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Crawford Lane's Café Lilac closing in May 2026 after 5 years, open to takeover
"Running this all alone has been exhausting," cafe founder Chanel Li wrote.
September 10, 2025, 06:46 PM
UPDATE on Mar. 9, 2026: Cafe Lilac announced via an Instagram update on Mar. 8 that it will remain open, with plans to rebrand and renovate its space.
After five years of serving up taro-themed treats, Cafe Lilac by Whisking Bakes will not be renewing its lease and will say goodbye in May 2026.
The closure was announced in an Instagram post on Sep. 1, where founder Chanel Li said that the decision was made after a lot of thinking about "what's next".
While she reflected fondly on the memories and achievements of the past five years, Li confessed that "running this all alone has been exhausting".
"I haven't felt excitement or passion in a while and I feel ready to take a step back to focus on new dreams," she said.
Growing the cafe
Initially an air stewardess, Li's career took a hit when the Covid-19 pandemic broke out just about a year after she joined the industry.
Feeling lost, she turned to baking.
Li started Cafe Lilac in 2020 as a home-based business when she was just 22 years old, selling cheesecakes and cookies from Instagram, according to a TikTok post.
In 2022, she invested S$80,000 of her savings to turn the business into a physical cafe in Lavender, she said.
As Singapore's first taro speciality bake shop, Cafe Lilac gained greater popularity after it catered desserts for K-pop idols IU and Apink during their Singapore concerts in 2024 and 2025, respectively.
In 2023, Li told Shin Min Daily News that monthly sales were in the five-figure range.
Burned out
However, despite the joy the cafe has brought her, Li began to feel burned out over the years.
"For the longest time I’ve felt burnt out. The passion was gone, so was the motivation," she wrote in a Sep. 5 TikTok post explaining the decision to close the cafe.
Li shared with Mothership that she has been running the business alone without a partner.
Calling herself "the sole firefighter", she said that she has been solving problems in the cafe — such as equipment breakdown, electricity trips, and customer complaints — all on her own.
The staff comprises just two other full-timers besides herself, and around eight to ten part-timers.
Manpower constraints are also a reason behind the cafe's closure, Li told Mothership.
Despite posting job offers and even going through headhunters, she couldn't find Singaporeans willing to work in F&B "six days a week, including weekends".
Which meant an undue share of the burden of running the place was on her, leading to business concerns "constantly in the back of [her] mind" even on break or on a holiday.
Li said she regrets spending so much time on the business that she was barely there for her dog during her last few years before passing away in 2024.
"I want to make sure my family now can be my focus, and not repeat the same mistake," she said. "Ultimately, I want to also live a slower pace of life. I’m okay with lesser money, leading a simpler lifestyle, but I value time with my loved ones."
Low sales & high costs
On top of Li's personal struggles, the cafe business has also been struggling.
Festive seasons have typically boosted sales, especially the Chinese New Year period, thanks to the popularity of their orh nee tarts.
However, sales in December 2024 were lower than in previous years, despite it being a festive season, and more slow months followed intermittently in 2025.
"The earnings in peak months are to cover the low months, so when you work it out, we don’t really profit a lot," Li told Mothership.
There have also been many costs to cover. Li says rent had also gone up when she renewed the lease in 2024.
"Honestly in the end, I’m not earning much, definitely not enough to justify the stress and hard work involved," she said.
In December 2024, when Li shared on TikTok that the business was not doing very well, the post received over a thousand comments, many of them offering suggestions to boost the business.
One wrote that "cafe prices are through the roof", more than what they could afford.
Another commenter said that perhaps "not everyone likes taro", and suggested putting in seasonal flavours to draw crowds.
Li replied to this comment, explaining that the cafe stuck with taro because it had become popular for it.
She added that there are other flavours on the menu, but it "just seems like people don't know".
When asked about these other flavours, Li told Mothership that they include chocolate, yuzu, chrysanthemum, matcha, hojicha, biscoff, berry, and coffee flavours.
The future
In the posts about the cafe's closure, many commenters expressed sadness, saying that they would miss the treats.
Many also wished Li all the best for her next venture.
The cafe is open to a new owner taking over. Li invites anyone interested to message her on social media.
Until May 2026, Li said that she and the team "will pour [their] hearts into making these last 9 months the best it can be".
Top images from Cafe Lilac's Instagram
