SIBU, Jan 4: Sibu Coffeeshop and Restaurant Owners Association will soon decide whether to hike the prices of food and beverages (F&B) after the Chinese New Year celebration.
Its chairman Tong Ing Kok said today that they would convene a meeting to deliberate the matter carefully.
“For anything that concerns our business and the public, we will have to decide them in a meeting. We cannot just go ahead to implement it (hiking F&B prices),” he said.
His remarks came in response to Kapitan Tan Yit Sheng who was reported as saying that the Kuching Coffeeshop and Restaurant Owners Association was considering revising the prices of beverages sold upwards due to rising cost of ingredients and also due to the Covid-19 pandemic which has impacted most operators.
Tan said it was only natural for operators to revise F&B prices due to the hike in the cost of ingredients.
However, Tong personally felt that now is not an appropriate time to increase these prices as everyone has been affected by the Covid-19 pandemic.
“Personally I think we should not ask consumers to pay more for F&B. It is true that the price of some ingredients have gone up but most of them are minimal and thus does not warrant the revision in the price of F&B,” he said.
Tong who operates a coffeeshop along Long Bridge Road cited sugar as an example where there is only a 20 sen increase from RM2.60 to RM2.80 per kg.
“If individual coffeeshops want to impose a higher charge for their F&B, the association cannot stop them as there is the Competition Act to follow. But the price increase must not be too high,” he said. — DayakDaily
