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A woman so disgusted by a Thai restaurant at Killiney Road left the eatery a scathing one-star review on Google.
"Totally very disgusted"
The co-owner of the restaurant 87 Just Thai, Eric Tan told Mothership the review was left on their Killiney Road outlet's Google maps listing, by one "Shufen Huang" on Aug. 15.
On the one hand, Huang said in her review that vaccination-differentiated Covid-19 dine-in measures were "totally" understandable.
However, Huang was "totally very disappointed" at the Thai restaurant's "support for the government's move to discriminate unvaccinated people".
You can read Huang's full Google review below:
Image from 87 Just Thai Killiney/Facebook.
Likely not a customer
Bizarrely enough, Huang may have penned the review without having stepped a foot into the Thai restaurant at Killiney.
Tan pointed to the contents in the review, which had no mention of the eatery's food offerings. Neither was there a recount of the experience of dining in.
With all possible explanations exhausted, Tan circled back to the restaurant's recent feature in The Straits Times (ST).
ST's article detailed the challenges that Tan faced in ensuring patrons are fully vaccinated, and adhering to the government mandated vaccination-differentiated measures across both 87 Just Thai outlets at Killiney Road, and Pasir Panjang.
As the review was written soon after the ST article was published on Aug. 15, Tan suspected that Huang could have read the article and felt like the Thai restaurant was discriminating against the unvaccinated, ultimately leading to the unfavourable Google review.
This was not Tan's first rodeo with fake reviews. He remarked: "Even someone who has not dined at your outlet can just put a review for you."
He flagged the review to Google, and it has apparently been taken down by Google Maps.
Image screenshot from Google Reviews.
Verbally abused
It would appear that such incidents arising from the vaccination differentiated dine in measures would not be the first, nor the last that Tan would encounter.
Another patron, who told Tan he had seen the ST article, had turned up with his wife at 87 Just Thai Killiney to show their support for the struggling food business.
However, this ended up having quite the opposite effect.
Tan recalls that he greeted both guests at the restaurant entrance, and requested to see their vaccination status. But the patron's wife did not have her vaccination status ready on hand, said Tan.
Then, the patron "started losing it", and started "screaming" at Tan and his staff.
"He started losing it also. He started shouting at my staff, then shouting at me."
"He said we treated them like criminals," said Tan.
Licensed restaurant
In addition, Tan shared that there have been incidents of some "very confused diners" at both outlets.
Assuming that the Thai restaurant was a coffeeshop because it "didn't have a door, and had no aircon", these diners had turned up in pairs ready to dine in.
However, since both of Tan's outlets are registered as restaurants, and operate under restaurant licenses, only individuals who are "fully vaccinated" are allowed to dine in — as is the case with any other F&B establishment that is not registered as a hawker centre or coffeeshop.
This information was apparently not enough for some customers, who asked Tan to bend the rules for them.
One customer even said: "I can just sit outside lor, outside is the same (as a) coffeeshop what."
However, Tan had to turn away these customers.
The Pasir Panjang outlet's "outdoor" seats. Image courtesy of 87 Just Thai.
Just the minority
However, such customers, and incidents, are "just the minority", said Tan.
In fact, there has not yet been an incident of a patron falsifying his/her vaccination status with a TraceTogether app screenshot.
He said that most of his customers were "very nice", "very honest" and have been cooperative and forthcoming in providing and proving their vaccination status.
However, there was an incident at the Pasir Panjang outlet on Aug. 15, where a patron did not have the necessary vaccination status to dine in.
The customer had not completed her full vaccination regime. However, this did not deter her, and she went to get herself tested at an approved test provider within 24 hours of dining in.
Tan said that the woman, who was a repeat customer, presented the negative test result at the door. Her initiative moved both him and his business partner.
"We were very touched that she went to take a test to come and eat our food."
Netizens to the rescue
In the wake of the incident, which Tan shared about on 87 Just Thai Killiney's Facebook page, many have jumped to the eatery's defence.
Screenshot image from Facebook.
Screenshot image from Facebook.
Others displayed their support by leaving positive reviews for the Killiney Road outlet, seeking to negate the effect that Huang's review had on the Thai restaurant's rating.
Screenshot image from Facebook.
Screenshot image from Google Reviews.
Screenshot image from Google Reviews.
In fact, a quick skim through 87 Just Thai Killiney's newest reviews would reveal that most of them were written in response to the incident.
Adapting to regulations
The Thai restaurant had expressed their gratitude to the outpouring of support from the public, and added that the restaurant will continue to adhere closely to the government's regulations.
Since the beginning of the pandemic, Tan shared that the restaurant has "always tried to adapt to all the changes" stemming from the slew of updates to Covid-19 measures.
Most recently, Tan has shifted the restaurant licenses for both eateries from within the shop to the storefront, where they are now displayed beside a set of posters explaining the current dine in rules.
According to Tan, this is clearer, and can also be used as proof, in the event that people "challenge" him at the door. He refuses to let any of his staff face the "firing squad" and personally parks himself at the eatery's door.
While there have been no incidents of patrons faking their vaccination statuses so far, Tan and his staff are aware of the "screenshot hack", and will refresh the TraceTogether page to confirm.
Business remains quiet
Tan shared that he was "quite grateful to the government" for allowing dine in for up to five persons as he had initially expected dine in to be allowed for only up to two persons after Phase 2 (Heightened Alert).
However, despite the easing of measures, Tan disclosed that business has been quiet.
Since Aug. 10, when dining in resumed, business has not improved much, as compared to the days when only takeaway and delivery were allowed.
The Killiney outlet on Aug. 17 at 12pm. Image courtesy of 87 Just Thai.
In addition, Tan said he turns away an average of 10 customers per day at each outlet because of the government-mandated vaccination-differentiated dine in measures.
However, Tan stressed that he, and his business, does not discriminate against the unvaccinated, saying:
"It's already so tough getting business, why would we turn customers away if we have a choice?"
Current Covid-19 measures
As dining in has been classified as a high risk activity, F&B outlets like Tan's are expected to ensure that staff and patrons alike adhere to various safe management measures (SMMs).
These SMMs include seating groups of customers at least one metre apart, denying entry to groups that exceed the permitted size, not providing live music and entertainment, enforcing proper TraceTogether check-ins, and more.
In addition, F&B establishments must check groups of diners' eligibility before allowing them to dine in, and failure to do so could attract strict enforcement action against them.
For F&B outlets found breaching SMMs, potential penalties include fines and being ordered to close.
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Top image from 87 Just Thai Killiney/Facebook
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