Singapore’s food hub status at risk amid wave of restaurant closures

Rising costs and thinning patrons hammer operators, including hawker stalls and Michelin-starred eateries

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Singapore’s Wine RVLT does not plan to renew its lease ending in August. Photo: Reuters

Published: 4:25pm, 10 Apr 2025

Singapore’s well-known food scene has been battered by closures in the past year, affecting low-cost hawker stalls, mid-sized operators and Michelin-star restaurants, who say costs are rising and consumers are spending less.

Closures in the food and drink sector have averaged 307 per month so far this year, up from 254 per month in 2024 and around 230 a month in 2023 and 2022, government data shows.

Alvin Goh, a co-founder of Wine RVLT, is set to add to the statistics later this year.

He said he will not renew his lease when it runs out in August after almost a decade serving natural wines and bar bites in the wealthy Asian financial hub of 6 million people.

“We’ve been in the red since 2023 June. We’ve been topping up money to ensure that rent, salaries and suppliers are being paid,” he said.

Like other operators, Goh has been hit by rising costs for goods, utilities, rent and salaries. He has fewer patrons and those who do dine and wine are spending less than during what Goh called the 2022 “euphoria of opening up” following the Covid-19 pandemic.

The ratio of closures to openings in 2025 and 2024 was higher than before and during the pandemic, pointing to a shrinking sector.