While most businesses are hurting because of the pandemic, things are particularly tough for the restaurant industry.
When the government restricted restaurants, teashops and food stalls to take-away service in late March, many were forced to close, leaving thousands of workers without jobs.
Most eateries in Yangon, Mandalay and Naypyitaw were permitted to reopen in early June, but a second, more severe wave of Covid-19 pushed the government to reintroduce the take-away only order on September 8.
That order remains in place, though some restaurants have been quietly welcoming customers in recent weeks. Now the Myanmar Restaurant Association has asked the Yangon Region government to allows restaurants to reopen in line with COVID-19 regulations, the association said.
Based on the approach from June to September, these regulations are likely to include partitioning screens on tables and taking customers temperatures.
Local eateries will go bust and the owners will face financial ruin if the ban on sit-in dining and stay-at-home orders remains in force for much longer, the association said in a letter.
“Restaurant owners have had to pay rent for their houses and shops and wages to their workers while their businesses have been suspended. If this situation continues for another two months, many restaurants will not survive, so, they want to resume operations,” said Nay Lin, chair of the MRA.
Restaurants have turned to food delivery platforms, a means of retaining some revenue during the pandemic. But restaurateurs say that steep commission fees charged by the delivery platforms are diminishing already-tight profit margins.
Independent restaurants that have centred their business on a dine-in experience are among the hardest hit, with less capital and less leverage on lease terms than franchises and little experience in deliveries.
Locally celebrated chef Orng Joitamoi opened his restaurant Joitamoi by Orng in Sanchaung Township in March, signing the lease contract before the pandemic hit Myanmar.
“Our restaurant’s concept isn’t really compatible with takeaway,” he told Myanmar Mix. “Our income is significantly less but the costs remain the same.
“The government has imposed orders on the restaurant industry but its standpoint on the landlords and rent prices remain the same. If things keep going this way, I don't think we will last more than two months. The losses are just too high."
