over the SOP.
“Allowing dine-ins is good but if we reopen and there happens to be one Covid-19 case, we will need to shut for a while and that would affect all of us,” he said, adding that there were over 15 hawkers at the food court.
Lee said with the increasing number of Covid-19 cases in the state, specifically in the southern part of the island, they had to be cautious.
“Depending on the situation, we might only reopen for dine-ins at the end of the year. For now, we are sticking to takeaways only,” he added.
Since recording 1,385 cases on Aug 11, Penang has consistently registered four-figure Covid-19 figures daily. It hit an all-time high of 2,054 on Tuesday but dropped to 1,427 yesterday.
As of Aug 24, 1,071,985 (78.4%) of the state’s adult population had received their first dose of the vaccine while 643,909 (47.1%) had gotten both doses.