Chart of the Day: Singapore’s tourists shun cafes and restaurants for food courts

Overall, they’re less satisfied with our F&B sector.

Between 2013 and 2014, customer satisfaction for the F&B sector fell 4.56-points (-6.5%) to 65.8-points (on a 0 to 100 scale). The Tourism sector also registered a similarly significant decline in customer satisfaction, falling 5.44-points (-7.3%) to 69.1-points.

Caroline Lim, Institute of Service Excellence SMU director, said, “These lower scores could be a case of correction as companies transition to new business models, with consumers taking time to adapt to new norms in how service is delivered and experienced.”

According to ISES, while three of the five measured sub-sectors in F&B performed on par with the previous year’s scores, the decline in customer satisfaction at the Restaurants sub-sector, falling 7.51-points (-10.5%) to 64.1-points, and Cafes & Snack Bars sub-sector, falling 4.87-points (-6.8%) to 66.2-points, pulled down the overall F&B sector score. 

The other three F&B sub-sectors, namely Bars & Pubs, Food Courts, and Fast Food Restaurants, scored 70.0-points (-0.59-points/-0.8%), 66.1-points (+0.58-points/+0.9%), and 69.0-points (+1.06-points/+1.6%), respectively. The decrease in the Restaurants and Cafes & Snack Bars sub-sectors was due largely to significantly less satisfied tourist customers. In fact, they gave lower ratings to all five F&B sub-sectors measured in the survey.