We all know that running a business isn’t easy. This is even more so if your business is in the FNB industry where the work hours are long and the profit margins are often small.
So imagine how you’d feel being told that your food is still considered extremely expensive when you earn less than 30% profit from an average order made at your business.
This was what happened to the owner of Restaurant Chai Por Hu who decided to air his grievances online on Facebook.
What Happened
The owner of the Malaysia-based restaurant was settling the payment with an uncle on Thursday (7 April) who came with a family of nine. As this was being done, the owner was told that his food was “very expensive”.
In reply to the uncle’s comment, the owner implored the uncle to see that it was only RM148 for seven dishes that fed nine people.
To that, the uncle still said, “It’s already expensive, only a few dishes.”
(Talk about an ultimate facepalm moment there.)
For those who are lazy to do mental sums, RM148 is about SGD$47.80.
Just to let you have a better idea of how affordable that is …
A standard cover charge for guys to enter clubs (in Singapore at least) costs around SGD$30 to $40. And that is just for cover charge.
The average price to get two tops (yes, only two) from run-the-mill retail shops (think Cotton On, UNIQLO) cost about SGD$60.
And the restaurant managed to feed nine people with seven dishes for SGD$47.
Someone gives the restaurant owner an award now.
Dishes Ordered By the Family and Online Support
Since the owner has posted his thoughts about the encounter online, his post has went viral with many supporting his view that he was not being unreasonable.
The seven dishes ordered by the family included four large-sized dishes that were Chye Poh Fish (RM 39, SGD$12.60), Marinated Pork Ribs (RM 17, SGD$5.50), Oyster Omelette (RM 12, SGD$3.80), and a Kung Pao Prawn-based dish (RM 17, SGD$5.50).
Comments have said that the dishes were indeed priced “extremely cheap”.
Some even shared that their experience of dining with nine people ended up costing around RM500. That’s about ten times the amount this uncle has spent at this restaurant.
The owner further clarified that he has kept the prices of his dishes the same for years even after moving to a new location. Prices were kept the same despite the rising costs of living and the pandemic as the owner did not want to alienate old customers.
Save to say after hearing from the owner, I’ll eat my salted egg yolk chicken with rice from my local tze char with more gratitude now.
Featured Image: Facebook (Restaurant Chai Por Hu)