S'pore cafe that told influencer off for only ordering ice-cream has closed down

Guess the 'exorbitant rental' really took a toll.

Darryl Laiu | June 19, 2018, 04:04 PM

Luxe Singapore — a rather posh cafe along Keong Saik street — has closed down.

If that name sounds familiar, it's because just last month, the cafe was embroiled in a social media fracas with lifestyle and travel blogger Cheowster (a.k.a Chelsea Teng):

In case you missed it, Teng was allegedly told off by the cafe owner for only "buying a f*cking ice-cream".

Teng eventually updated her post to mention that the cafe owner had personally messaged her on Facebook to apologise, but this was after she had left a one star review on their Facebook page.

Owed more than S$100,000 to landlords and suppliers

June 10 was the cafe's last day. They first entered the Singapore market three years ago, in 2015.

The eatery posted a picture of their last customers on their Instagram page:

View this post on Instagram

The last order at Luxe 😥😘#luxelovessg

A post shared by Luxe Singapore (@luxelovessg) on

Their main reason for closing down appears to be monetary problems.

Luxe Singapore owed more than S$100,000 to its landlords and suppliers, according to a report by The Straits Times.

The cafe owed four months of rent, and staff also told ST that they had not received their CPF contributions for two months.

ST also reports that the restaurant's general manager had not been paid for two months.

The financial problems apparently started in August last year, when the initial investment used to set up Luxe Singapore ran out.

When questioned by the English daily, however, owner Jonathan Harvey attributes one of the main problems to the customers' spending power: "The main problem is high rent as well as the foot traffic — the customers in the area we are in do not have the disposable income to patronise places like Luxe."

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Customers sad to see it go

On June 11, the restaurant posted on their Facebook page announcing that they have closed their doors last night:

They also clarified that wages will be "rectified" today [June 11]".

This is despite Harvey denying that the staff were not paid in the ST report.

They then added that they hope to open a more successful operation in Singapore soon.

Fans of the cafe were sad to see it go:

 

There were also multiple mentions of the restaurant's manager Richard Letch, a testament to his presence at the restaurant:

Previous controversy

This poignancy was despite backlash from the previous controversy with Teng:

During the incident, some even posted their own one star reviews on the restaurant's page:

However, others have also defended the restaurant, and some asked both sides to be more reasonable:

 Ah well.

Top photo adapted from Luxe Singapore's Facebook page