Eatery: Glitch caused price increase

KUALA LUMPUR: It was quite an unpalatable situation when a breakfast meal here cost RM6.60 more despite zero GST, although the restaurant has since clarified that it was a database error.

There was a furore on social media with people sharing receipts of the similar meal, priced at RM51.70 on May 26 but amounting to RM58.30 yesterday when no GST was charged.

“It was not an intentional price increase. What happened is that we are updating our system to abolish the 6% GST but in the midst of that, a database from a different outlet had been updated here by mistake,” said operations manager of the La Bodega outlet in Bangsar, Pandiam Balasubramaniam.

“We are trying to fix the problem as well as reimbursing anyone who dined here in the morning,” he said.

Pandiam said the system accidentally took the price menu from its outlet in Pavilion, adding that the prices of its food there differed in pricing from the outlets in Telawi, Empire and BSC.

He estimated about 30 to 40 people from their breakfast and lunch crowd had been affected by the wrong pricing.

Aside from the blip, many restaurants are anticipating bigger crowds following the Government’s an­­nounce­ment that beginning June 1, GST would be zero-rated.

In George Town, Original Kayu Nasi Kandar proprietor Buruhan Mohamad said they stopped char­ging the old price from midnight yesterday.

“It’s important to keep our custo­mers happy by reducing the pri­ces. When customers are happy, they will keep coming back,” he said.

With a zero-rated GST, a piece of chicken at Original Kayu Nasi Kandar now costs RM6 compared to RM6.40 previously; a piece of fish is RM4.70, cheaper by 30 sen.

A glass of teh tarik is RM1.70 (RM1.80 old price) while the must-have roti canai is RM1.20 (RM1.30).

With Hari Raya around the corner, Buruhan said there would be a surge in spending and business activities from now until September.

“It’s a tax holiday and also the festive season. I expect my business to pick up too,” he said.

In Kuantan, Noraini Syahira, a restaurant manager, said she had observed a slight increase in customers.

“The number of customers at our restaurant has not gone up much, but the price of our food is not expensive, so the impact of GST on us is not too high,” she explained.

A baking supply store also saw an increase in business. One of the staff members, who wanted to be known as Triny, said many people had come in to buy more baking tools than in previous days.

In Johor Baru, owner of RMB Noodle House at Taman Sri Pelangi, Yong Che Loong, said: “We never charged GST even before the announcement. We have been absorbing the extra expenses that comes with the tax and retain a low price for our customers.

“However, I believe that the zero-rated GST will still boost our business as people will now have more money to spend.”