Demand for Tingkat Surging As More People Are Staying Home, But Tingkat Companies Face a Challenge

Basically, Tingkat companies are food delivery companies who specialise in delivering food for the entire family.

According to TNP, some Tingkat companies are seeing as high as a 100% increase in the demand for their services.

For Kim Paradise, one of the largest tingkat service provider operating in Singapore for more than 20 years, the increase happened within 2 weeks.

Before the circuit breaker, the company was servicing about 5,000 people. Two weeks later, it jumped to 10,000 people.

For a smaller player like FattyDaddyFattyMummy, the increase in demand was about 30%.

More Customer Segments

It’s no longer just working couples, the elderly and families with young children who are looking for tingkat services.

According to the two tingkat companies, frontline staff and people who work from home are starting to get them too.

Basically, anyone who finds it overwhelming to cook three full meals a day but still wants to have them will likely go for tingkat services.

Have To Reject Orders

FattyDaddyFattyMummy found themselves having to reject orders for their tingkat services.

They did not have enough manpower.

FattyDaddyFattyMummy, which has been operating for four years, has a kitchen and 12 employees.

They’re not able to hire more as safe distancing measures must still be kept and the kitchen isn’t big enough.

It probably doesn’t help that Singaporeans, generally, do not want to work in F&B because it’s tiring work and has long hours.

In 2019, the government was pushing for the F&B industry in Singapore to be less reliant on foreign workers but owners told CNA that it’s not because they “want to hire foreigners”, it’s just because they can’t seem to attract Singaporeans.

“The reality is that the industry doesn’t chime with the lifestyle choices of Singaporeans, who don’t want to work evenings, weekends or special occasions.”

Even though the SG-MY borders are reopened, the number of Malaysians coming into Singapore to work is “just a trickle” compared to pre-Covid-19 levels:

Other Businesses That Are ‘Booming’

The change in work practices in Singapore has led to different sectors experiencing different changes.

While some F&B outlets are struggling to make rent, others managed to earn enough to keep the founders at the top of the Singapore Richest list:

Sheng Siong has earned it’s now rapidly expanding:

Online skincare shops have also benefited as more people are now at home so they’ll skip the makeup and just take care of their natural skin.

Home-grown brand Skin Inc found their online sales quadrupling while local skincare label Rooki Beauty found its business increasing by 5 times.

People are also eyeing new ways to benefit from the changes, including three men who got together to pump $500,000 into a food logistic and warehousing business serving small and medium businesses in Singapore.

Now, this isn’t written to make you go, wah, some people have all the luck.

It’s just to encourage people in Singapore that even though Covid-19’s a huge dampener on the economy, there are ways to survive and, potentially, come out even better.

And with regards to that, no one says it better than Wang Lei: