Singapore-based high-end seafood dining chain Jumbo Group Limited has reported a loss for 2021.
Jumbo CEO Ang Kiam Meng reported the company’s results for its fiscal year 2021, which ended in September, dropped compared to 2020, primarily because the company’s home market, Singapore, has faced “repeated cycles of no-dine in and the two-pax dine-in cap restrictions, making operations extremely challenging,” Ang told investors in a statement.
However, the chain’s earnings in China appear to have offered a lifeline to the company through its lean times. China's “zero-COVID strategy” has largely allowed normal life in major cities (other than areas where the virus is detected), while restricting travel into and out of China.
“Though the group is heartened that its business in China has been more optimistic year-on-year, the much weaker performance in Singapore largely as a result of a full year COVID-19 impact compared to a half-year impact in 2020, coupled with lower subsidies and rebates from the government and landlords respectively, had unfortunately overshadowed that,” Ang said in his statement.
Expanding its reach into China for its new fiscal year is Jumbo’s new restaurant at the recently-opened Universal Beijing Resort. Located in a dining street at the Universal resort, the 1,026-square-meter restaurant has an indoor seating capacity of 229.
Owned by the U.S. group Comcast and a Chinese state-owned company, the Universal Beijing Resort is part of the local and international theme park industry’s rush to tap a growing Chinese appetite for leisure and tourism. The restaurant and amusement park has received coverage on Beijing TV, the local channel.
Wholly-owned and managed by the group, the new restaurant brings the total number of Jumbo Seafood restaurants across Asia to 17, including locations in Shanghai, Beijing, Xi’an, and Fuzhou.
Photo courtesy of Universal Beijing Resort
