Office lunches may not prove much costlier as low demand caps CBD food prices

AS THE office crowd returns to the central business district (CBD) amid loosened Covid-19 curbs, one might expect workers to face higher lunch costs than when they were working from home – but that is not necessarily the case, say office workers to whom The Business Times spoke.

“The rise of work-from-home arrangements and the lack of tourists due to the pandemic has caused overall demand for food in the (CBD) area to shrink”, said CIMB Private Banking economist Song Seng Wun.

At the same time, with more people staying at home, footfall for F&B outlets in the heartlands has increased, he added. Furthermore, heartland F&B businesses benefit from daily demand for all 3 meals, whereas F&B demand in the CBD is generally limited to breakfast and lunch on weekdays.