Ministry going all out to bring down prices at restaurants

The Domestic Trade, Cooperatives and Consumerism Ministry is going all out to bring down prices at restaurants.

Its Minister Datuk Hamzah Zainuddin said the move follows the success of the ministry's initial campaign to get retailers including supermarkets and mini-markets nationwide to bring down prices.

"We are discussing with restaurant operators associations to implement the second strategy soon," he told a press conference after launching a price reduction campaign here Friday.

He said once an agreement is reached, the associations would voluntarily reduce prices based on the type of food ordered by customers.

"For instance, if possible, my strategy would be this week the price of roti canai in the country be reduced... next week, maybe nasi beriani. This is our strategy and will update on the progress from time to time," he said.

He said this way, the purchasing habits of the people could be changed.

Earlier, Hamzah had launched the "Price Reduction Campaign - Low Prices Everyday Throughout the Year" at the Point Convenience Shop at JB Sentral.

"This shop is the first convenience store here which has voluntarily joined the price reduction campaign, reducing the price of a carton of coca-cola today by RM6 from the original price of RM24," he said.

He added that throughout this month, the shop will also reduce the prices of its other goods.

Hamzah said since March this year, 55 companies and 2,453 branches of supermarkets in the country had voluntarily participated in the price reduction campaign which involved 934,873 types of food products and essential items.