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Food caterers in Singapore adopt new ways to help meet festive season demand

Orders have risen 20 per cent through Christmas and Chinese New Year, compared to the same period before the COVID-19 pandemic.

Food caterers in Singapore adopt new ways to help meet festive season demand

Food caterers are seeing a rebound in demand this festive season, with 20 per cent more orders being made through Christmas and Chinese New Year, compared to the same period before the COVID-19 pandemic.

SINGAPORE: Food caterers in Singapore are looking for new ways to deliver, amid an ongoing manpower crunch and rising demand. 

They are seeing a rebound in demand this festive season, with 20 per cent more orders being made through Christmas and Chinese New Year, compared with the same period before the COVID-19 pandemic.

To cope with more orders, these caterers are coming up with novel solutions, from self-heating buffets to food order automation.

SELF-HEATING MINI BUFFETS

How's Catering came up with self-heating mini buffets a year ago. Such buffets now comprise 20 per cent of their orders.

The company said this has helped them deal with the increased demand for festive catering, without having to hire more workers. It has allowed them to deliver 30 more orders each day while saving 15 per cent in labour costs. 

The move is more convenient for consumers, as they do not have to over-cater just to hit the minimum order amount, said Mr Francis Tan, information technology director at How's Catering. 

It is also less taxing on delivery staff, he added. “It's easier to make a single trip delivery, rather than having to do the fancy food setup, and then they need to tear down after the event.”

The staff of St John Singapore (Headquarters) were among the customers who recently tried out such a do-it-yourself buffet experience, from preparation to disposal. 

For them, a traditional buffet line is stressful, since the setup has to be collected by the caterer within a certain time period and not everyone can come to the table at the same time. 

“We don't need to watch out for the timing for when (the caterers) say that they need to come and do the collection,” said St John Singapore chief administrative officer Valerie Ng, adding that employees are able to enjoy the buffet at any time. 

“Some staff might come 15 minutes or 30 minutes later, but by the time they join us, the food is still warm.”

AUTOMATING FOOD ORDERING PROCESS

Neo Group aims to halve the time it takes to plan a delivery route by developing an algorithm. Festive dates are already fully booked for the caterer. 

Ms Jessie Ong, assistant director of business development and marketing at Neo Group, said the company is moving towards automation. 

This will allow it to double food production at its new facility opening next quarter.

“A lot of our processes are automated already. So from sales to operations, from taking an order to delivering an order, everything is automated now, so we don't really have manpower issues,” said Ms Ong. 

“We believe in moving towards 100 per cent, full automation in our new building. So that's where we are working very hard to relook into our infrastructure.”

Source: CNA/ca(fk)

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