Buffet Town, known for budget-friendly international fare, closes after 11 years

Once again, another F&B establishment has bitten the dust. 

International buffet restaurant Buffet Town has quietly called it quits after being in Singapore's F&B scene for around 11 years. 

While no official announcement was made on their social media pages, its website confirms the closure. 

Throughout the pandemic, the restaurant, located at Raffles Place, was affected by the various Covid-19 restrictions and had to temporarily close multiple times. 

Dellen Soh, the chairman and CEO of Minor Food Singapore, which owned and operated Buffet Town, told CNA last August that due to the pandemic, manpower costs have increased by up to 30 per cent as the company had to hire more employees to cope with the dynamic restrictions. 

"We have to serve tables dish by dish so we need an army of service staff nowadays who just waiting for (customers) to pick the order on the iPad, and once the order comes in, we have to serve it — even if it’s just one cup of coffee." 

He also added that currently, buffets are "not sustainable" as the business structure is "all about numbers" and the need for "more customer volume". 

"Right now we can only do 230 customers, whereas in the past we could sit 450 customers," he shared. 

Buffet Town first opened its doors to the public in 2011 and was popular for its budget-friendly buffet prices and convenient location. It had just become halal-certified last year and specialised in a variety of cuisines like Japanese, Western and local fare.

Minor Food Group owns 15 other popular F&B brands like Josh's Grill, Poulet and Go-Ang Pratunam Chicken Rice. Kiseki Japanese Buffet Restaurant, another popular buffet haunt, is also under them. 

The news of the unfortunate closure comes soon after ramen chain Keisuke Ramen announced that it will be permanently shuttering its Cineleisure and Clarke Quay outlets. 

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melissateo@asiaone.com