Luxury F&B faces fallout as rich diners stay away
With even the wealthy watching their pennies, fine-dining restaurants find it harder to fill seats
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OPEN it and they will come. “They” being the seemingly endless pool of millionaires and generally wealthy Singapore residents and expats ever-ready to flash their cash, and “it” being the number of new fine-dining restaurants that have opened in the past couple of years to attract them.
Right up to the first quarter of 2023, that formula seemed to work as months-long waiting lists at hot Japanese eateries became commonplace, with other buzzy new concepts and Michelin-starred eateries not far behind.
But after an optimistic post-Covid rebound which saw the upper end of the dining spectrum outperforming more mainstream eateries, the tide is turning as the very restaurants that couldn’t keep up with reservations are now having just as much trouble filling seats.
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