by Theleaders | October 31, 2025 1:06 pm
SINGAPORE, Oct 31 — Singapore’s once-popular bakery cafe chain Twelve Cupcakes has gone into provisional liquidation, closing all 20 outlets and laying off around 80 employees without notice.
The company announced the shutdown online on October 29 with immediate effect, ending its 14-year presence in Singapore’s food and beverage scene.
“We sincerely apologise for any inconvenience caused and would like to express our heartfelt thanks for your kind support and partnership over the years,” the brand said in a statement on its Instagram account.
According to Singapore-based news outlet CNA, a spokesman for the provisional liquidators said the team is gathering information and will convene a creditors’ meeting within the next four weeks.
The chain’s staff will also be receiving assistance through the Food, Drinks and Allied Workers Union (FDAWU).
However, FDAWU criticised the move as “not only irresponsible, but also lacked due process”, another Singapore-based news outlet, The Straits Times reported.
“The abrupt termination and insufficient notice are failures on the part of the business owner to consider the human consequences of the closure,” the FDAWU was quoted as saying.
Founded in 2011 by former radio DJ Daniel Ong and his then-wife, artiste Jaime Teo, Twelve Cupcakes grew from a single shop into a familiar name in Singapore’s dessert scene.
The couple sold the business to India’s Dhunseri Group in 2016 after their divorce, but the company’s fortunes later declined amid fines for underpaying workers and falling revenue.
In 2021, the bakery was fined S$119,500 (RM417,000) for underpaying seven employees about S$114,000 (RM398,000) between 2016 and 2018.
That same year, Ong and Teo were each fined S$65,000 (RM227,000) under the Employment of Foreign Manpower Act.
Financial filings showed the bakery had been operating at a loss, recording a net loss of S$1.23 million (RM4.29 million) for the financial year to March, as revenue dropped 40 per cent to S$9.25 million (RM32.3 million), according to The Straits Times.
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