We grew up in an era with brands such as New Urban Male, bands like Green Day and hung out at malls along Orchard Road. Those were the things that defined our teenage days, where western influence was seen as cool and places that exemplified the American ambience were the in thing.
As we outgrew emo fringes and Good Charlotte, phasing out of the era meant witnessing the decline of casual Western dining restaurants that once enjoyed long queues and frequent full houses. For anyone looking to take a trip down memory lane though, that lane may be a dead end.
Many of our favourite (at least they used to be) food haunts, like Billy Bombers, NYDC and The Cafe Cartel, have quietly gone to their graves. Here’s how it happened.
Case study #1: Billy Bombers
You’ve seen them at Marina Square, the Cathay, Bugis Junction, Cineleisure Orchard and Jurong Point, but they’ve since closed down completely. They were famous for their ribs with Jim Beam whiskey sauce and classic, thick milkshakes served in metal containers.
What food reviewers thought:
In a nutshell: Generally good service and milkshakes, but customers felt like they weren’t getting their dollar’s worth, not to mention that many people felt the food had become sub-par. However, reviews painted a promising picture of the last Billy Bombers outlet at Clark Quay – especially since the prices haven’t changed much over the years and the milkshakes remained a mainstay.
Case study #2: NYDC (New York Dessert Cafe)
NYDC used to enjoy bustling crowds during peak hours, but those glory days are long gone. Their outlets at Holland Village, Bugis Junction, Heeren, and Wheelock Place have all closed shop.
What food reviewers thought:
In a nutshell: Mostly good reviews, especially for their desserts. However, many were disappointed with the mains, and felt it had lost its “old spark”.
Case study #3: The Cafe Cartel
The Cafe Cartel and their stores all over Singapore (Marina Square, Plaza Singapura, East Coast Road, Tampines Mall, Junction 8, Bukit Panjang Plaza, Raffles City and IMM Building) went away quietly, with barely anyone noticing. But exactly what went wrong with The Cafe Cartel? They had great promotions especially for students, and were well-known for their wide variety of value-for-money mains.
What food reviewers thought:
Conclusion: Food quality went downhill, and free-flow bread (their most popular selling point) was off the menu.
Other factors for their downfall
Although these restaurants may have their individual failings that contributed to their falls, several external factors explain this phenomenon as well. For one, the rising rental and operating cost of the brutal F&B business.
The other factor, perhaps the most influential, is Singapore’s’ changing perception of money and food. The restaurants that are disappearing did not re-invent themselves to account for a dynamic customer base.
Consumers are becoming more money conscious and with that, they only pay for food they think is worth it (even if it’s premium-priced), meaning it has to be either really good or super special. We see this playing out in food trends such as Japanese cheese tarts and salted fish everything. When we say money-conscious, we translate it into how with fast food chains here being dominated by Western cuisine, Singaporeans often use McDonald’s as the benchmark for a burger and KFC for fried chicken. Hence, why pay $15 for a meal you can get at less than half the price?
Singaporeans are moving away from the era of western-ambience dining and transitioning into one that is constantly evolving because of the explosion of trends. At present, we are seeing the proliferation of independent cafes, hipster food, and Michelin-starred hawker stalls. Entrepreneurs are jumping on the ‘trend’, wanting a slice of the pie, but that pie is only good for however long the craze lasts. After all, who knows?
Every few years it seems, Singapore finds some new flavour of the week/month/year to fill the void left by whomever its most recently-departed F&B casualty was. But meanwhile, there is one lesson to be learned from all of this – don’t mess with Singaporeans’ food. If standards are not maintained, they will be disappointed, they will be angry, they will write about you online and they will tell their family, friends, uncles and aunties not to go to your restaurant.
By Violet Koh
