SINGAPORE – A total of 60 food and beverage (F&B) outlets have been penalised for breaching safe management measures since mid-September, said the Ministry of Sustainability and the Environment (MSE) on Friday (Oct 8).
Of these, 36 were ordered to close temporarily, 21 were fined and three pivoted nightlife establishments had their food licences permanently revoked.
During this period, more than 600 premises and over 900 people were checked for their adherence to vaccinated-differentiated measures, said MSE.
The ministry said that 34 F&B outlets were ordered to close for breaching safe management measures.
These included allowing customers to play card games in the premises, failing to ensure customers adhered to the permitted group size and failing to ensure a safe distance of at least 1m between groups of customers.
Another 19 outlets were issued composition fines for breaching various safe management measures on their premises.
These included gathering in groups larger than the permitted group size, playing music or video recordings, allowing singing, failing to ensure workers wore masks, failing to ensure contact tracing was done for employees and failing to ensure a safe distance of at least 1m between seated customers.
Some repeat offenders include The STARZ Bistro at East Coast Road, which allowed customers to play dice games on Sept 17. The Urban Redevelopment Authority ordered the operator to close for 20 days – twice the usual for a repeat offence – from Oct 2 to 21.
Toast Box at City Square Mall was ordered to close for 10 days from Oct 2 to 11 for not ensuring safe distancing of at least 1m between groups of customers on multiple occasions.
Putien at Parkway Parade was fined $1,000 for failing to ensure safe distancing of at least 1m between groups of customers.
Another repeat offender was the Kopitiam at Tampines Mall that failed to ensure safe distancing of at least 1m between groups of customers on multiple occasions. Enterprise Singapore ordered the operator to close for 20 days from Sept 24 to Oct 13.
Other repeat offenders include Xiao Chun Niang Chicken Hotpot at Geylang Road, NC Recreation Club at Tai Seng Avenue, Gayatri Restaurant at Race Course Road and Hide & Seek at Trio Mall.
Toast Box at City Square Mall was ordered to close from Oct 2 to 11 for failing to ensure safe distancing of at least 1m between groups of customers on multiple occasions.
Popular haunts among Singaporeans that were fined for breaching safe management measures include Dumpling Darlings at Amoy Street, which was fined $1,000 for failing to ensure at least 1m safe distancing between seated customers.
Rumours Beach Club at Siloso Beach Walk – a repeat offender – was fined $2,000 for allowing a social gathering among its workers on its premises.
Sunday Folks at Chip Bee Gardens was also fined $1,000 for failing to ensure safe distancing of at least 1m between seated customers on Sept 25.
The pivoted nightlife establishments that had their food licences revoked were Moung Sakhon and Prajin Karaoke at Golden Mile Complex as well as Parklato at Parklane Shopping Mall.
All three had not been allowed to re-open at the time but were found to be operating with dine-in patrons.
MSE also urged seniors to stay home, avoid crowded places and go out only for essential activities over the next few weeks as more Covid-19 cases are reported.
Seniors should avoid congregating at hawker centres and coffee shops, and instead consider packing food, ordering online, or asking a friend or family member to buy food on their behalf instead of dining in, said the ministry.