PUBLISHED ONJune 04, 2026 10:40 AMBYCarol OngDays after Kam's Roast executive director Robert Chua took to social media to criticise how the chain's outlet was allegedly "kicked out" of Ion Orchard's Food Opera, several stallholders have reached out to thank him for speaking out, he told AsiaOne on Thursday (June 4).
"Some people contacted me with the same complaints. A few said 'thank you' for helping to speak out," said the restaurateur and TV veteran.
According to Robert, a representative from Food Republic, which owns Food Opera, told him that "95 per cent" of the food court's current tenants would be "changed out" for "all-new" tenants.
Kam's Roast Singapore's chief operating officer Victor Ng, who was also at the interview with AsiaOne, said that he understands that only four stalls out of the food court's 20 would remain: chicken rice, fishball noodle, nasi padang and drinks.
Food Republic declined to comment when asked about this.
On Tuesday, Robert had alleged in a Facebook post that the Kam's Roast Express outlet had been "kicked out" after five years despite being a "daily top three sales stall".
According to him, a renewal had already been agreed upon and a stall booking form signed — but it was rescinded "after about a month".
In response to previous AsiaOne queries on Wednesday, a spokesperson from Food Republic had said that while Kam's Roast Express was offered a renewal at prevailing market rates with the first right of refusal, there was no tenancy contract yet — and both parties were "ultimately unable to reach an agreement on the commercial terms".
Robert, however, has rejected the statement.
"They said that we could not come to an agreement, which is not true," he told AsiaOne on Thursday.
"They proposed the rent to us, and we've agreed already," added Victor. "We didn't even have a negotiation, we agreed straight away."
He shared that while there were discussions with the food court operator prior to the rejection, they were focused on navigating the increase in rent.
The COO said that Food Republic had initially sought a 12 per cent rental hike, which Kam's Roast was unwilling to accept because "it was too high".
Both parties eventually decided to settle on a 3.5 to four per cent rent increase — with the stall moving to a less prominent unit within the food court, he said.
Victor claimed that Kam's Roast subsequently submitted the booking form, showing AsiaOne the Food Republic representative's thumbs-up emoji reply.
AsiaOne also listened to a voice message of the supposed representative requesting for a kitchen layout plan for the new unit.
According to Victor, the situation took a turn about a month later, when the representative reached out to inform him that Food Republic would not be renewing their stall.
"To us, it was a mutual understanding that it's a deal already," he said.
Food Republic declined to comment on the conversations and the rent increase as well.
Speaking about Kam's Roast and Food Republic's working relationship over the years, Victor said that both parties "worked very well with each other until this Ion [incident]". He added that the group had opened three stalls at Food Republic's food courts last year.
Despite going public, Robert said he isn't "demanding anything" — and simply hopes for tenants to be treated with respect.
He said that he has since met with several food court operators including Koufu, many of which have expressed interest in working with him.
"There's a lot of people offering places now, but you have to consider what's the right place and so on. We need time."
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carol.ong@asiaone.com
