Singapore witnessed a 20-year record high of F&B closures in 2024, with over 3,000 businesses closing down. By Aug 2025, more than 1,700 establishments followed suit, with The Prive Group being the latest high-profile casualty of the cutthroat industry.
Yet, amid this churn, a handful of concepts continue to hold their ground. Behind some of them is one man: Dr Martin Bém, an Austrian-born entrepreneur who was one of the original co-founders of homegrown German restaurant chain Brotzeit, as well as other F&B concepts including LeVeL33, ERWIN’S Gastrobar and Locaba.
Having spent more than two decades navigating the highs and lows of Singapore’s F&B industry, he shared three tips with Vulcan Post that allowed his businesses to survive for years. Here’s what he said.
3 tips to survive Singapore’s F&B industry
1. Know your audience
Having the ambition to cater to the masses is respectable, but the reality is that a brand cannot be everything to everyone.
Many seasoned F&B business owners and consultants advise against having too many menu items. While the intent is often to appeal to diverse tastes, this approach frequently leads to excess inventory, with as much as 80% of menu items taking up space without generating sales.
Hence, F&B brands with specialised concepts have traditionally been much easier to scale, and this lesson was something that Brotzeit has lived by since its inception in the 2000s.
Back then, a few restaurants were already offering German cuisine in Singapore, so to differentiate themselves further, Dr Bém and his team focused on establishing a solid brand positioning: hearty German fare and beer for weekend dinner crowds.
This strategy has allowed him to grow Brotzeit to three outlets in Singapore and internationally, and the brand has continued to thrive long after he exited in 2010.
He carried the same ethos with three other F&B concepts that followed: LeVeL33 (2010), a microbrewery that puts beer front and centre of its food and beverage offerings; ERWIN’S Gastrobar (2012), which offers classic Italian food at the heart of the CBD; and Locaba (2019), an e-commerce F&B business specialising in low-carb and vegan desserts.
Having a tailored concept has helped Dr Bém set the business for successful growth and, in turn, build upon a solid foundation based on customer feedback. “You shouldn’t keep a dish just because it’s your wife’s favourite. It has to sell. The customers have to love it.”
2. Watch the numbers
Having graduated with a Ph.D in Economics and a Master’s in Marketing, Dr Bém believes that survival boils down to discipline with costs, especially in a time where inflation has pushed rents and ingredient costs sky-high—factors that have killed many F&B businesses as of late.
A strong Singapore dollar also means diners are more willing to travel abroad for cheaper, better meals. “I hardly know anyone who hasn’t been to Japan in the last year,” he joked. As more businesses seek a share of the F&B market despite a slowing economy, they must find ways to stand out among the crowd for customers.
Many establishments are inclined to offer discounts to entice diners, but Dr Bém warned that it also carries the risk of putting a business in the red.
“[For example] If you give a 20% discount, it’s not that you have to sell 20% more, because the food cost stays the same, you make 20% less. So you have to calculate how much more you have to sell in order to just make the same amount of money that you had before.”
Instead, owners can consider offering combos or value-add packages, as they can attract diners without slashing margins. One such strategy that LeVeL33 did was a giveaway and collaboration with Butcher Box Singapore in June, which, according to an Instagram video, garnered over a thousand entrants within that one-month campaign.
3. Adapt or fall behind
Singapore’s F&B market moves fast, and it’s sensitive to changes in dining preferences, especially since the COVID-19 pandemic.
Work-from-home habits have hollowed out CBD crowds, leading to a shift from in-person fine dining experiences to dining at home. Millennials and Gen Zs in Singapore are also reported to drink less than previous generations—bad news for beer-centric concepts like LeVeL33 and ERWIN’S Gastrobar.
Dr Bém shared that ERWIN had found immense success in its first eight years in business; however, it took a particularly brutal hit during the pandemic, as it relied heavily on the CBD office crowd for revenue.
To make matters worse for the gastrobar, the hybrid work arrangement that persisted after the pandemic ended prevented the business from recovering to pre-pandemic levels. “We have [tried] to adjust [by] doing more catering, more takeaways, but that’s struggling now because of the change in demographics and work practices,” lamented Dr Bém.
On the other hand, Locaba found success during the pandemic, as e-commerce businesses grew in popularity. These polarising outcomes meant that LeVeL33, Dr Bém’s other dine-in concept, had to reinvent itself to stay relevant.
The brewery has experimented with private dining and also introduced a pantry and cellar in Aug, where customers can purchase house-made products, and even a curated wine subscription plan through its e-commerce platform.
Each initiative, Dr Bém said, builds on subtle shifts in customer behaviour. “In Singapore, you have no other choice. It’s such a fast-paced market.”
With the right strategies, one can continue surviving and thrive in the harsh F&B industry
Despite the obstacles, Dr Bém insists Singapore remains a strong testing ground for new F&B concepts. While its small size limits scale, its transparency, legal clarity, and multicultural dining culture make it ideal for refining ideas before taking them abroad.
“You cannot build a huge business in a small market,” he acknowledged. “But it’s a very transparent market, where you have no hidden costs and under-the-table issues you have to be concerned with.”
With LeVeL33 still standing tall after 15 years, Dr Bém and his team are now eyeing expansion opportunities in the Asia-Pacific, with talks underway with international hotel groups. However, he remains pragmatic and cautious not to rush amid the shaky global economy.
“We [also] always look for an iconic location because we are in an iconic location in Singapore, [it] doesn’t need to be high up, but it must be perceived as something special in the city.”
For Locaba, Dr Bém plans to grow its B2B operations and product offerings after achieving success online. However, for ERWIN’S Gastrobar, as they haven’t been able to find its footing post-pandemic, survival is their utmost priority.
- Learn more about Dr. Bem’s F&B brands: LeVeL33, ERWIN’S Gastrobar and Locaba.
- Read more stories we’ve written on Singaporean businesses here.
Featured Image Credit: LeVeL33