F&B sales slipped 1.8% in April

The loses were led by a 4.3% decline in restaurant earnings.

Food and beverage (F&B) services sales decreased 1.8% YoY in April 2018 to an estimated $662m from $670m in April 2017.

According to the Food and Beverage Service Services Index (FSI), earnings of restaurants slipped 4.3%, whilst other eating places such as cafes dipped 0.5% YoY in April. On the other hand, fast food outlets sales gained 5.4% YoY whilst earnings from food caterers rose 0.7% YoY.

Based on seasonally adjusted data, the FSI noted that most food & beverage services industries registered sales declines in April compared to March. Turnover of food caterers, fast food outlets and restaurants slipped between 3.9% and 8.5% during this period.

In the past months, some food providers have closed stores including Joël Robuchon which is Singapore’s sole 3-Michelin star restaurant. Dairy Farm CEO Ian McLeod has also decided to end operations of lossmaking stores to revitalise Southeast Asian stores.

Meanwhile, earnings from other eating places such as cafes increased marginally by 0.1%.

The FSI looks into the short-term performance of the retail trade and F&B services industries based on sales records of establishments. Its sales figure excludes taxes on products such as the Goods and Services Tax (GST), Additional Registration Fee (ARF), and Certificates of Entitlement (COE).Restaurant earnings is down 4.3% YoY.