Banquet has served its very last meal

• FireIce

  25 Nov 13, 16:51

  

  SINGAPORE - Halal foodcourt operator Banquet has thrown in the kitchen towel, just as shop rents escalate and firms struggle with the manpower crunch.

  The home-grown chain, which opened in 2000, had 46 outlets in its heyday. By last year, only 14 remained. This number dwindled to just five outlets by June this year.

  And now there are none, going by MyPaper checks.

  Rival operator Kopitiam has taken over the outlets at VivoCity, HarbourFront Centre and Jurong Point.

  NTUC Foodfare will replace Banquet's outlet in Clifford Centre in Raffles Place next month, according to a notice in the mall, and the outlet in IMM Building is now managed by Teck Kee, which also runs House of Steamboat in Bugis.

  All the new eateries are halal foodcourts.

  Calls to Banquet's owner, Mr Alan Lee, went unanswered, but a spokesman for Kopitiam said that it was approached by the landlords of the malls to be the new tenant.

  According to two stallholders who did not want to be named, Banquet still owes them some money.

  Ms Sarah Lim, a retail lecturer from Singapore Polytechnic, said that the chain was likely a victim of high rents and manpower costs, which "may have pushed them into the red".

  Pointing out that it may have expanded too fast, she added: "There are also so many new players with modern foodcourts and interesting themes."

   

   

  - See more at: http://www.soshiok.com/content/banquet-has-served-its-very-last-meal#sthash.VHZIj6qq.dpuf

• TehJarVu

  25 Nov 13, 16:53

  sad
  altho i didn't like the one at pp before
  not nice de
  oni the kopi was nice

• jlowbog

  25 Nov 13, 19:37

  ahhhh. gets nostagic again...

  still rem the 1st bq i went was the 1 at tpy central.

  the more recent 1 was at city sq, now became best denki or toy r us, cant rem.

• All the Best!

  25 Nov 13, 19:49

  Gone... Forever....

• laurence82

  25 Nov 13, 20:37

  they better do up the one at clifford otherwise lunch crowd going to get worse

• the Bear

  25 Nov 13, 22:12

  $&*^# i still got some money in the card

• All the Best!

  25 Nov 13, 22:16

  When it close ah?

• ditzy

  26 Nov 13, 09:41

  Good riddance to non-halal food trying to be halal.

• SJS6638

  26 Nov 13, 16:13

  I love Banquet.   It is going to be history.  

  NTUC FoodFare, wow, sure, the govt is fast to have a market share in the food business.  They are almost into every business competing with the citizens.   They even have NTUC Caskets.    This tells us how money driven they are.    

   

• SJS6638

  26 Nov 13, 16:28

  Originally posted by ditzy:

  Good riddance to non-halal food trying to be halal.

  What is so wrong about halal food court?

• ditzy

  27 Nov 13, 00:05

  Originally posted by SJS6638:

  What is so wrong about halal food court?

  There is nothing wrong with a halal food court. My only gripe is non-halal food trying to be halal. Eg. turkey bacon, chicken char siew, etc...

• charlize

  27 Nov 13, 00:10

  Rental damn expensive.

• the Bear

  27 Nov 13, 00:11

  i think the greed of landlords will be the death of hawker food in singapore

• shirt_less

  27 Nov 13, 17:56

  anyway the food is not nice and also v expensive....
• SJS6638

  27 Nov 13, 18:00

  Originally posted by ditzy:

  There is nothing wrong with a halal food court. My only gripe is non-halal food trying to be halal. Eg. turkey bacon, chicken char siew, etc...

  OMG, that is an issue with you.

  Not all, but some charsiew chicken taste nice.

• ditzy

  29 Nov 13, 13:28

  Originally posted by SJS6638:

  OMG, that is an issue with you.

  Not all, but some charsiew chicken taste nice.

  Nonono, let me repeat.

  The issue is with non-halal food, trying to be halal, not with me.

• charlize

  1 Dec 13, 00:42

  

• Queenkaylef

  1 Dec 13, 10:36

  their food arent that great anyways.