RESTAURANT owners are banding together to buy food in bulk at lower prices, a move aimed at cutting costs amid the economic downturn.

Their association has approached suppliers of meat, seafood and wine in the United States and Australia to discuss such bulk-buying.

The president of the Restaurant Association of Singapore, Mr Ang Kiam Meng, disclosed the move yesterday at a tripartite forum for employers in the food and beverage sector.

About 150 of them attended the meeting with Mr Ang and government and union officials to discuss how to cope with the tough times.

Managing business costs was one of five issues they raised.

But the major worry expressed during the 45-minute question-and-answer session was about foreign employees, who make up about half of the workforce in the sector. The sector employs more than 75,000 workers, according to latest official statistics.

Three of the issues were about lowering the cost of hiring them and giving them training.

Another problem the restaurateurs faced was getting loans from banks, despite the Government's $2.3 billion scheme that sees it taking a greater share of the lending risk than banks.

Spring Singapore group director Chow Tat Kong advised companies to get help with drafting out a business plan that would convince banks to lend to them.

Keeping a lid on costs was especially crucial for those in fine dining, as business for them has dropped by as much as 40 per cent, Mr Ang told The Straits Times after the forum.

High rent was one big burden, he added. Rent added up to 30 per cent of the total business expenses of the Billy Bombers chain of restaurants, said its executive director Jessica Soh.

She believed the restaurant association could work with, say, the Singapore Retailers Association to present their problem to building owners and find a way to reduce their rents.

Other restaurants like Palate Vine, which has four outlets offering Indian, Mongolian and Mexican cuisine, are reining in costs by training workers to multi-task. For instance, a kitchen cleaner is taught to cut vegetables and prepare meat for cooking, said its general manager Venkat Reddy.

'We also ask our managers to save their daily sales reports in a thumbdrive instead of printing them out. We are trimming all excesses,' he added.

The employers also want the Government to reduce its levy of between $150 and $450 a month for hiring foreign workers in the service sector.

Also, the Government could consider a subsidy scheme for training foreigners, added one employer, arguing that these workers pay taxes too.

Union representative Toh Hwee Tin said these funds were limited. 'We have only this piece of cake. If we give it to foreign workers, it means less for locals.'

The Workforce Development Agency's tourism division director, Ms Teo Sio Hoon, said the priority was to train locals, but foreign workers could take courses at the same training centres.

She added that if bosses upgrade the skills of foreign workers, they could get a work permit for more skilled labour, for which the levy is lower.

chinlian@sph.com.sg