Labour woes, high rents and slower footfall brought on by the proliferation of shopping malls led to the abrupt closure last month of popular American restaurant chain Chili’s Grill & Bar in Singapore, its franchisee has revealed
Mr Blakney said that the foreign-worker quota for the services sector is set to drop in the next two years and this will make it “considerably difficult” for restaurant operators.
The Ministry of Manpower (MOM) told TODAY, however, that the move will not affect most firms in the sector, as their pool of foreign workers is below the quota.
MOM records show that Belgarath Investments’ utilisation of foreign workers was “higher than average” among food-and-beverage (F&B) companies.
“The average and median wages for its local employees are also lower than their industry benchmarks,” the ministry said.