The government’s tightened restrictions to control a domestic COVID-19 outbreak have reduced sales in the local food and beverage industry by more than 60 percent, an iChef Co Ltd (資廚管理顧問) survey said yesterday.
The restaurant mobile point-of-sale information advisory firm’s survey said that since the level 3 alert went into effect on May 15, average weekly sales generated by the food and beverage industry from May 17 to June 6 were less than 40 percent of the weekly average in April.
The survey covered more than 7,000 restaurants and food stalls nationwide to show the effect the restrictions have had on the sector, iChef said.
Photo: Liu Hsin-te, Taipei Times
A restaurant or food vendor that generates NT$600,000 a month, needs to achieve at least 70 percent of its usual sales to make a profit, iChef cofounder Ken Chen (程開佑) said.
Therefore many outlets have incurred losses, Chen said, adding that with no sign of domestic infections abating anytime soon, the industry should plan for the worst so that it can survive protracted restrictions.
Under the level 3 alert, restaurants and food stalls can provide only takeout services, while on-site dining is not allowed. The alert, which has been extended twice, is to continue until June 28.
The average revenue posted by the restaurant and food industry in the week to May 23, the week to May 30 and last week fell to 38 percent, 37 percent and 39 percent of the weekly average in April respectively, iChef said.
At the same time, sales reported by food delivery services rose 40 percent from before the imposition of level 3 restrictions, while revenue generated by online orders directly operated by restaurants and food vendors soared more than 400 percent, the survey found.
In the first three weeks of the level 3 alert, takeout and food delivery accounted for more than 70 percent of the industry’s total sales.
In the first, second and third week of the level 3 alert, sales from food delivery services rose 36 percent, 48 percent and 41 percent respectively, Chen said.
That indicates that the service seems to have hit a peak, potentially due to the limited capacity of restaurant and food delivery operators, and consumer plans to rein in consumption in preparation for longer restrictions, he said.
Stephen Garrett, a 27-year-old graduate student, always thought he would study in China, but first the country’s restrictive COVID-19 policies made it nearly impossible and now he has other concerns. The cost is one deterrent, but Garrett is more worried about restrictions on academic freedom and the personal risk of being stranded in China. He is not alone. Only about 700 American students are studying at Chinese universities, down from a peak of nearly 25,000 a decade ago, while there are nearly 300,000 Chinese students at US schools. Some young Americans are discouraged from investing their time in China by what they see
Taiwan Transport and Storage Corp (TTS, 台灣通運倉儲) yesterday unveiled its first electric tractor unit — manufactured by Volvo Trucks — in a ceremony in Taipei, and said the unit would soon be used to transport cement produced by Taiwan Cement Corp (TCC, 台灣水泥). Both TTS and TCC belong to TCC International Holdings Ltd (台泥國際集團). With the electric tractor unit, the Taipei-based cement firm would become the first in Taiwan to use electric vehicles to transport construction materials. TTS chairman Koo Kung-yi (辜公怡), Volvo Trucks vice president of sales and marketing Johan Selven, TCC president Roman Cheng (程耀輝) and Taikoo Motors Group
MAJOR DROP: CEO Tim Cook, who is visiting Hanoi, pledged the firm was committed to Vietnam after its smartphone shipments declined 9.6% annually in the first quarter Apple Inc yesterday said it would increase spending on suppliers in Vietnam, a key production hub, as CEO Tim Cook arrived in the country for a two-day visit. The iPhone maker announced the news in a statement on its Web site, but gave no details of how much it would spend or where the money would go. Cook is expected to meet programmers, content creators and students during his visit, online newspaper VnExpress reported. The visit comes as US President Joe Biden’s administration seeks to ramp up Vietnam’s role in the global tech supply chain to reduce the US’ dependence on China. Images on
New apartments in Taiwan’s major cities are getting smaller, while old apartments are increasingly occupied by older people, many of whom live alone, government data showed. The phenomenon has to do with sharpening unaffordable property prices and an aging population, property brokers said. Apartments with one bedroom that are two years old or older have gained a noticeable presence in the nation’s six special municipalities as well as Hsinchu county and city in the past five years, Evertrust Rehouse Co (永慶房產集團) found, citing data from the government’s real-price transaction platform. In Taipei, apartments with one bedroom accounted for 19 percent of deals last