This is almost always the reason, when the bagholder financer aren't your parents     But realy for bakeries, as much as the rent - cost of materials has really ramped up. We make bread, cookies and other simple savoury baked stuff at home - but cost of items like decent butter has gone up by almost 3x since 2018  Bakeries if they use special flour confirm got whack gaogao. Pastry bakers using fresh fruits flown and cheese flown in from abroad also confirm got hit by the costs increase. 

Chiu visiting her in Perak? 

[SINGAPORE] Sub-S$100 million commercial properties continue to be in demand by property investors. Lian Huat Building, an 11-storey, freehold commercial property at 163 Tras Street in the Central Business District (CBD), has fetched S$90 million. The buyer is a consortium said to include Apricot Capital, Oxley Holdings’ deputy chief executive officer Eric Low, and co-living operator The Assembly Place.   Apricot Capital is the family office of the Teo family that founded the three-in-one coffee empire Super Group. Separately, the family of Macau property magnate Loi Keong Kuong is understood to be selling seven retail units on the ground floor of the freehold Holland Road Shopping Centre, as well as the basement car park in the building, for S$84 million.   An artist’s impression of Piccadilly Galleria, which will be directly connected to Farrer Park MRT station. The retail podium is expected to change hands in the mid-S$60 million range. ILLUSTRATION: CDL, MCL LAND In another deal, City Developments Ltd : C09 -0.65% (CDL) and MCL Land are understood to have found a buyer for Piccadilly Galleria, a ground-floor retail asset directly connected to Farrer Park MRT station. The buyer is said to be Koufu Group and the price, in the mid-S$60 million range.     Industry observers suggest that Koufu, which runs food courts and other food and beverage (F&B) businesses, may operate part of the Piccadilly Galleria space and lease out the rest for recurring income. Piccadilly Galleria will have a total net lettable area of about 20,140 square feet (sq ft) across 15 units; these comprise 10 units approved for F&B use, four retail units and a childcare centre. Piccadilly Galleria is the retail podium of an integrated project that includes the 407-unit residential component Piccadilly Grand. The development is expected to be completed in the fourth quarter of this year. It is on a site with 99-year leasehold tenure from August 2021, leaving 95 years on the lease. Knight Frank and CBRE conducted an expression-of-interest exercise for Piccadilly Galleria. The guide price was S$67.5 million, down from the S$75 million when the retail podium was first put up for sale in October 2024. The exercise has since closed.     The Loi family will be exiting its investment in Holland Road Shopping Centre at a profit. PHOTO: BT FILE At Holland Road Shopping Centre, the seven ground-floor retail units being sold by the Loi family are anchored by a CS Fresh supermarket. The units have a total strata area of 12,260 sq ft. The basement car park, with a strata area of about 16,178 sq ft, comprises 47 parking spaces and a retail unit. The Lois will be exiting the investment at a profit. They bought the car park for S$17.33 million in 2020, and the seven retail units for slightly more than S$61 million in 2016. Property industry sources could not identify the buyer of the Loi family’s Holland Road Shopping Centre assets. The Business Times recently reported that the family sold five shophouses in Pagoda Street in Chinatown for between 5 and 20 per cent less than what they had paid for these units a decade ago. The shophouses are on sites with about 69 years left on their leasehold tenures. The S$90 million fetched for Lian Huat Building is slightly higher than the S$88.8 million guide price stated when ETC launched the tender for the sale of the building in May. The tender closed in late June. Sitting on a corner plot with a site area of 6,668 sq ft, the building has a gross floor area (GFA) of 38,818 sq ft, which works out to an equivalent plot ratio of 5.82. This exceeds the 5.6 plot ratio designated for the commercial-zoned site under the Urban Redevelopment Authority’s Master Plan 2019 and Draft Master Plan 2025. The permissible building height is up to 35 storeys. Lian Huat Building’s site area of 619.5 square metres (sq m) does not meet the minimum 1,000 sq m requirement to qualify for the CBD Incentive Scheme. Under this scheme, additional GFA is granted to encourage the conversion of older office buildings in some parts of the CBD into mixed-use projects with a wider diversity of uses, including residences and hotels. Nevertheless, market observers said that Lian Huat Building could still be redeveloped to accommodate a design with higher ceilings and better quality of space. Next change: co-living facility? The incoming owner could also refurbish the existing building, refreshing its facade and converting the inside into, say, serviced apartments or long-stay serviced apartments (with a minimum stay of three months). Observers suggest The Assembly Place’s participation in the consortium could foreshadow the conversion of part or all of the building into a co-living facility. Lian Huat Building is owned by Lian Huat & Company, of which 88.1 per cent is owned by Lian Huat Group. The remaining 11.9 per cent is held by Kho Choon Keng (also known as CK Kho). Lian Huat Group is fully owned by Lian Keng Enterprises (LKE), the ultimate holding company in the group. In March this year, Kho became the sole owner of LKE when he bought out the shares of his step-siblings Patrick Kho (49.2 per cent) and Patricia Kho (1 per cent), and their mother Saw Gek Hua (0.8 per cent) under a settlement. CK Kho, who had owned 49 per cent of LKE, had made an application to the High Court to wind up LKE amid a family feud. In July 2024, the High Court ordered LKE to be wound up, but granted a 30-day stay to allow the shareholders to reach a settlement.

[SINGAPORE] The pie is shrinking for artisanal bakeries in Singapore as they battle a triple threat: rising ingredient and rental costs, labour shortages, and weakening demand for baked goods.  With hopes of a post-pandemic dining revival fading, the pressure on operators is reaching a boiling point, forcing many to lay their cards on the table by pivoting offerings, consolidating, or closing outlets altogether.  Among them is Keong Saik Bakery, a home-grown brand known for its nostalgic yet modernised local bakes.   “We went from profitable to not profitable. The last two years have been very challenging for us,” says its founder and chief executive Tan Yuzhong. “A lot of people thought business would be good after Covid, including us, so we expanded,” he adds. “But it turned out (to be) the opposite… We definitely suffered because we expanded too fast and didn’t expect the headwinds to hit this much.”  Keong Saik Bakery opened its second outlet at Chip Bee Gardens in 2022. Foot traffic at the store – located in the Holland Village area – was “decent” at the time, Tan recalls.     But just a year later, as borders reopened and outbound travel increased, visitorship fell by 10 per cent. The launch of One Holland Village later in 2023 further diverted crowds, causing footfall to decline another 25 per cent.  Tan adds that a stronger Singapore dollar in 2024 prompted further outbound spending, which likely contributed to an additional 20 per cent dip.  The Chip Bee outlet is now Keong Saik Bakery’s worst-performing store. It also operates two other outlets in Bendemeer and Jewel Changi Airport.    “From 2022, it was just down, down and down,” says Tan.  “There was no recovery, and it is very challenging for us at Chip Bee as there’s no natural traffic to the space,” he adds, pointing out that, in total, sales at the outlet dropped 50 per cent from 2022 to end-2024, with takings in some months insufficient to cover expenses.  At its peak, Keong Saik Bakery produced around 600 pastries daily across its three outlets. Today, output has halved. “Margins for bakeries are very, very low,” says Tan. “If you don’t have the volume, it’s very hard to survive, and you can’t price bakes too high. Who’s going to buy a S$9 croissant?” Across the island, similar stories are playing out. Data from the Department of Statistics shows that food and alcohol sales fell 4.5 per cent in May 2025 from a year earlier. As demand for baked goods softens, bakeries are seeing slower sales, with some throwing in the towel.  L’eclair Patisserie, known for its artisanal French-style eclairs, experienced thinning traffic and falling sales at its Jewel Changi boutique store after opening in 2019. The outlet closed earlier this year. “We noticed a slump after the half-year mark and footfall wasn’t as great as what was estimated,” says founder Michelle Looi. When it was still operating, the store sometimes saw as few as 10 to 15 transactions a day.  “Jewel is more a destination spot – people come to take photos and leave,” Looi observes. “At best, they’ll dine at one outlet, so despite the crowds, conversion to sales remains low.”    L’eclair Patisserie’s Jewel Changi Airport boutique store sometimes saw as few as 10 to 15 transactions a day. Founder Michelle Looi cites dwindling footfall and high operational costs as reasons for its closure this year. PHOTO: L’ECLAIR PATISSERIE Since the Jewel store’s closure, L’eclair’s operations have continued at its other outlet in Singapore Shopping Centre, as well as online.  Looi says the business needs about S$100,000 monthly revenue to break even – a steep target given tepid sales and high overheads. Even now, though, it remains in the red, with monthly revenue down 10 to 20 per cent. Online sales, which represent over half of the bakery’s monthly revenue, have fallen 35 to 50 per cent over the last two years. “It’s just been a whole year of bleeding,” says Looi. “We took out a working capital loan earlier this year, and we are just trying to survive.” Other casualties of the slump include Madu Bakery, which started as a home-based business in 2021 and shuttered its physical store in June last year after just two years. Tigerlily Patisserie, by former Les Amis chef Maxine Ngooi, closed last April after three years in Joo Chiat. Even more-established home-grown brands are feeling the heat. Cheryl Koh, founder of Les Amis spinoff Tarte, says business in the first half of 2025 has been slow, aside from a few bright spots during festive periods and major events. Tiong Bahru Bakery, meanwhile, recently shuttered its Funan Mall and Scotts Square outlets. The chain now operates 20 stores, having expanded in the past two years into heartland malls such as Jem and Tampines 1, as well as The Centrepoint in Orchard. Though the Funan outlet had loyal customers, business dynamics have changed since 2020, says Tiong Bahru Bakery’s general manager Matthew McLauchlan.  “We had come to this decision after reviewing priorities and digesting observations on the current food and beverage (F&B) landscape.”  International heavyweights, too, face challenges. French patissier Pierre Herme, meanwhile, told The Business Times in July that he is aware of global economic shifts, changing consumer habits, and rising competition in the high-end segment, but he remains undeterred. Pierre Herme Paris opened its largest flagship in the world on Friday (Aug 1) at the Weave, Resorts World Sentosa’s new dining and lifestyle enclave.   Pierre Herme Paris opened its largest flagship in the world on Aug 1 at the Weave in Resorts World Sentosa, even as patissier Pierre Herme acknowledges the challenges facing the F&B industry. PHOTO: ST Cedric Grolet’s eponymous patisserie-cafe in Singapore opened in 2023 with long queues at Como Orchard. The initial hype has since tapered off.  “Since our opening nearly two years ago, we have actually maintained a steady and healthy performance with the daily footfall and revenue,” a Como spokesperson tells BT. “While the initial buzz has naturally evolved, we have maintained a healthy and consistent volume of business from both walk-ins and online orders.” The cost crunch At the heart of the crisis is a rising cost structure, but falling revenue. “Even with a healthy footfall, margins in F&B are always tight,” Tiong Bahru Bakery’s McLauchlan points out. Operating expenditure in Singapore’s F&B sector hit a record S$12.3 billion in 2023, up 8.8 per cent from 2022 and 37.3 per cent since 2020, Knight Frank Singapore reported on Jul 16. Operating revenue was slightly lower at S$12.2 billion. — Michelle Looi, founder, L’eclair Patisserie L’eclair’s Looi notes that ingredients in particular have become more expensive. “When I started the business (10 years ago), butter cost S$8 to S$10 per kg; now it’s up to S$25. Chocolate was S$12 to S$15 per kg; now it’s S$30 to S$50 due to logistics disruptions and weather – things consumers don’t see.” Manpower costs and availability add to woes. Ervin Yeo, CapitaLand’s commercial management chief executive and group chief strategy officer, noted in a Jun 9 LinkedIn post that bakeries “typically have higher manpower costs relative to ingredients because the magic is in the skilled baker turning flour and eggs into a S$12.50 tiramisu millecrepe”. In Singapore, F&B businesses have a foreign worker quota of 35 per cent of their total workforce.  “The challenge then is that the local pool is shrinking,” wrote Yeo. With birth rates going down, the number of Singaporeans willing and able to work in the service sector will continue to dwindle, especially as older staff retire. “The blanket policy does not work,” says Keong Saik Bakery’s Tan. “Unfortunately, the fact of the matter is, not many Singaporeans are clamouring for F&B jobs and most of them only work it part-time.” The Chip Bee outlet, he adds, had no full-time employee in April and May. It currently runs weekday shifts with just two to three staff. Rent’s a crust too high Rents have also become a heavy burden. Flor Patisserie, which serves Japanese-inspired French cakes, closed its Siglap Drive outlet on Jul 13, after a 57 per cent rent hike to S$8,500 per month, from S$5,400 previously. “We have been around for 15 years, so we have quite a customer base. Even though the market is slow, we could sustain operations at Siglap,” says Flor’s founder Heidi Tan. “Really, the nail in the coffin is (the) rent hike… There’s just no way we can continue with such an increase.”    Flor Patisserie closed its final outlet at Siglap Drive on Jul 13, after rents rose by 57 per cent to S$8,500 per month. PHOTO: FLOR PATISSERIE Flor had already shut its Duxton and East Coast outlets in 2024, citing dwindling footfall and high rents. Monthly rents were about S$9,000 for a 1,200 square foot (sq ft) space in Duxton, and S$8,500 for a 2,200 sq ft unit in East Coast.  Footfall and order sizes fell about 50 per cent post-pandemic, as office crowds stayed home and travel resumed. “Cakes are not essential goods. It’s a niche market, and we don’t serve the masses,” says Tan. “The sales didn’t justify the high rents in Duxton and East Coast.”  Rents have been rising across the board – not just for shophouses, but for mall spaces as well. Prime monthly rent for the Orchard area is now back to pre-pandemic levels; it was S$35.77 per sq ft (psf) in 2019 and S$35.83 psf in 2024, Cushman & Wakefield data shows. In suburban areas, prime monthly rent rose to S$32.90 psf last year, from S$31.76 psf in 2019. Rents of retail space increased by 0.9 per cent in Q2 2025, reversing from the 0.5 per cent decrease in the previous quarter, latest data from the Urban Redevelopment Authority showed. L’eclair paid S$40 to S$50 psf for a ground-floor space in Jewel that was smaller than 300 sq ft. Looi says that on lease renewal, the mall operator – a joint venture between Changi Airport Group and CapitaLand – requested renovations and a 30 per cent rent hike. Amid all this, competition is getting stiffer as more home-based F&B businesses, including bakeries and cafes, are added to the mix. While there is no official data, there are reportedly over 150 listings of such operations.   Keong Saik’s Tan notes that the playing field may not be level, as home-based businesses are not subject to the same compliance costs, such as licensing and renovation fees, which can run into the thousands.  — Tan Yuzhong, founder and chief executive, Keong Saik Bakery Baking up new strategies Faced with thinning margins, some bakeries are exploring new strategies to stay afloat. Keong Saik Bakery, for instance, introduced lunch items such as rendang chicken stew and Nonya curry chicken this year. It also rolled out a new range of eclair-shaped croissants called the Clairssant Collection.   Keong Saik Bakery has rolled out a new range of pastries, as well as lunch items; these have helped boost the bakery’s top line. PHOTO: KEONG SAIK BAKERY “People don’t usually associate Keong Saik Bakery with lunches, but market shifts left us no choice,” says Tan. The new offerings helped boost sales by 20 per cent, though the business remains in the red. “The goal for this year is to at least achieve parity, and that will be a win for me,” says Tan. L’eclair has also diversified into pasta, croissants and sandwiches to appeal to different tastes. Looi plans to partner more with other brands for pop-up events, noting that the exclusive nature of such experiences tends to attract greater attention and engagement. Flor’s Tan, meanwhile, has exited the F&B industry. “The Siglap outlet is my only kitchen, so when that closes, there’s no cakes. It’s a full closure.” She now runs baking tours, bringing Singaporeans to Japan to learn from professional chefs. Some bakeries are also broadening their reach through increased business-to-business sales. CakeInspiration, a decade-old home-grown bakery specialising in custom cakes, pivoted from consumer sales – which dropped to near zero during Covid – to brands and corporate clients. Corporate orders now form half of CakeInspiration’s revenue, providing steadier though slimmer margins, says chief executive Chan Kai Yang. They handle three to four corporate orders monthly, such as 1,000 to 2,000 cupcakes retailing at S$5 to S$8 each, depending on design and ingredients.   Corporate orders provide steadier though slimmer margins for CakeInspiration. PHOTO: CAKEINSPIRATION Still, diversification plans may only go so far, unless structural issues are addressed.  Lee Siew Ling, JLL Singapore’s executive director of retail, has observed strategic partnerships where bakeries team up with complementary retailers or food operators to share operational costs. She cites as examples Bynd Artisan, which shares a space with Patisserie Woo at Ion Orchard, and coffee chain Alchemist, which shares its space in Funan Mall with Arcade Clothing. Guy Llewellyn, assistant professor at EHL Hospitality Business School’s Singapore campus, says such co-sharing arrangements are one way to manage costs.  “This helps small F&B businesses mitigate rental risks… You’re kind of hedging your bets,” he adds. Location matters Others may find more resilience in strategically located storefronts. Lee says bakeries need a strategic balance between visibility and manageable rent. Bakeries in prime high-footfall locations, such as MRT stations or street-facing units, can benefit from both destination traffic drawn to their specific offerings and the natural footfall generated by surrounding complementary uses, she notes. Tarte’s Koh contrasts her Shaw Centre and Raffles City outlets, noting that the latter, which opened in 2020, attracts more walk-ins and natural footfall; Shaw Centre sees a more measured crowd, mainly customers already familiar with the brand. On average, Tarte fulfils between 300 and 400 orders daily, with weekends seeing higher volumes. Takeaways and deliveries make up about 70 per cent of sales, while dine-ins account for the remaining 30 per cent. “Between the two outlets, Shaw Centre contributes more significantly to our overall sales, especially through dine-in and online channels,” says Koh, adding that the differing dynamics of the two locations complement each other and have helped with business. Joan Chen, CBRE’s head of retail, says that success hinges on “clearly defining the bakery’s concept and matching it with its ideal consumer profile and consumption patterns”. Local or Asian-style bakeries are typically volume-driven and work best in high-traffic environments with a mass-market appeal, she adds. Conversely, European-style artisanal bakeries with premium pricing do better in shophouse enclaves that complement the ambience and encourage dining in. “While foot traffic is low, store traffic once built through word-of-mouth recommendations… (and) memorable customer experiences will ensure regular visits.” JLL’s Lee also notes that successful bakeries adopt hybrid models: central production kitchens supplying multiple smaller retail outlets, gaining production economies of scale and minimising rental frontage. — Joan Chen, head of retail, CBRE On the policy front, Prof Llewellyn suggests taxing unrented commercial units to motivate landlords to lease instead of waiting for “perfect tenants”. “Rental costs are staggeringly high and unfortunately, spending has remained flat. There’s just less money going around and costs continue to rise,” he says. “If nothing changes, the closures are going to keep happening.” CBRE’s Chen, meanwhile, says improving small F&B survival needs flexible leasing, such as shorter leases and turnover rent. She also calls for inclusive licensing policies for temporary formats and opening underused public spaces for pop-ups. “What lies ahead is whether landlords are prepared to share their tenant’s plate of cost challenges and take a cut in their rent revenue yield to support a tenant, whether it is to trade off the brand name or to support a tenant’s business initiatives and contribute to a healthy business cost model.