Jollibean staff left in limbo after outlet closures in S’pore, months of salary & CPF delayed

Once an iconic F&B brand with more than 30 outlets islandwide, Singapore soy milk retailer Jollibean has quietly shut multiple outlets in the past year, allegedly without giving employees prior notice or explanation, CNA reported.

Jollibean’s website lists just eight remaining outlets in Singapore; however, according to the news report, three of these have since closed as of July 8, 2025.

Storefronts at Ng Teng Fong General Hospital and Raffles Place MRT Station were “boarded up,” while the Lavender MRT Station outlet had a notice on the door stating that the premises had been “repossessed” by SMRT Trains from June 30 this year.

Several employees who spoke to CNA also claimed that they have been owed months of salaries and Central Provident Fund (CPF) contributions. Former workers were allegedly left in a limbo, when they arrived at work only to find out that their outlet had been closed without prior notice.

What current & former staff had to say

A former employee who worked at the Pioneer MRT station outlet, which closed on December 27, 2024, told the publication that all five staff members lost their jobs that same day when the outlet was repossessed by SMRT Trains.

The 68-year-old had worked at the outlet for the past five to six years on a part-time basis, and recalled being told to close the shop immediately upon arriving for work.

“The moment I stepped through the door, my leader said ‘today you don’t need to work, you need to close shop’,” she said in Mandarin in a phone interview with CNA. “She did not say why… I called my co-workers to tell them that the store is closing and to come down and see it for the last time.”

She added that Jollibean still owed her salary for the last month of work, which amounts to more than S$1,000, along with three months of unpaid CPF.

The ex-employee, along with other affected staff members, visited Jollibean’s headquarters in Pasir Panjang over their owed salaries sometime in January or February, and were told that the money would be credited by the next month and would receive a letter of guarantee that they would be paid. 

However, she shared that there has been no news since then. When asked if she had considered lodging a report with the authorities, the unnamed staff said she was unwilling to go through the trouble.

“At first, we worked so hard and did not get paid, so we were very emotional. Now I think, just forget it,” she said. “I will just treat it as charity.”

Another part-timer, a 74-year-old woman who worked at the same outlet for over a decade, has approached the Tripartite Alliance for Dispute Management (TADM) for help, and is the only one from the team to do so. 

While she was initially prepared to let the matter go, her son advised otherwise. “He said that it’s my hard-earned money, even if it’s just S$1,000, why don’t you get it back?”

Upon approaching TADM with her son in April, the organisation worked out a scheme for Jollibean to pay the salary in monthly instalments. However, she claimed to have “not received a cent” since her visit.

“The authorities have intervened, but the company is still dragging its feet; it’s hopeless. And it’s money earned from hard work, not just money you get from sitting around,” she said.

However, a 40-year-old employee working at a different outlet in central Singapore, who had been employed by Jollibean for around three years, shared that her wages still came in regularly, but after a delay of over a month. She added that she was “fine” with the current situation.

New owner to step in

Addressing the store closures, Shahrul Nazrin Mohd Dahlan, the director of Jollibean Foods, said they were part of a broader downsizing exercise.

He added that the company will soon have a new owner and is working closely with the authorities to resolve salary issues, though he did not reveal the reason for not paying workers on time.

“We are resolving it with MOM [and] we are settling it by the end of this week. Everything is going to be resolved soon, there’s a new capital injection with a new shareholder, so everything will be resolved financially,” he said.

According to Shahrul, the parties are currently in the midst of completing the paperwork and are expected to settle payments by the end of this month. He also mentioned that he intends to resign once the new owner takes over—reportedly sometime in July—though he declined to disclose their identity.

“The new owners taking over… they’ve been in the F&B business for more than 30 years, so they know what they are doing. They are taking over and then they [are] expanding.” 

Despite the lack of clarity and ongoing payment delays, some Jollibean employees told CNA that they are continuing to work, holding out hope that their wages will be paid once the new “boss” steps in.

In response to media queries from the publication, the Food, Drinks and Allied Workers Union (FDAWU), a trade union affiliated to the National Trades Union Congress (NTUC), said that Jollibean is a non-unionised company. 

“Affected workers can approach the Tripartite Alliance for Dispute Management to make an appointment for advisory services on employment disputes, an FDAWU spokesperson said in a statement issued to CNA on Wednesday (Jul 9).

Vulcan Post has reached out to the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) for further comment. 

Featured Image Credit: DD via Google Maps/ Singapore Atrium Sale via Facebook