Orchardgateway restaurant that lost a night of business spills what diners don't see when things go wrong
A water leak in the building turned into a "traumatic" experience for a restaurant owner and his team.
Supply & Demand at Orchardgateway was forced to cancel its dinner service on June 18 after a water leak from renovations upstairs.
Restaurant owner Samdy Kan told Stomp: "At around 3.05pm, a mall representative came to ask our operations time if there were any leaks, which was not present at the point.
"At around 3.10pm, water started to gush down from the ceilings. We were informed that it was due to ongoing construction work at Library@orchard directly above us, and that their contractors accidentally ruptured a sprinkler system.
"Fortunately, we were about to close for lunch turnover and there were only four guests remaining."
However, Samdy's staff had to act fast to prevent any further damage.
"We had to relocate all our furniture and remove items affected by the flooding," Samdy explained.
"We also had to cancel all 65 dinner reservations for the night as we had no estimate of how long the issue would persist, and some were a bit disgruntled in tone but generally accepting of the situation."
"We were expecting around another 80 guests to walk in, which is a rough gauge from our day-to-day crowd."
The restaurant also faced a power shutdown for a few hours, leaving Samdy unsure if they could resume operations.
To make things worse, food and equipment were damaged by the leakage.
"We experienced some spoilage of dry goods like pasta, two receipt printers, and two electric outlets," Samdy shared.
"A power shutdown also caused our refrigerator system to be out of service, which is essential for fresh produce.
"Several books and wooden benches were waterlogged, while cushions and a couple of ornaments were damaged and broken."
As of 3.47pm on June 19, the leak was resolved and the restaurant has since re-opened.
"The team spent an entire evening cleaning and sanitising the place," Samdy said.
"We are still in discussion with the mall to assess the damages and losses incurred."
Samdy highlighted the hit suffered by a business in such unforeseen circumstances.
"I think when an incident like that happens, people tend to just look at it as, 'another day, another mishap.'
"As an F&B owner, what we look at is the intangible loss of sales, damage to our furniture, stocks, manpower cost to rectify the situation, and more."
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