Bai Nian Food Court at Chai Chee lost S$250,000 in 7 months: ‘There are just no people anymore’
Run by second-generation owner Tommy Pang, the food court at ESR BizPark @ Chai Chee is just “10 to 20 per cent occupied” on weekdays. Unable to attract tenants, his family now runs seven of the eight stalls there.
The owner of Bai Nian Food Court has lost about S$250,000 in the past seven months. (Photos: Instagram/bainianfoodcourt)
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F&B entrepreneur Tommy Pang, 29, has been candid about the ups and downs of running his family’s businesses.
Last year, the second-generation owner of the decade-old yong tau foo chain Bai Nian revealed that its sister brand, pork leg rice chain Shi Nian, had lost S$500,000 (US$392,500) in six months after an aggressive expansion.
Now, another of the family’s businesses is struggling.
In a recent Instagram video, Pang revealed that Bai Nian Food Court at ESR BizPark @ Chai Chee, which his family operates, has lost about S$250,000 in the past seven months.
“We lost about S$250,000 just to keep the lights on at this food court,” he said.
“And we really cannot let it continue like this. If not, I really have no idea how we’re going to continue operating this space.”
The family has operated Bai Nian Food Court since 2017. It is the only food court they run.
The food court has eight stalls, including a drinks stall. Several are occupied by the family’s own F&B brands, including Bai Nian, Shi Nian, and prawn noodle brand Hae! Mee.
One major challenge, according to Pang, has been finding tenants.
In his video, he recounted how a Western food stall abruptly pulled out recently, forfeiting their entire deposit, “which is a big amount”.
The family tried to find an Indian food operator to take over the unit, but couldn’t secure one.
Speaking to 8days.sg, Pang shared that the food court’s biggest problem is footfall.
Business started declining during COVID-19 and has never recovered, he said, as companies moved out of the business park and working from home became more common.
“The problem is, there are just no people anymore. The building is dead,” said Pang.
He pointed out that the problem isn’t unique to Bai Nian, claiming that other F&B outlets in the development can also be very quiet on weekdays.
The food court, which seats around 400 to 500 diners, is typically only “10 to 20 per cent occupied” during weekday lunch.
On a recent weekday, Pang was there at noon and saw just “four or five tables” occupied.
Weekends fared better, with the food court around 80 per cent full during lunchtime, thanks in part to the many children’s enrichment centres at the mall.
But the sparse weekday crowd makes it difficult to attract stallholders.
“When [prospective] tenants come down and see the crowd, they aren’t confident because there are so few people,” said Pang.
His family rents the food court space from ESR and in turn sublets individual stalls to operators for around S$4,000 a month.
“We’re not asking for very high rent. It’s really just to help cover the overall main rent,” he said.
“But even if we rent the stalls out cheaply, it’s no use. Nobody wants to come in.”
Unable to find enough tenants, Pang and his family have increasingly had to operate the stalls themselves “to keep the place going”.
“The rent is very high. Rather than leave a stall empty, I need to take it up myself and start something new,” he said.
In fact, only one external tenant remains at the eight-stall food court — ban mian stall The Spice Pavilion.
Despite losing S$250,000 in seven months, Pang and his family aren’t ready to give up on the food court.
Part of the reason is “sentimental”.
When the family took over the food court nine years ago, Bai Nian Yong Tau Foo had just two hawker stalls elsewhere. Opening a food court bearing the Bai Nian name, along with its third yong tau foo stall, helped put the then-small brand on the map.
“That’s when word of mouth started to spread, that Bai Nian, a small hawker stall, had opened a food court,” shared Pang.
“This place is like my home. My family used to come here every day,” he said.
“We really don’t want to give it up.”
The family renewed its lease in October 2025, which runs until 2030. Pang said business was still manageable then, with three external tenants at the food court.
It was only in the past four to five months that things “escalated”, as more tenants left.
Closing the food court would also affect the 17 employees who work there.
“I have no place for them,” he said, adding that his other businesses don’t have the capacity to absorb them.
For now, Pang and his team are trying to draw customers from outside the business park.
They recently launched a free hot drink promo.
Until Sep 30, customers who purchase any main dish from the family’s six food brands at the food court will receive a free hot drink. Choices include kopi, tea and yuan yang, while iced versions cost an additional 50 cents.
But he admits getting diners to make a special trip to a food court isn’t easy.
“If the space was a restaurant, maybe marketing [can] get people to purposely travel down. But would you really purposely travel so far just for [simple] comfort food?”
They have also started a dedicated Instagram account for Bai Nian Food Court and are looking at other campaigns to draw customers, though nothing is concrete.
Tommy Pang also hopes landlord ESR will lower the food court’s rent.
“If not, I really cannot continue,” he said.
He acknowledged that ESR may be facing similar problems attracting office tenants to the development.
Asked how much longer he’s prepared to hold on, Pang admitted he doesn’t know.
The two new concepts and free-drinks initiative have only just started, and he wants to see how they perform over the next month and whether ESR can offer some relief.
He also didn’t rule out eventually finding someone else to take over the food court.
While many business owners might think twice about publicising their losses, Pang believes being transparent can help – if done the right way.
“If all I did was constantly talk about how badly the business was doing or complain about our problems, I think eventually it would hurt the brand,” he said.
Instead, he wants to show what went wrong, what they’re doing about it and “hopefully eventually how we came back from it”.
While he didn’t say whether his previous posts have led to an increase in sales, he believes the transparency has helped people connect with the brands, with some customers telling him they visited the affected eateries after watching their videos.
His parents are okay with the posts too, though he said he’s careful about what he shares.
“There are things within the family and business that should remain private, and I wouldn’t put everything online just for content,” he said.
“For me, I just want people to know the story behind our food court. And over time, I think that trust and connection are very valuable for the business.”
Bai Nian Food Court is at #01-24 ESR BizPark @ Chai Chee, 750 Chai Chee Road, Singapore 469000. Open daily 10am to 9pm. More info via Instagram.
This story was originally published in 8Days.
For more 8Days stories, visit https://www.8days.sg/.
Source: 8 Days/hq
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