Family-run Ponggol Seafood keeping afloat
WRITING NEW CHAPTERS Insight reconnects with two Singaporeans who spoke to The Sunday Times as part of a National Day specialin 2010, and finds out how their stories have evolved and how they have reinvented themselves amid the pandemic.
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Mr Ting Cheng Ping and his sister, Ms Cecilia Ting, at their family restaurant which is famous for its chilli crab and mee goreng.
ST PHOTO: ONG WEE JIN
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Times are tough amid the Covid-19 pandemic for Ponggol Seafood, a family-run restaurant famous for its chilli crab and mee goreng that has been around since 1969.
Mr Ting Cheng Ping, 57, the restaurant's manager and son of its late founder, Mr Ting Choon Teng, describes the last few months as "disastrous".
The restaurant at The Punggol Settlement near Punggol Point Jetty has been struggling to break even since March, when the coronavirus widened its spread here.
When The Sunday Times interviewed Mr Ting back in 2010 for a National Day special, Mr Ting talked about how sad the family was when the restaurant had to leave its original location in Punggol Point, shifting several times before it moved to its new location at that time, Marina Country Club.
In 2014, the restaurant returned to Punggol Point, but about 100m from where it first began, Mr Ting recalls now.
Yet business was difficult even before Covid-19, as the new malls in the area drew away customers, and road works in the vicinity resulted in some customers getting lost, adds Mr Ting.
One of the biggest changes in the past 10 years is competition not just from seafood restaurant chains like Jumbo and Long Beach, but also from new cuisines, like mala xiangguo (spicy stir fry).
That is why the restaurant has to come up with new ideas, such as revamping its menu when needed, says Mr Ting. It recently added tanghoon crab to the menu.
Although the coming home of sorts has not been easy, the Tings are not throwing in the towel. When dining in was not allowed earlier this year, they continued with takeaway and home delivery services - rolled out in 2003 during the severe acute respiratory syndrome outbreak.
They have offers, like selling smaller crabs at a fixed price, and credit card promotions, says Mr Ting. They also tap new mediums like Facebook and WhatsApp to promote their offers. These efforts have helped to bring back about 30 per cent of sales, says Mr Ting.
Family members chip in as well - most of Mr Ting's siblings, and even his brother-in-law, are at the restaurant on weekends. Ms Cecilia Ting, 61, has been taking orders, acting as cashier, and doing odd jobs in the kitchen since 2014.
She sold her shoe business last year and now helps out more regularly. "It's hard to find staff willing to work here, and after all, this is my father's business," says Ms Ting.
Mr Ting says he is unsure who would take over the restaurant, but plans to stay on as long as he can. His only son, Fabian, 23, has not expressed an interest.
He adds: "Now, we are just focusing on getting through this Covid-19 pandemic. We hope that a vaccine can be found, things go back to normal and we can bounce back."
