In­dus­try lead­ers echoed George’s warn­ings.

Derek Chin, ex­ec­u­tive chair­man of Movi­eTowne and the Dachin Group of Com­pa­nies, de­scribed the en­vi­ron­ment as one that “on­ly those with tough dis­po­si­tions” can en­dure. Ris­ing crime, re­duced dis­pos­able in­come, high util­i­ty costs and labour in­ef­fi­cien­cies are squeez­ing op­er­a­tors from all sides.

“We ex­pect to see many restau­rants ei­ther clos­ing or scal­ing down their op­er­a­tions,” Chin said. “To sur­vive, you need con­stant in­no­va­tion, cost-cut­ting, and very shrewd buy­ing, but even that might not be enough.”Dipc­hand Per­sad, own­er of Pas­sage to Asia, added that be­yond tax­es and tar­iffs, the pro­lif­er­a­tion of street food and food car­a­vans has di­vert­ed cus­tomers away from tra­di­tion­al restau­rants.