Dimbulah Coffee's CBD blend hits snag; it's closing 3 outlets amid S$4.4m liabilities, landlord lawsuits

SINGAPORE-BASED Dimbulah Coffee is set to exit three of its dozen-odd outlets by May 1, amid liabilities of S$4.4 million as of end-2020, The Business Times (BT) has learnt. The coffee chain's operator, CW2001 Pte Ltd, has filed for restructuring and was recently granted a two-month debt stay against creditors.

The operator fell behind on rental payments with its landlords, with arrears of under S$800,000 as at end-February, according to multiple sources. Two landlords, Raffles Hospital and Royal Group Holdings, filed lawsuits against it in March.

The three outlets that the coffee chain will cease operations at are Raffles Hospital, Sofitel So at 35 Robinson Road and the office building 18 Robinson Road. The landlords of Sofitel So and 18 Robinson Road are Royal Group and Tuan Sing Holdings unit Superluck Properties respectively.

When BT visited 18 Robinson Road on Monday evening, the premises had already been vacated (pictured). However, the outlets at Raffles Hospital and Sofitel So were still operating.

Tuan Sing told BT that it had reached a settlement with Dimbulah outside of court, but declined to elaborate. Raffles Hospital declined to comment; BT has reached out to Royal Group on the matter.

Another Dimbulah outlet, at Guoco Tower, was shut with a "closed" sign on Monday (headline image). GuocoLand declined to comment on the matter.

On Dimbulah's website, the Guoco Tower and Raffles Hospital outlets are indicated as being "temporarily closed", while most others are operating on shorter hours.

Dimbulah's operator had filed for a restructuring application with the High Court in late March. Last week, the court granted CW2001 a two-month moratorium to come up with its scheme of arrangement, which involves a proposal to restructure its liabilities.

Legal records show that Raffles Hospital had earlier filed a lawsuit against Dimbulah's operator in mid-March, with a claim for over S$267,000. Meanwhile, Royal Group had filed a lawsuit against the operator in early March, with a claim of over S$81,400.

According to regulatory filings, CW2001, formerly known as Dimbulah Coffee (S) Pte Ltd, was incorporated in 2001. Once a rising star in Singapore's food and beverage scene, the specialist in Australian coffee was originally founded by entrepreneur Christopher Wanden. Its ownership subsequently changed in 2018 to several Japan-linked entities.

The next court hearing will be in May. The company is represented by Focus Law Asia's Mark Tan, according to court records.

With additional reporting by Leila Lai

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