BRUNEI-MUARA

PROMOTIONAL activities at the Jerudong Park Playground has helped struggling food vendors at the food court get good traffic.

Tenants interviewed by The Brunei Times recently said that the playground’s current sales promotion activities such as the ‘Ultimate Family Fun Park’ in conjunction with the school holiday season and the recent ‘Parrot Show’ organised by local parrot collectors have indirectly brought in more customers to the food court.

According to the tenants, the surge in sales allowed them to recuperate following the recent rental hike set by the management of the Jerudong Park Country Club (JPCC).

Ak Md Ibrahim Pg Md Badaruddin, son of the owner of Baina Restaurant, said that the promotion activities have attracted more people to the food court, including those who have never visited the stalls before.

He suggested that JPCC should introduce more promotional activities especially lowering the price of entries to the playground.

“During school holidays in December last year, it was really hectic for us when the public had known that the entry price had been lowered from $15 to $5,” Ak Md Ibrahim said.

He said that Baina Restaurant has been operating at the playground’s food court since 1997 and has been the only restaurant that survived at the premise until now.

Ak Md Ibrahim said he was concerned over the rental hike as the food court would only receive ‘seasonal’ customers.

“We only have more customers dining here during school holidays or public holidays. There are only a lot of people coming over here when the playground is open,” he added.

The playground opens every Wednesday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday on non-public holidays, according to the JPCC’s website.

During the school break from March 27 until April 12, It opens everyday except Mondays.

Md Rifan Noor Hasim, a supervisor of the Kuliq Restaurant, said that the recent Parrot Show in February helped boost sales at his restaurant as the event attracted people from other districts as well as international bird enthusiast.

Md Rifan said he is confident that his restaurant will not be affected by the rental hike as it has been operating since the 1990s.

“But some of my neighbours will have difficulty covering the cost of their operations, especially the new tenants,” he added.

Meanwhile, a staff of one of the restaurant who requested for anonymity said that JPCC should ask the food court tenants for suggestions to improve the area.

The Brunei Times