The effects of Covid-19 on the Food Industry in Singapore - how companies have had to be agile and entrepreneurial

While many food and beverage businesses are struggling to stay afloat in the Covid-19 pandemic, some have been quick to change course and have emerged stronger.

3 Buns by Potato Head

To serve delivery customers in the area faster, burger restaurant Three Buns set up a new kitchen in Orchard Road. The kitchen churns out orders for the delivery platformsDeliveroo, Oddle, Foodpanda andGrabFood. They have developed a $19 set lunch, which includes a burger or dawg (hot dog), fries or salad, and lemonade or a soft drink.

While coping with the challenges brought about by the pandemic, Three Buns, along with its sister burger restaurant Potato Head in Keong Saik Road, have not lost track of their sustainability mission.

Both outlets launched a Sustainable Menu, featuring plant-based dishes and new brands such as Simpliigood - which specialises in spirulina products - and SeedFuel, which offers products made with discarded waste from the fruit-processing industry. Delivery and takeaway orders play an important role in their operations and sales.

The Kimly Group

The Kimly Group is working on refining its products, such as offering bento options at its mixed-rice stalls. During the circuit breaker period, Kimly Group, which operates coffee shops and zi char stalls, observed a "huge spike" in new food delivery customers via Foodpanda,GrabFoodandDeliveroo. It led to a substantial increase in revenue as business picked up.

The listed company runs 29 zi char stalls, 59 mixed-rice outlets and more than 40 dim sum outlets. When dine-in was not allowed, Mr Tan, 43, often had to rally the group's 2,000 employees. The company is working on refining its products, such as offering bento options at its mixed-rice stalls and catering meals for smaller groups. With the brand seen as a more traditional business, Mr Tan also emphasises the need to boost its marketing and social media presence as well. Contactless payment options such as Apple Pay orSamsungPay.

Premium food sales on facebook.com/singaporehomecooks

Five minutes is all Mr Dylan Tan takes to sell 700 live lobsters, 1,600 brioche buns, 1,200 blocks of French butter and 800 do-it-yourself chilli crab sets - and all viaFacebook. Mr Tan hosts live sessions onFacebookgroup Singapore Home Cooks (SHC), a community of cooking enthusiasts with more than 58,000 followers. During one session last month, he sold more than 5,400kg of durians in about two hours.

OnFacebookLive, he could be selling to 1,000 people. He could sell 800 tubs of yogurt in five minutes. How do you do that in a physical store? He was previously working behind the scenes shooting video content for the group but is now its main "auntie-killer" face, whom members see almost daily. Views of the live-stream sessions have surged to more than 10,000 in the past few months.

When Mr Tan started with weekly sessions where he got only about 200 views. Unlike other businesses that also sell food viaFacebookLive, Mr Tan adds value through cooking demonstrations with chefs and themed nights such as Japan or Korea nights featuring produce used in the country's cuisine. Calling himself a "personal shopper", he sources for premium ingredients directly from suppliers - usually in bulk - to keep prices reasonable.

It can take up to two weeks to prepare for oneFacebookLive session and, after the show is over, Mr Tan and his team often face sleepless nights managing orders and ensuring deliveries go out promptly. He does not just sell food. He also sold freezers due to customer demand. He doesn't sell eggs you can get from the supermarket. He looks for mid-priced to high-end products such as uni (sea urchin), ikura (salmon roe) and Japanese wagyu.

Riding on this on-trend sales avenue, he is looking at offering classes on utilisingFacebookLive. People see it as a form of entertainment and are open to it as a new way to shop.

Questions:

1. Using the 7Ps approach analyse and evaluate the changes made by each of the restaurants to increase their sales and maintaining customer loyalty

1. How have these restaurants used online platforms to reach their customers?

1. Make three recommendations separately for each restaurant to improve the effectiveness in serving customers through the online platforms that they are using

DIY cooking kits

When dining-in was halted during the circuit breaker, restaurateurs racked their brains for ways to make up for the loss in business. One of the best ideas was the DIY cooking kit.

Takeaway and delivery food, while convenient, is often past its prime by the time it gets to the diner, so why not let the customer himself make a piping hot meal with an easy guide?

Although a couple of restaurants like Summer Hill already had DIY cooking kits, the pandemic turned it into a trend. The mostly raw food is delivered chilled or frozen with an instruction card on how to cook the dish. Some also have a QR code that links to a cooking video by the chef.

ItalianrestaurantAmo was among the first to latch onto the idea in May with its pizza and pasta kits, along with other Western and Asian restaurants like Level 33, Buona Terra and Quentin's. Chineserestaurantchains Crystal Jade and Paradise Group soon followed with stir-fries and dumplings. And Ippudo offered ramen and gyoza kits. One of the latest on the market is the dry laksa kit from online seller 2 Mamas & A Wok. It comes with a spice mix, rice noodles, fishcake, taupok, beansprouts and coconut milk, and you fry everything together.

Pastas are the most idiot-proof as they often come with ready house made sauces. Those from Buona Terra are ofrestaurantquality. The stir-fried black pepper beef with capsicum from Crystal Jade turns out very well too. Others, like Amo's pizza and Paradise's xiao long bao, are fun to put together and you can make it a family activity by roping in the kids.

Chilled DIY cooking kits - which cannot be kept for more than a few days - may not be as hot anymore. But the frozen ones like Ippudo's gyoza are still great to have on hand for days when you do not feel like dining out.

Questions:

1. First using the flower of service model evaluate both DIY cooking kits and Kitchen Central. Based on your evaluation discuss which of these brands provides a stronger service offering to their customers.

1. Describe five (5) perceived risks describing why Singaporeans might be wary of ordering DIY cooking kits. Providerecommendations about what each of them could do to mitigate each of these risks.

( Without referencing, I would like some help for this. Thank you so much)