The Malaysian Insight

THE catering industry, reeling from a lack of business because of the ban on social functions and events, is looking at other avenues to survive, including venturing into food deliveries, said players.

They are aware that this is only a temporary solution but they are left with no choice as they too have bills and salaries to pay.

Some have also been in the industry for a long time with a good reputation.

The Big Rajah Food Caterers has been in the business for 20 years while its founder and chief executive officer Dr John William Xavier has been in the line for 35 to 40 years.

“We pride ourselves with personal branding and food delivery isn’t our forte.

“For the first two months of the first movement-control order last March, I stayed away from something like that, but it wasn’t a choice if I want to keep my chefs occupied and the machineries working,” John told The Malaysian Insight.

The Big Rajah usually caters to functions with a minimum of 50 guests but social gatherings have reduced significantly with the pandemic.

“Every day, we have advertisements running on our briyani sets to tell our clients that we are still in the market. With delivery, we have loads of paperwork as well, all for 5% to 10% of income.

“Big Rajah needs RM500,000 per month to cover overheads. After working ourselves to the bone and doing so many runs, we are grossing RM60,000, which is totally not enough.”

John said this is their business story for the past 10 to 11 months since the economy was wrecked by the Covid-19 pandemic.

“It is becoming a hobby for me to come out with out-of-the-box items as we are reinventing and innovating every month.

“But are we making money? No. Far be it, I am actually losing a huge amount.”

The goal is to sustain for another five to six months and when the market is back, then it is time to recover the losses, he said.

“We are sort of iconic in the food industry and it is sad if it all comes down.”

John is in the third generation of the family business after his father, J.J. Xavier who was awarded the “pioneering father of food caterers” award by the Indian Food Catering Association.

Too unpredictable

PichaEats, a social enterprise started in 2016, partnering with refugee chefs also depends on the delivery channel to sustain itself.

“We lost all our buffet catering sales when the first MCO in March was announced, which makes up 70% of our annual total sales,” said Suzanne Ling, co-founder of PichaEats.

“Business every month was unpredictable and the numbers fluctuated depending on the ever-changing Covid-19 situation.

“To cope with these changes, we focused more on family meals for people staying at home, and developed a new product range, the ready-to-heat meals for people working from home.”

Though it does not fully make up for the losses, the festivals and holidays saw improvements, Ling said.

PichaEats’ festive meal sets grew as everyone was celebrating from home with food delivery.

Another caterer, Joshua Chu, founder, owner and head chef who ran Joshijosh Events and Catering for 10 years, said the business in December was not long lasting.

“We were really hoping for 2021 to be a better year, especially on how we ended the 2020 season with the Christmas sales. However, it does not look that prosperous, at the moment.

“We look forward to the vaccine that can change the course of this pandemic. But of course, we all know that it would take a while.”

Chu said cancellations for food catering were the norm from the beginning of 2020.

The frequent changes to the standard operating procedure also affected the business.

“People would make last-minute bookings like, ‘Next week, I want to get married but I am not sure.’

“They will make us guarantee like, ‘If there is MCO or new SOP, can we have a full refund?’

“We find it tough to juggle because we have to pre-order ingredients and sometimes, we need to buy certain equipment for certain menus.”

Overall, Joshijosh’s revenue fell by 50%.

John from The Big Rajah said the food delivery industry is also competitive.

“But even the high-end restaurants have come down to doing food takeaways.

“If I had two pots and pans, and just started something in my backyard and did takeaways, then that would be sustainable, but not for the big businesses that are downsizing.” – January 18, 2021.