SINGAPORE - On April 3, as Singaporeans rushed to shop before the circuit breaker measures kicked in, so did two-Michelin-starred restaurant Saint Pierre as they prepared to close their dine-in area.

"I spent all of Monday running around Singapore... and when I mean all around Singapore, I really meant all around Singapore (looking for bento boxes and their parts). I had to go to five different shops to get all of them", said Ms Edina Hong, marketing director of Saint Pierre Singapore.

Ms Hong was searching for the perfect bento box to serve an eight-course meal for Saint Pierre's new virtual restaurant experience. Known as Virtual Saint Pierre, customers can enjoy a restaurant experience and interact with chef-owner Emmanuel Stroobant and other guests through the video conferencing app Zoom.

With limited food supplies, chef Emmanuel decided to create an omakase-style bento box. Omakase is a Japanese tradition where the chef chooses your order. This allows him to use ingredients that can be flown into Singapore without sacrificing quality.

"Whatever you see in your box, we are talking about really high-end ingredients. Still the same style of cooking, so there are a lot of western techniques and a lot of Japanese products."

To replicate a dine-in experience, Chef Emmanuel has made the virtual restaurant fuss-free for his customers.

"My staff will deliver the box in full uniform, and it is fully plated so all you have to do is take and eat the food. The next day we will come and collect (the box). So you don't have to worry about washing the dishes, everything is taken care of as if you were coming to the restaurant".

Like Saint Pierre, Si Chuan Dou Hua Restaurant, located at ParkRoyal on Beach Road, is also turning to delivery services. The restaurant, which offers affordable bento boxes priced between $12 and $18, rushed to create a delivery platform on its website days before the circuit breaker measures kicked in. Customers can now order directly from the restaurant and each delivery comes with a personal touch.

"How do you keep that human touch, when it's really supposed to be drop and dash? We came up with these little messages that we print out so that the staff or the chef can write personalised notes to the guests. We chose to develop our own site. That way we own the channel, we own the guests, we have a one-to-one relationship with them. It's not a transactional experience", said Mr Paolo Campillo, general manager at ParkRoyal on Beach Road.

Singapore's dessert queen Janice Wong also believes in personalisation, which has become increasingly important at a time when restaurant owners are not able to meet their customers.

Since March 31, Ms Wong has introduced a range of Bake at Home'preservative-free premixes for cakes and cookies. The 15 premix packs come with a step-by-step guide on the back. Some of the premixes, such as madeleines and butter cake, also come in a sugar-free version, inspired by the desserts Ms Wong makes for her diabetic father.

"This is exactly how we bake our cakes, we don't add in preservatives. We also know that habits have changed - you are going to be stuck at home and you're probably going to eat it in two or three days."

Ms Wong also introduced a video guide on YouTube to teach customers how to use her premixes.

"When Covid-19 started, we weren't seeing tourists and a lot of our ticket sales are based on tourism. So the challenge is, how can we bring ourselves to create better for this local market only? In terms of content, right now, we're driving more content to the end user. With Covid-19, people are coming out to be more personal. People want to see who's behind these cakes, who is behind the story," she said.

Seeing a demand for personalisation, Ms Wong launched a $35-a-month subscription box comprising some of her most popular products.

"People still want to send out love messages to one another, to bring a smile to one another in their households. So that has given us some market share."

Another business that has jumped on the delivery bandwagon is Atlas Bar Singapore. The bar is offering do-it-yourself, or DIY, cocktail kits as well as cocktails for takeaway or delivery.

"We started planning this before Singapore actually went into lockdown and kind of the thought of: 'If this happens, people are going to be at home for quite a while'. So how can we make sure that people are taken care of for that entire time? And so we figured if we do cocktail sets, you know, we're sending people full bottles of alcohol so that they have enough to enjoy, you know, a few times a week for a whole month. We provide recipes and everything so people can keep themselves entertained for the entire month", said its general manager Annabelle Joyce.

Ms Joyce recognises the importance of bringing a personalised Atlas experience to customers at home. The bar customises their cocktails in special bottles, hand-delivers them to homes, and stays connected with customers through social media platforms such as Instagram and Facebook.

Similar to Ms Wong, Ms Joyce also noticed a change in consumer habits during the pandemic.

"The thing that we have all been the most surprised by is that people are not ordering cocktails for themselves, but somebody, for example, in the UK is ordering a cocktail to deliver to their friend in Singapore or somebody in Singapore ordering 10 different cocktail sets to deliver to all of their friends across the island."

For many businesses, surviving the pandemic depends on innovation. Despite the challenges, restaurant owners say the food trends today might just be here to stay.