By Art Jimenez
Last week, we rounded off the number of Iloilo City residents who are free to leave their residences anytime outside curfew hours to 240,000 or nearly half of our city’s 2015-census population of 447,992. The difference represents the age ranges from “Under 1 – 20” and 60 – and above” who are on Stay Home! orders under existing DOH protocols.
When they go out of their residence to work or whatever, how many of the 240,000 are likely to eat out? Certainly, we don’t have the numbers but all of us know that by just keeping almost half of the population at home we are already cutting in half all potential business of the food service industry and, for that matter, almost all industries.
The already halved restaurant market size reduces some more because the near paralyzation of public transportation especially under general community quarantine (GCQ) further limits people’s mobility to patronize their favorite restaurants in other city districts.
Under this scenario and up until August 31, the restaurant business was almost a dead duck. Dine-in restaurants were almost always near empty. Small space renters were at a further disadvantage because operating at 50 percent capacity was like cutting off one of their arms.
Just imagine a small 20-table resto like those at Robinsons-Jaro. Remove 10 tables and keep a one-meter clearance at each side of the table. What do you see? Yet the rent and other overhead expenses stay the same. Worse, malls are required to reduce their centralized air-conditioning supposedly to discourage people from just roaming inside the mall without paying attention to diners’ needs.
This month, however, President Duterte pointed the quarantine roulette wheel from GCQ to the more lenient Modified GCQ. Although this does not change the Stay Home rule for the young and the elderly, there are now more motivation to remain outside one’s residence and, possibly, eat out.
These motivational factors are contained in Mayor Jerry’s Executive Order No. 140, series of 2020. They include (1) Operation at 50 percent capacity: DOT-accredited hotels, cinemas, church services, personal care services (spa, massage), fitness studios, review centers, internet cafes, pet grooming services, libraries and museums, and tourist destinations, including MICE, meaning Meetings, Incentives, Conferences, Exhibitions.
(2) Operation at 75 percent capacity: dine-in restaurants and other food establishments, and salons and barbershops. N.B. Public consumption of any alcoholic beverages in restaurants shall be prohibited after 9 pm.
(3) Operation at full capacity: outdoor exercises and non-contact sports (tennis, golf).
Of course health and safety measures are likewise enumerated. Basic among the latter is the wearing of face mask and face shield as well as physical distancing.
Are these MGCQ motivational factors to stay out, rather than stay home, lead to more restaurant patrons? Or back to my basic question: Will MGCQ bring in more diners?
As one song sings, “We’ve only just begun….” True, MCGQ is just inside the second week of September. However, our 178 longest days of quarantine experience has by now influenced our consumption attitude and behavior in two major ways that are both averse to dining out.
One is the acquired dislike of dining out. And two is a new discovery… so nice to eat at home.
As to the dislike. There is much fear of catching the highly contagious COVID-19 particularly in such confined places like restaurants, mainly the small ones. Everyone is all too aware that infections have been increasing by the thousands each day. I did some research and found that from August 1 to September 7, the daily COVID-19 cases averaged 3,826!
And just from September 1 to 7, infections rose by 14,463 from 224,264 to 238,727.
Another is anxiety. Some friends even say, “I most likely don’t know who I will encounter in there,” referring to complete strangers. Corollary to this is the fear that the more people there are, the higher the risk that someone among them is a COVID-19 carrier.
Others are concerned and/or worried about the personal hygienic practices of food handlers, food servers, and busboys. A lot of friends now prefer disposable plastic utensils or chopsticks especially when in a Chinese restaurant. After all, safety is the best policy at this time.
And fourth involves aesthetics. Many restaurant habitues are aghast at the sight of a restaurant full of plastic barriers and dining tables slapped with large cautionary signs. One rather overdone plastic divisions with all the wrinkles and creases are at Tatoy’s-Atria.
The second major factor favors eating in than eating out.
First, many discover that it’s safer, economical, creative, and even exciting to cook or share in the cooking at home. Just preparing your menu already tastes better than selecting from worn-out, unchanging menu books of restaurants.
Second, friends discover the thrill of home dining with their families especially when jokes and laughter punctuate the meal. And no cellphones nor Ipads, please. A smart punster even exclaimed “The family that eats together, stays together.”
You can, by all means, add your own reasons to the list.
And since the MCQ “song” has just begun, let’s give the restaurant business a break and allow it time to blossom, grow, develop, and mature –like a product cycle- during the rest of the month. And then we will see.
Meantime, they should improve their take-out and delivery systems. More importantly, they should stop treating customers as merely buyers and source of funds. They must identify customer needs and expectations and exceed these.
Btw, restaurant owners should be the first to ask and answer “Will MGCQ bring in more diners?”
