F&B patrons grapple with new dine-in rules

Food and beverage (F&B) establishments had to turn away customers who were confused about the new rules or got them wrong following the resumption of dining in on Tuesday.

Some arrived with a vaccination status that was not fully valid. A few even brought fake certificates.

Thai restaurant 87 Just Thai Killiney in Killiney Road had to reject 10 customers on the first day.

Co-founder Eric Tan said several customers who were not fully vaccinated had shown up in pairs to dine in, having assumed that the non-air-conditioned restaurant is a coffee shop. Only hawker centres and coffee shops are able to accept groups of two diners regardless of vaccination status.

Groups of up to five people who are fully vaccinated, have recovered from or tested negative for Covid-19, can dine together at restaurants.

The restaurant's other outlet, located in Pasir Panjang, also faced similar challenges.

"We had customers attempting to come in and who kept challenging us saying 'You have no air-con and no door, so you should be a coffee shop'," said Mr Tan.

"There were also others who didn't understand that if there is no green tick in their app, we can't let them in... One couple got really upset and stormed off after saying 'Good luck to your business'."

The Sunday Times spoke to 10 restaurants, bars and F&B groups, six of whom have had to turn away a handful of guests this past week.

Businesses can verify the vaccination status of guests via the TraceTogether or HealthHub mobile apps, physical Covid-19 vaccination cards, or by scanning their TraceTogether tokens.

Someone is considered to be fully vaccinated two weeks after he has received a full regimen of the Pfizer-BioNTech/Comirnaty or Moderna vaccines, or any other vaccines under the World Health Organisation's Emergency Use Listing. These include the Astra-Zeneca, Sinopharm and Sinovac-CoronaVac vaccines. A green tick in the app denotes that the person has completed the full regimen.

Venues can also admit those who have received a negative result on a pre-event test by a Ministry of Health-approved Covid-19 test provider in the last 24 hours.

The Empire Eats Group, which owns eight brands of restaurants and bars including Standing Sushi Bar and The Secret Mermaid, had guests who did not understand the requirements, and even some who tried to hoodwink their staff.

"We encountered some people thinking they can dine in while unvaccinated if they are in a group of two; we also had a small number of people who presented fake certificates or insisted they're fully vaccinated before the 14-day milestone," said the group's director, Mr Howard Lo.

Both cases occurred at the Odeon Towers branch of Standing Sushi Bar. One used a doctored HealthHub printout paired with a vaccination card that belonged to a person of a different name. Another was a group of five diners, one of whom later gave the restaurant a fake negative review online.

"When caught, they left willingly, but were unhappy," he explained.

On Aug 11, Health Minister Ong Ye Kung warned against using another person's vaccination certificate in order to be allowed to dine at restaurants.

He added that the authorities will take enforcement action, with offenders risking a severe penalty.

ST has contacted the authorities for clarifications on enforcement and the subsequent penalties.

Both 87 Just Thai and Empire Eats are also concerned about the repercussions on their businesses if cheats slip through the cracks.

"The authorities have demonstrated that they will mete out severe penalties to the restaurant for any infraction, even if it is out of the restaurant's control. We do not want any chance of being shut down for 10 days," said Mr Lo.

Mr Tan is also concerned about losing customers, especially when businesses are struggling to recoup losses. "They could have become our regular customers but because of an unpleasant incident (of being turned away), they are possibly never coming back again.

"But there were also some very nice customers who came very well prepared and we really appreciate them."

Diners at malls The Sunday Times visited over the weekend were familiar with the rules. Northpoint City in Yishun and Ion Orchard were fairly crowded yesterday, with many in groups of three or four. Most F&B outlets were at least half full, with staff stationed at the front checking customers' vaccination status.

While foot traffic has gone up, some retailers in malls are cautiously optimistic.

"Because (dining in) has just resumed, the hype is still there, so I think sales will gradually pick up, especially from Friday to Sunday," said Ms Melwani Erwan, 20, who works at stationery and accessories store Smiggle in Northpoint City. "But it's hard to say how it will be in the long run, as we're still unsure if the rules may revert to no dining in again."

Mr Kyle Lim, 27, who works at fashion label Charles & Keith in Ion Orchard, feels that the new rules come with some setbacks to the business as well. "We will definitely have better sales if more people are allowed to dine in, but since only fully vaccinated people can dine in at malls, unvaccinated people may choose to not visit malls for now - and that is a rather significant loss of potential customers," said Mr Lim.