Shanghai begins the gradual climb back

Changes look certain

Business owners said it remains to be seen if reduced spending at restaurants and more cooking at home will now predominate. Changes to business operations, however, are almost certain.

Yao, from The Union Trading Co, said: "The pandemic has shown us how one-dimensional F&B businesses are. This means that finding alternative ways to create revenue will be important.

"Businesses will also need to do more financial planning and staff education. In our case, we will be teaching our team of bartenders about managing finances－both business and personal－as well as things that are beyond their regular scope of work."

Hu, from Heritage by Madison, believes that while the crisis has highlighted the importance of improving efficiency and productivity, it is unlikely that bars and restaurants can radically change the way in which they operate, as such businesses are based on human interaction.

"There is little you can do to change how a restaurant is run. There are certainly ways to streamline the process, as you see many chains or fast food restaurants do, but it's hard to embrace such a direction without losing the soul and personal touch that defines the better restaurants," he said.

Chow, from Bites and Bottle-O, said that if a pandemic emerged again in the future, stronger support from the authorities would be welcomed. He added that while the government had provided tax relief for food businesses such as his, the impact had been minimal.

Subsidies to help businesses retain staff members would go a long way in assisting small and medium-sized restaurants to weather the storm, he said.

Hu said that while social security benefits provided by the government had provided some relief for his employees, more could be done in the future.

"Some of the initiatives I've seen discussed, such as tax breaks, are great for my employees but of little benefit to me because they don't help me pay staff salaries or rent," he said.

"Of course, I totally understand that we're not the priority right now, as many areas of society are far more in need of resources than we are. Medical personnel, the elderly and the infirm, resolving education for kids unable to go to school－these are all pressing issues that need resolving more urgently than ours."