Once upon a time, there was an old joke:
Who is noisy: bread or coffee?
The answer is bread, because BreadTalk while Kopitiam.
But now, it seems like Kopitiam’s having the last…laugh, since they’re now under NTUC and shouldn’t be worried so much about declining revenue.
BreadTalk Employees Allegedly Had to Take Unpaid Leave As Sales Dropped by 90%
BreadTalk Group hasn’t started 2020 well, and it’s not because of COVID-19.
The listed company, which also owned other brands like Food Republic, Din Tai Fung and even Song Fa Bak Kut Teh, has been in the red since 2019, in which they lost $5.2 million that year, compared to 2018 whereby they made a whopping $15.2 million
This leads to the founder and a major shareholder offering to buy all the BreadTalk Group shares in February this year, which’ll privatise the company and therefore allows it to address the challenges without having to answer to shareholders.
In a circular sent to employees, the CEO and founder said that since the Circuit Breaker measures took effect, daily revenues in some outlets have plunged by almost 90%.
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Lest you’re not aware, BreadTalk is still allowed to open, but couldn’t sell cakes after the enhanced Circuit Measures kicked in on 22 April 2020, though that measure is now lifted from 12 May 2020.
According to TODAYonline, 25% of their outlets here in Singapore are closed due to various reasons.
They’re being forced to downsize and have not considered laying off…for now.
However, unpaid leave would be inevitable.
A 10-day unpaid leave has been arranged for staff members after they’ve cleared their annual leave, and MOM has already been notified about the arrangement.
Some employees allegedly weren’t notified about the unpaid lead arrangement until the last minute, though it could be that the message wasn’t passed down from the top.
Company Has Been Coming Out with Innovative Products
In the last few weeks, BreadTalk has been coming out with innovative products, like the toilet roll cakes…
…and the highly adorable masked buns:
And the company is now providing islandwide delivery for their products, and even think out of the box to create products that look like cakes but aren’t cakes (coz cakes are banned until 12 May):
Oh, did you know they also sell rice dumplings now?
Love or hate the company, you’ve got to admit that they’re doing their best to stay afloat instead of just complaining.
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