How Do Singapore Restaurants and Cafes Get Customers in 2026?

RAS's July 2026 figures, by segment:

• Segment: Fast food | Year-on-year: +4.6% (strongest; +5.8% month-on-month)
• Segment: Food caterers | Year-on-year: +0.3%
• Segment: Restaurants | Year-on-year: -0.3%
• Segment: Food courts | Year-on-year: -6.6%
• Segment: Cafes | Year-on-year: -6.4%
• Segment: Sector total | Year-on-year: -1.9%

Total July F&B sales were S$1.6 billion. RAS called this "a reset moment, not a cyclical trough," and described a deeply segmented market where value-driven establishments thrive while mid-market operators struggle most acutely.

The uncomfortable implication: if you sit in the middle — not cheap enough to win on value, not distinctive enough to be a destination — marketing alone will not fix that. The positioning has to move first. The operators we see recovering have made a clear choice in one direction; the ones still sliding are trying to be moderately appealing to everyone.

RAS also notes that the cost pressures are structural: fixed rental, rising manpower costs through wage policy, and limited pricing power with consumers. Two of those three you cannot change, which puts the weight on covers and margin per cover.

Singapore's F&B market is not declining evenly — it is splitting. The Restaurant Association of Singapore's July 2026 index shows the sector down 1.9% year on year, but inside that number fast food grew +4.6% while food courts fell -6.6% and cafes -6.4%. Online sales now account for 20.9% of total F&B sales, which RAS describes as a matured channel rather than a growth driver. The practical consequence for an operator: adding another delivery platform is no longer a growth strategy, and the customers who are still spending are choosing on clear value or clear reason-to-visit. The four things that actually move covers in 2026 are a complete Google Business Profile, active review generation, converting delivery and dine-in customers into direct repeat customers, and content that gives someone a specific reason to come this week.

This is written for independent restaurant, cafe and small-chain operators in Singapore. No technical background needed, and most of what follows is free.

First, Understand Which Half of the Market You Are In

RAS's July 2026 figures, by segment:

• Segment: Fast food | Year-on-year: +4.6% (strongest; +5.8% month-on-month)
• Segment: Food caterers | Year-on-year: +0.3%
• Segment: Restaurants | Year-on-year: -0.3%
• Segment: Food courts | Year-on-year: -6.6%
• Segment: Cafes | Year-on-year: -6.4%
• Segment: Sector total | Year-on-year: -1.9%

Total July F&B sales were S$1.6 billion. RAS called this "a reset moment, not a cyclical trough," and described a deeply segmented market where value-driven establishments thrive while mid-market operators struggle most acutely.

The uncomfortable implication: if you sit in the middle — not cheap enough to win on value, not distinctive enough to be a destination — marketing alone will not fix that. The positioning has to move first. The operators we see recovering have made a clear choice in one direction; the ones still sliding are trying to be moderately appealing to everyone.

RAS also notes that the cost pressures are structural: fixed rental, rising manpower costs through wage policy, and limited pricing power with consumers. Two of those three you cannot change, which puts the weight on covers and margin per cover.

The Four Things That Actually Work

1. Google Business Profile — free, and still the highest-return hour you will spend

For a food business with local customers, nothing else offers this return for zero cost. It decides whether you appear in Google Maps and in "restaurants near me" searches.

Complete every field: address, phone, opening hours, menu link, ordering link, whether you take reservations, price level, dietary options, payment methods.

Three things specific to F&B that operators routinely miss:

• Set special hours in advance for public holidays, year-end and Chinese New Year. A customer who travels to a closed restaurant leaves a bad review and does not return. This is the most avoidable loss in the business.
• Add new photos monthly — dishes, interior, new items. Photos drive engagement, and engagement affects ranking.
• Post weekly — new items, specials, holiday hours. Takes five minutes.

Do not stuff keywords into your business name. "ABC Cafe – Best Brunch in Singapore – Tanjong Pagar" violates Google's rules and risks suspension. Use your registered name.

A newer reason this matters: 45% of consumers have used AI to find local businesses, up from 6%, and AI platforms are now the third most popular source of local business recommendations — drawing heavily on exactly this profile data and your reviews.

2. Reviews — the single strongest trust signal in F&B

Nothing else a diner sees carries this much weight.

How to get them properly:

• Ask at the moment the customer is happiest — as they are paying, in person
• QR code on the table tent, at the counter, and on delivery packaging
• Ask specifically: "If you have a moment, could you mention what you ordered?" Reviews naming specific dishes are far more useful for search and for AI citation than "Great food!"

Reply to every review, including the bad ones. Reply rate is a ranking signal, and prospective diners are not judging whether you have a bad review — every restaurant does. They are judging how you handled it. A calm, specific reply that offers a fix outperforms ten five-star reviews.

Never buy reviews or trade discounts for them. Platforms detect it, penalties include removal of all your reviews and possible profile suspension, and in Singapore it constitutes misleading commercial practice. Google's May 2026 guidance also explicitly warns against manufactured brand signals.

Worth knowing: for brand evaluation queries, 57% of AI citations come from reviews and social proof.

3. Convert platform and dine-in customers into direct repeat customers

This is where the margin is, and it follows directly from the commission structure.

Singapore delivery commissions run GrabFood 18–22% (21–25% on premium tiers), foodpanda 15–20%, Deliveroo 15–20%. On a S$20 order that is S$3–5 — often the entire profit on that order.

But commission is not just delivery; it includes customer acquisition. The platform found that customer for you. So the move is not leaving the platforms — it is this:

Let the platform earn the first order. Earn the rest yourself.

Where to place the conversion, in order of what actually works:

1. A card inside every delivery bag — scan to order direct, with a reason (free delivery, a side, 10% off). The customer has just eaten your food and liked it; this is the highest-converting moment you will ever get.
2. QR codes in-store — table tents, counter, door. Turns dine-in guests into delivery regulars.
3. Your Google Business Profile ordering link — free and visible in local search.
4. Instagram and Xiaohongshu bio links.
5. WhatsApp — the lowest-friction way for a regular to reorder in Singapore.

How to fund the direct-channel discount: take the roughly 20% you were paying the platform and give half of it to the customer. A 10% direct discount still leaves you 10% better off, and the customer relationship is now yours.

On WhatsApp marketing, one compliance note: PDPA requires consent for marketing messages and the Do Not Call registry applies, including to WhatsApp promotions. Order confirmations and delivery updates tied to an actual transaction are a different category. Keep promotional sends to once or twice a month.

4. Give people a specific reason to come this week

Generic brand content does very little for a restaurant. What moves covers is specific and time-bound:

• A new dish, shown properly
• A seasonal or limited item with an end date
• Something behind the scenes — the supplier, the prep, the person who makes it
• A clear answer to a practical question: is there parking, do you take walk-ins, is there a vegetarian option, how long is the wait

Platform choice by segment: cafes and visually distinctive restaurants should prioritise Instagram and, for Chinese-speaking customers, Xiaohongshu — which has over 800,000 active users in Singapore, 72% aged 18–35, with engagement rates of 8–12% versus Instagram's 3–6%. Fast food and value operators get more from Google search visibility and delivery platform ranking than from aspirational social content.

What Not to Spend On

Three things that absorb F&B marketing budgets without returning:

Broad awareness advertising. With pricing power limited and margins thin, spend that cannot show a line to covers is the wrong call right now.

Another delivery platform. Online is already 20.9% of sector sales and RAS calls it matured. A third platform adds commission, operational complexity and menu management for incremental orders that largely cannibalise your existing ones.

Discounting as a strategy. A 30% discount on a 25% margin dish loses money on every order. Value-driven operators are winning on structurally low prices and high volume, not on promotions — and you cannot discount your way into that position from the middle of the market.

A Realistic Monthly Plan

For an independent operator with limited time, in priority order:

• Activity: Google Business Profile upkeep | Time / cost: 30 min | Frequency: Weekly
• Activity: Reply to all reviews | Time / cost: 15 min | Frequency: Twice weekly
• Activity: New photos | Time / cost: 20 min | Frequency: Monthly
• Activity: Delivery insert cards | Time / cost: ~S$100 print | Frequency: One-off, reorder as needed
• Activity: 2–3 social posts | Time / cost: 1 hour | Frequency: Weekly
• Activity: WhatsApp to regulars | Time / cost: 15 min | Frequency: Monthly
• Activity: Review commission rates with platform rep | Time / cost: — | Frequency: Quarterly

That last line is worth its own note: restaurants doing 200+ monthly orders can typically negotiate 2–5 percentage points off their commission rate by talking directly to their account manager. On S$30,000 of monthly delivery revenue, a 4-point reduction is around S$14,000 a year. Most operators have never asked.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q1: Should I leave the delivery platforms?
For most operators, no. The commission includes customer acquisition — leaving removes your new-customer source. The better play is using platforms to acquire and your own channels to retain, with insert cards and in-store QR codes doing the conversion.

Q2: My cafe's sales are down. Should I push delivery harder?
Probably not. Cafes fell 6.4% year on year and cafe delivery economics are poor — low ticket sizes against 15–22% commission rarely leaves profit. The more realistic direction is dine-in experience, social visibility and converting walk-ins into regulars, rather than competing on a platform against cheaper options.

Q3: How much should a small restaurant spend on marketing?
Everything in the monthly plan above is either free or under S$200. Before adding paid advertising, do all of it for two months — most operators see more change from this than from their first S$2,000 of ads. If you then add paid spend, start with buying-intent Google searches ("restaurant near me", your cuisine plus your district), not broad awareness.

Q4: Is Xiaohongshu worth it for a Singapore restaurant?
If a meaningful share of your customers are Chinese-speaking, yes — engagement rates run 8–12% against Instagram's 3–6%, and the user base skews affluent. The cheapest way in is working with small local creators (KOCs) rather than one big account. If your customers are mainly English-speaking locals or tourists, Instagram and Google matter more.

Q5: What should I measure?
Four numbers: covers or orders by channel, average spend per cover, review count and rating trend, and how many direct orders came from your own channel versus platforms. Followers and reach tell you nothing about whether the restaurant is busier.

Want to work out what each channel is actually earning you after commission? Book a consultation or WhatsApp +65 8858 6886.
Mayson AI Enterprise Services · 8 Temasek Blvd, Suntec Tower 3, #42-01, Singapore 038988

Sources: F&B Services Index – July 2026, Restaurant Association of Singapore · Food Delivery Commission Fees in Singapore (2026)

For a food business with local customers, nothing else offers this return for zero cost. It decides whether you appear in Google Maps and in "restaurants near me" searches.

Complete every field: address, phone, opening hours, menu link, ordering link, whether you take reservations, price level, dietary options, payment methods.

Three things specific to F&B that operators routinely miss:

• Set special hours in advance for public holidays, year-end and Chinese New Year. A customer who travels to a closed restaurant leaves a bad review and does not return. This is the most avoidable loss in the business.
• Add new photos monthly — dishes, interior, new items. Photos drive engagement, and engagement affects ranking.
• Post weekly — new items, specials, holiday hours. Takes five minutes.

Do not stuff keywords into your business name. "ABC Cafe – Best Brunch in Singapore – Tanjong Pagar" violates Google's rules and risks suspension. Use your registered name.

A newer reason this matters: 45% of consumers have used AI to find local businesses, up from 6%, and AI platforms are now the third most popular source of local business recommendations — drawing heavily on exactly this profile data and your reviews.

Nothing else a diner sees carries this much weight.

How to get them properly:

• Ask at the moment the customer is happiest — as they are paying, in person
• QR code on the table tent, at the counter, and on delivery packaging
• Ask specifically: "If you have a moment, could you mention what you ordered?" Reviews naming specific dishes are far more useful for search and for AI citation than "Great food!"

Reply to every review, including the bad ones. Reply rate is a ranking signal, and prospective diners are not judging whether you have a bad review — every restaurant does. They are judging how you handled it. A calm, specific reply that offers a fix outperforms ten five-star reviews.

Never buy reviews or trade discounts for them. Platforms detect it, penalties include removal of all your reviews and possible profile suspension, and in Singapore it constitutes misleading commercial practice. Google's May 2026 guidance also explicitly warns against manufactured brand signals.

Worth knowing: for brand evaluation queries, 57% of AI citations come from reviews and social proof.

This is where the margin is, and it follows directly from the commission structure.

Singapore delivery commissions run GrabFood 18–22% (21–25% on premium tiers), foodpanda 15–20%, Deliveroo 15–20%. On a S$20 order that is S$3–5 — often the entire profit on that order.

But commission is not just delivery; it includes customer acquisition. The platform found that customer for you. So the move is not leaving the platforms — it is this:

Let the platform earn the first order. Earn the rest yourself.

Where to place the conversion, in order of what actually works:

1. A card inside every delivery bag — scan to order direct, with a reason (free delivery, a side, 10% off). The customer has just eaten your food and liked it; this is the highest-converting moment you will ever get.
2. QR codes in-store — table tents, counter, door. Turns dine-in guests into delivery regulars.
3. Your Google Business Profile ordering link — free and visible in local search.
4. Instagram and Xiaohongshu bio links.
5. WhatsApp — the lowest-friction way for a regular to reorder in Singapore.

How to fund the direct-channel discount: take the roughly 20% you were paying the platform and give half of it to the customer. A 10% direct discount still leaves you 10% better off, and the customer relationship is now yours.

On WhatsApp marketing, one compliance note: PDPA requires consent for marketing messages and the Do Not Call registry applies, including to WhatsApp promotions. Order confirmations and delivery updates tied to an actual transaction are a different category. Keep promotional sends to once or twice a month.

Generic brand content does very little for a restaurant. What moves covers is specific and time-bound:

• A new dish, shown properly
• A seasonal or limited item with an end date
• Something behind the scenes — the supplier, the prep, the person who makes it
• A clear answer to a practical question: is there parking, do you take walk-ins, is there a vegetarian option, how long is the wait

Platform choice by segment: cafes and visually distinctive restaurants should prioritise Instagram and, for Chinese-speaking customers, Xiaohongshu — which has over 800,000 active users in Singapore, 72% aged 18–35, with engagement rates of 8–12% versus Instagram's 3–6%. Fast food and value operators get more from Google search visibility and delivery platform ranking than from aspirational social content.

Three things that absorb F&B marketing budgets without returning:

Broad awareness advertising. With pricing power limited and margins thin, spend that cannot show a line to covers is the wrong call right now.

Another delivery platform. Online is already 20.9% of sector sales and RAS calls it matured. A third platform adds commission, operational complexity and menu management for incremental orders that largely cannibalise your existing ones.

Discounting as a strategy. A 30% discount on a 25% margin dish loses money on every order. Value-driven operators are winning on structurally low prices and high volume, not on promotions — and you cannot discount your way into that position from the middle of the market.

For an independent operator with limited time, in priority order:

• Activity: Google Business Profile upkeep | Time / cost: 30 min | Frequency: Weekly
• Activity: Reply to all reviews | Time / cost: 15 min | Frequency: Twice weekly
• Activity: New photos | Time / cost: 20 min | Frequency: Monthly
• Activity: Delivery insert cards | Time / cost: ~S$100 print | Frequency: One-off, reorder as needed
• Activity: 2–3 social posts | Time / cost: 1 hour | Frequency: Weekly
• Activity: WhatsApp to regulars | Time / cost: 15 min | Frequency: Monthly
• Activity: Review commission rates with platform rep | Time / cost: — | Frequency: Quarterly

That last line is worth its own note: restaurants doing 200+ monthly orders can typically negotiate 2–5 percentage points off their commission rate by talking directly to their account manager. On S$30,000 of monthly delivery revenue, a 4-point reduction is around S$14,000 a year. Most operators have never asked.

Q1: Should I leave the delivery platforms?
For most operators, no. The commission includes customer acquisition — leaving removes your new-customer source. The better play is using platforms to acquire and your own channels to retain, with insert cards and in-store QR codes doing the conversion.

Q2: My cafe's sales are down. Should I push delivery harder?
Probably not. Cafes fell 6.4% year on year and cafe delivery economics are poor — low ticket sizes against 15–22% commission rarely leaves profit. The more realistic direction is dine-in experience, social visibility and converting walk-ins into regulars, rather than competing on a platform against cheaper options.

Q3: How much should a small restaurant spend on marketing?
Everything in the monthly plan above is either free or under S$200. Before adding paid advertising, do all of it for two months — most operators see more change from this than from their first S$2,000 of ads. If you then add paid spend, start with buying-intent Google searches ("restaurant near me", your cuisine plus your district), not broad awareness.

Q4: Is Xiaohongshu worth it for a Singapore restaurant?
If a meaningful share of your customers are Chinese-speaking, yes — engagement rates run 8–12% against Instagram's 3–6%, and the user base skews affluent. The cheapest way in is working with small local creators (KOCs) rather than one big account. If your customers are mainly English-speaking locals or tourists, Instagram and Google matter more.

Q5: What should I measure?
Four numbers: covers or orders by channel, average spend per cover, review count and rating trend, and how many direct orders came from your own channel versus platforms. Followers and reach tell you nothing about whether the restaurant is busier.

Want to work out what each channel is actually earning you after commission? Book a consultation or WhatsApp +65 8858 6886.
Mayson AI Enterprise Services · 8 Temasek Blvd, Suntec Tower 3, #42-01, Singapore 038988

Sources: F&B Services Index – July 2026, Restaurant Association of Singapore · Food Delivery Commission Fees in Singapore (2026)