Mother's Day chaos: Angry Singaporeans say restaurants ruined their celebrations

[Update: May 14]

Dian Xiao Er has told AsiaOne it is "deeply sorry" to its customers who did not manage to receive their meals on time or had their orders cancelled on Mother’s Day.

All affected customers will receive Dian Xiao Er gift vouchers as a token of apology. Additionally, for customers who did not receive their food or had their pre-orders cancelled, Dian Xiao Er will either deliver their orders at an agreed re-scheduled time or refund them.

"This episode of overwhelming orders serves as an important lesson for our team to improve the efficacy and efficiency of our operations processes so as to better serve our customers in future," Dian Xiao Er said.

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With the mad rush to secure one last cup of bubble tea last month and dramatic fights at several fast-food outlets, the circuit breaker period hasn't exactly been the smoothest ride for many in the food industry.

Unfortunately, Mother's Day was no exception.

Aggrieved Singaporeans took to social media yesterday (May 10) to air their complaints about long waiting times, unfulfilled orders and radio silence from many restaurants, derailing their celebrations and leaving their families scrambling for last-minute alternatives.

One local F&B company that had netizens fuming was Paradise Group, which helms several popular chains including Canton Paradise and Paradise Dynasty.

According to commenters on its Facebook page, some did not receive their orders, while others received incomplete orders.

Attempts to contact the restaurants went unanswered, they added.

In response to AsiaOne, Paradise Group said that this was the first time it had operated on a full take-out and delivery basis for Mother's Day and that it was "truly sorry for causing disappointment and unhappiness" to all customers whose orders were affected during the weekend.

"Despite limiting the number of orders per delivery slot across all outlets, it is undoubtedly our fault that we have underestimated the volume and size of the orders, which is a stretch on logistics and operational capabilities on this special occasion."

The company is progressively reaching out to affected customers, it added. 

Elsewhere, many Dian Xiao Er customers alleged that they were left hanging when their pre-orders as early as five days in advance were cancelled that evening — some even after the scheduled delivery time, they claimed.

The restaurant had said on Saturday (May 9) that it was "stepping up [its] efforts" for Mother's Day and had asked customers to order "at least 1.5 hours in advance".

Dian Xiao Er has not responded to us at the time of publication.

Food delivery services Grab and Foodpanda were not spared from the online vitriol either.

Foodpanda told us it was aware that some customers had experienced issues with their Mother’s Day orders and apologised "for any inconvenience and unhappiness caused".

The company also clarified that it does not cancel orders on behalf of its restaurant partners.

"We understand that some restaurants may not have expected the overwhelming number of orders received, which may have resulted in delays and last-minute cancellation of some orders.

"We will be working closely with our restaurant partners to ensure better planning of resources and manpower to minimise such occurrences."

Grab has also experienced "a large spike" in food orders on the platform on Mother's Day, a spokesperson told AsiaOne.

Combined with an "unexpected technical glitch" on the platform, this resulted in longer waiting times and a significant surge in the volume of calls to the company's hotline from both delivery-partners and customers.

"The glitch has since been fixed.

"We understand that Mother’s Day is an important occasion and we sincerely apologise for the inconvenience and disappointment caused," Grab said.

Delivery riders also had it hard yesterday, as one GrabFood rider shared on Reddit.

The orders were "crazy mad" and he had to wait over an hour at one restaurant. However, he was one of the "lucky ones" as some had to wait up to two hours, he wrote.

Another GrabFood rider waited almost three hours for an order, but refused to cancel as he didn't want to "ruin" his customer's Mother's Day — even as his own wife and kids waited at home for him.

kimberlylim@asiaone.com