MANILA -- Restaurant owners on Thursday discussed how their industry can survive the COVID-19 crisis, which has caused a temporary ban on dine-in services to curb the spread of the virus.

In a live video conference organized by the Facebook community Bounce Back PH, the restaurateurs agreed on the need for rent adjustments to help them recover their losses caused by the pandemic.

Audrey Tanco-Uy of the Bizu Group called on malls and other lessors to implement a variable pay scheme, at least until the first two months after the enhanced community quarantine is lifted, saying that rent "really takes a big chunk" of their costs.

"I got word from my sister-in-law that Greenhills Promenade, for example, is allowing us to open because we're on the curbside and we have outdoor access... And they're allowing 5% of your store sales. If that's something that can be done for the next one or two months as we struggle in this crisis, that is really a big help for us," she said.

"You could increase as the foot traffic increases," she went on. "We can have a variable pay scheme, and that is something that we can work on along with our mall owners and partners. We can do a variable scheme that grows as we grow."

"Other businesses also thrive and survive using percentage schemes, so I think at this point, variable scheme is the best way for us to survive this."

Raymund Magdaluyo of Wolfgang's Steakhouse and Red Crab agreed with Tanco-Uy as he mentioned a specific rate cap of 6% for rent to minimize fixed costs.

"I suggest pure percentage for the next few months, 5%, maximum 6%," he said, as he also brought up their practice of converting some of their staff into riders to cater to delivery orders.

Eric Dee of the Foodie Group, which houses brands such as Tim Ho Wan and Hawker Chan, was also supportive of the proposal, but noted that such can only work in the short term.

He said the key is for the restaurant industry to have "one voice" so malls and lessors will listen to them.

"We'll really have to roll with the punches and see how our business partners, which are the malls, react to these certain things," he admitted.

"When this crisis started, everyone started to scramble... We all know each other but no one really took the time to bring everyone together... If you're looking for something positive from all this, it's we are able to come together," he added.

This was further stressed by Joey Garcia of Rai Rai Ken Group, who also took the opportunity to publicly appeal to malls to consider their proposal.

"'Yung malaking consideration ko is about the cost na mai-incur natin for the next months or so. Kung babalik tayo sa basic na percentage, I think we will not survive this," he said.

POST-COVID DINING

During the video conference moderated by Mercato Centrale's RJ Ledesma, the restaurant owners also floated ideas for their establishments should the enhanced community quarantine be lifted as scheduled.

Among these are incorporating physical distancing measures into seating arrangements, as well as improving work flow to limit contact with the food and customers.

"Ang mangyayari is normally, ang allocation is five square meters per one table... When operations are restored, magiging eight square meters. So basically, capacity will go down so what we can do is faster turnover. Instead of one hour, gawin nating 40 to 45 minutes. It's basically a lot of rework sa kitchen," Magdaluyo said.

Tanco-Uy, for her part, said they would consider changing the way they serve meals and take orders to protect the health of both their customers and staff.

"Moving forward, we have to start fixing our digital menu for less contact," she said. "And a lot of the food would be plated service instead of shared meals."

"Our space would have to be wider, our gaps [between the tables] wider," she added.