Here we go... again

So, we are back to where we were in May 16 this year. Then again, it was really a matter of WHEN and not IF, after the explosion in number of new Covid-19 infections with the KVT and then Jurong Fishery Port clusters. When we first heard the news at around 3pm on 20 July, we braced ourselves for the phones to ring off their hooks. And as expected they did. In just a matter of minutes actually. What was till then a rather uneventful day became a frantic 2 hours (till closing time) where we were flooded with calls/emails to cancel orders, downsize cakes, change collection/delivery dates etc. etc. But having experienced quite a few of such "disruptions" over the past year, we have become quite experienced (and immune) in dealing with the situation. We even have a "SOP" in place to cater for Heighten Alert. 

We typically charge an admin fee for change request made after 24 hours of order placement. But we have waived the fee for orders affected by the current phase 2HA. Since all it takes for customers to make a change is a phone call/email, some may wonder what all the fuss in having their orders changed is about, especially since the cake is not even made yet. But what customers may not realize is the mere phone call/email actually translates to a series of actions (both administrative and in our production planning process) that we have to undertake at our end. And given the large number of change requests especially in times like this, one slip-up may mean a missed order, which results in loss of goodwill and the need to make restitutions to the affected customer. 

Despite the inconvenience (to both customers and us) due to the latest Covid-19 development, we do (and have always) consider ourselves fortunate as compared to many of our F&B peers. Our Meringues are still sold out on most days albeit customers ordering smaller cakes. Our delivery staff has to work even harder due to the increased demands for our delivery service. But all these are "good problems", which we are thankful for. We hope everyone within the industry can continue to hang in there, do the right thing and emerge from this new phase 2HA unscathed.