On 27th March 2020, UMAI has launched the largest directory of Singaporean and Malaysian restaurants and cafes that offer gift cards and vouchers, making it easier for diners to support their favorite restaurants by purchasing for themselves, loved ones, or the less fortunate. Buying full or discounted value vouchers will help restaurants with immediate cash flow and offset lost income amidst the COVID-19 health crisis.

Restaurants are struggling to stay afloat, as restrictions are placed on serving customers in-house, fewer customers are dining out, and sales are down across the region. As F&B businesses typically operate at a 3-5% margin, there's not much buffer room left for them to weather this out, putting their teams and business at risk of closure. While gift cards provide immediate income relief that will help these businesses continue running, less than 1% of restaurants in the region are offering this service -- UMAI is offering this software for free globally, during these unprecedented times.

"There are a lot of restaurants that are deciding whether they stay is business or not," says Co-Founder, Jonas Chelbat. "Our generosity, collectively as consumers, now literally affects the ability of your favorite restaurant to stay open."

"At this point, the purchasing of gift cards is the best thing any of us can do to support restaurants -- and it's win-win. It's like giving a restaurant or cafe a loan and getting paid back in food, drinks and appreciation. We built this software so that consumers can purchase this on behalf of loved ones, support the less fortunate or simply for themselves during this difficult time," says Co-Founder, Alexander Small. "The most important thing we can do is bring attention to the problem, and help the community play a role in solving it."

The sites currently features 130 restaurants that sell gift cards. UMAI is aiming to help at least 300 more restaurants make it onto the lists. Visitors can:

Search for a specific restaurant, or browse based on who has discounted gift cards - by area, cuisine type and so forth.

Visitors can purchase a restaurants gift card directly from the restaurant's website, by clicking on a restaurant.

Any restaurant can add their gift card to the directory.

For more information, visit:

Singapore: https://www.umai.io/en/singapore

Malaysia: https://www.umai.io/en/malaysia