Confirmed: Bubble Tea Shops Not Allowed to Open From 12 May 2020

This morning, when the COVID-19 multi-ministry task force held a press conference to announce the easing of certain Circuit Breaker measures, many young Singaporeans just saw this:

Because from 12 May 2020, selected businesses would be open, and this includes home-based businesses, food manufacturing and selected food retail outlets, laundry services, barbers and pet supplies.

Food retail outlets? It has to be bubble tea, right?

Well, the answer is out.

No.

What Food Retail Outlets Can Be Opened

So, what food outlets can be opened?

Follow us on Telegram for more informative & easy-to-read articles, or download the Goody Feed app for articles you can’t find on Facebook!

According to a MOH press release, this comprises the manufacturing and onsite preparation of all food, including cakes and confectionery, ice cream, cocoa, chocolate and chocolate products, and other snacks.

Wait, no drinks mentioned?

And according to the same press release, retail food outlets that can open include shops that sell cakes and confectionery, packaged snacks and desserts.

What, still no drinks mentioned?

As a matter of fact, yes. That is why it’s called food retail outlets and not F&B retail outlets.

But no bubble tea is mentioned so there might still be a chance—

Enterprise Singapore Explicitly Says NO to Bubble Tea

The authorities have spoken, and this is the post that’ll bring tears to all bubble tea addicts:

This is the image we’re all talking about:

Well, I’ll enlarge it for you:

And I’ll enlarge it even bigger for you:

So if you’re still dying for a cup of bubble tea, you’d still have to go through various bubble tea shops’ partners. For example, KOI has partnered up with online restaurant Grain, while Gong Cha is working with a few other food-based F&B outlets to tag their drinks with the food.

LiHO has gone one step further by selling DIY bubble tea kits.

In the meantime, McDonald’s is still going to be closed from 5 May 2020. I think they’re going to tag their food with KFC lah I don’t know lah but that’d be classic.

If you’re still crying over this news, here’s a video about bubble tea you really should watch, and in the meantime, also subscribe to our YouTube channel so we can tell you more about bubble tea: