Key adaptations of SME restaurants in Malaysia amidst the COVID-19 Pandemic

Hao Bin Jack Lai; Muhammad Rezza Zainal Abidin; Muhamad Zulfikri Hasni; Muhammad Shahrim Ab Karim; Farah Adibah Che Ishak

doi:10.20525/ijrbs.v9i6.916

Key adaptations of SME restaurants in Malaysia amidst the COVID-19 Pandemic

Authors

Hao Bin Jack Lai Department of Food Service and Management, Faculty of Food Science and Technology, Universiti Putra Malaysia, Selangor, Malaysia https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8750-5658
Muhammad Rezza Zainal Abidin Department of Food Service and Management, Faculty of Food Science and Technology, Universiti Putra Malaysia, Selangor, Malaysia https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5096-5108
Muhamad Zulfikri Hasni Department of Food Service and Management, Faculty of Food Science and Technology, Universiti Putra Malaysia, Selangor, Malaysia https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1753-803X
Muhammad Shahrim Ab Karim Department of Food Service and Management, Faculty of Food Science and Technology, Universiti Putra Malaysia, Selangor, Malaysia https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8244-7313
Farah Adibah Che Ishak Department of Food Service and Management, Faculty of Food Science and Technology, Universiti Putra Malaysia, Selangor, Malaysia https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2352-4547

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.20525/ijrbs.v9i6.916

Keywords:

COVID-19; SME restaurants; Pandemic management; Menu development; Business viability; Restaurant management

Abstract

SME restaurants have reported declined earnings and faced challenges to remain open during the Movement Control Order (MCO) period imposed by the Malaysian government due to the Coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak. SME decision-makers were observed to be making changes regarding their day-to-day operations and management strategies to mitigate MCO restrictions. This paper aims to review the significant adaptations made by SME restaurants in Malaysia throughout the MCO period. Three (3) prominent areas of adaptations made by decision-makers have been identified based upon ceaseless news reports and media contents. The adaptations made commonly depict actions to (i) Nurture Creativity, (ii) Sustain Reputation, and (iii) Maintain Profitability. The outcomes of this paper provide essential survival guides for SME restauranteurs to embrace the COVID-19 outbreak. These can be helpful to related policy and decision-makers to implement the crucial traits of SME restaurants to reduce the impact on SME restaurants for the foreseeable future.

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Published

2020-10-26

How to Cite

Lai, H. B. J., Zainal Abidin, M. R., Hasni, M. Z., Ab Karim, M. S., & Che Ishak, F. A. (2020). Key adaptations of SME restaurants in Malaysia amidst the COVID-19 Pandemic. International Journal of Research in Business and Social Science (2147- 4478), 9(6), 12–23. https://doi.org/10.20525/ijrbs.v9i6.916

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Issue

Vol. 9 No. 6 (2020): October

Section

Strategic Approach to Business Ecosystem and Organizational Development

License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

For all articles published in IJRBS, copyright is retained by the authors. Articles are licensed under an open access Creative Commons CC BY 4.0 license, meaning that anyone may download and read the paper for free. In addition, the article may be reused and quoted provided that the original published version is cited. These conditions allow for maximum use and exposure of the work, while ensuring that the authors receive proper credit.