Singapore’s Beloved Prive Chain Shuts Down Amid F&B Struggles
2 min read
Kuala Lumpur, 19 August 2025 – Singapore’s well-known homegrown café chain, Prive Group, has permanently closed all its outlets, underscoring the mounting challenges faced by the food and beverage (F&B) industry in the region.
The group, founded in 2007, announced that it ceased restaurant operations after business hours on August 31, 2025. This includes popular outlets at Holland Village, Botanic Gardens, Wheelock Place, and the Asian Civilisations Museum (ACM), as well as its Chinese restaurant, Empress, located at the same venue.
Prive had already shuttered several outlets earlier this year, including Jewel Changi Airport, 313 Somerset, and Paragon. Some of these prime spots have since been taken over by other operators such as Blue Bottle Coffee.
Moving forward, Commonwealth Concepts – the company behind well-loved brands like Baker & Cook – will take over the ACM locations. Empress will continue under new management, while the former Prive ACM outlet will reopen as a Baker & Cook on September 4, 2025.
The closure of Prive highlights the harsh realities confronting the F&B industry across Singapore and Malaysia. Industry experts point to a perfect storm of challenges, including soaring rental costs, manpower shortages, and declining consumer spending after the post-pandemic “revenge spending” phase.
Statistics reveal the scale of the crisis: over 3,000 eateries shut down in Singapore during 2024, and about 1,700 more closures have already been recorded in 2025.
For loyal fans of Prive, this marks the end of an era. But it also signals a pivotal moment for the industry, as brands restructure, reinvent, and adapt to new consumer behaviors to remain sustainable.
