Is it possible to find a balance of cultivating a vibrant food scene while ensuring that it is sustainable economically? In Singapore, at one point in time, yes, this was achieved. From hawker fare to fine dining, Singapore hit all the right spots due to our cultural diversity, Singaporeans’ love for good food ... and affordability. But with the recent closure of Robuchon’s restaurants, I can say this is no longer the case.
Of course, I do not say this based on the fate of two restaurants only. The truth is that this also happens to many good restaurants and hawker stalls that I had written about. If one says that it is hard to sustain a restaurants, then I want to ask, “How about the hawker stalls?”
Why must be restaurants be super crowded to be able to sustain their business? Is it due to the ever increasing rental rates, our increasing cost of living or simply overly stiff competition?
It is exciting to see new restaurants pop out, but the thing is that is there any plans to control the number of restaurants set up? Are they allowed to flourish with only a decently sized crowd when everything here is so expensive? The unbelievable high rental rates here make it difficult to do so.
As for the hawker stalls, are the rental rates demanded even realistic? Recently, KF Szeto has revealed that the rental of a hawker stall can go as high as four thousand dollars! How many orders do the hawkers need to take to even make ends meet? If those so-called social enterprises are going to operate the hawker centres and kopitiams on the basis of greed and immediate gains instead of long term sustainability, the number of hawkers will dwindle. When there is not enough hawkers willing to rent their units, they can just “eat air” then. So much for UNESCO nomination. There will be no cultural heritage if there are no hawkers to keep it alive.
Nowadays, chain restaurants are mainly the ones that survive such stifling environment. And this is boring. I don’t like to go to most shopping centres because most only have the same old chain restaurants. If the greed for profits continues to take precedence over a nuturing environment for local talents to flourish, our unique food culture will cease to exist. When that happens, landowners can forgot about renting out their premises since investing in food industry will be seen pointless when nobody specially comes to Singapore for our food.
Do you expect tourists to try the food at one of our chain restaurants when there are branches of such restaurants in their own countries?
