'Very, very unfair': Twelve Cupcakes staff blindsided by abrupt closure

SINGAPORE: When liquidators walked into the Twelve Cupcakes office at 5pm on Wednesday (Oct 29), employees were still at their desks, wrapping up what they thought was just another workday.

Within an hour, they would learn their jobs were gone. The bakery chain that once symbolised Singapore's homegrown entrepreneurial success had collapsed into provisional liquidation, with no warning to the workers whose livelihoods depended on it.

An executive in her 20s who requested anonymity said she and her colleagues only learned about the closure when liquidators arrived at the office.

She said she felt lost as there was no prior notice from the management about the closure.

"It's not even 24 hours (in advance). It's like one hour before I end work," she said, adding that the management has remained silent so far.

The bakery chain announced on its website that it had been placed under provisional liquidation with effect from Wednesday, bringing an abrupt end to operations at outlets across Singapore, including Changi City, Sentosa and Star Vista.

While there were signs the business was not doing well, the executive said she did not expect a closure to happen so quickly.

The executive, who has worked at Twelve Cupcakes for five years, said she hopes the management will at least pay them for this month, as the liquidation occurred two days before payday.

The sudden shutdown has drawn sharp criticism from the Food, Drinks and Allied Workers Union, which said the lack of consultation was "completely unacceptable and unfair" to 80 workers now scrambling to find new employment.

"While the business owner's final decision may have been a commercial one, its execution was not only irresponsible but also lacked due process," the union said.

It has called on the appointed liquidator to collaborate with the union on workers' claims.

"SO IRRESPONSIBLE"

A baker in his 20s who also requested anonymity said he suspected something was wrong when he received a WhatsApp message from the kitchen-in-charge on Tuesday night instructing kitchen staff not to come to work the next day.

The message, seen by CNA, asked staff – including those on leave – to meet at the office at 3pm instead.

"It's very, very unfair," he said. "You all big company shouldn't just do this to us. We work for you all. In the end, we get nothing in return." 

The baker, who only joined the company in early October, has yet to be paid. He expressed confusion over why he was hired if the company was planning to close.

"Their actions are so irresponsible. Causing so much trouble for people who just want to put food on the table," he said.

Another kitchen staff member in his 20s said his mind went blank when he heard the news.

The employee, who has worked at Twelve Cupcakes for about seven months, said he had noticed that some kitchen supplies were not being delivered in the past one to two months.

"We thought it was strange. Why have there been no supplies for so long? We began guessing that something had happened," he said in Mandarin.

There is now the possibility that he might not make rent next month.

"If they had told us earlier, we would at least have had the chance to find another job," he said. "Now the situation is really difficult."

A packer in his mid-20s said he also sensed trouble when supplies stopped arriving.

“But we didn’t expect that the business would close so quickly. We thought maybe in a year or two,” he said in Mandarin.

Now, the packer, who has worked for 11 months, feels like he has wasted a month of hard work.  

His focus is now on securing his next job. It is stressful, knowing that other companies may not be actively hiring at this time of the year, he said.

“We have family to take care of. We can’t possibly go home and rely on our parents to care for us because they are also not working anymore,” he said.

TROUBLED HISTORY

Twelve Cupcakes was founded in 2011 by former radio DJ Daniel Ong and his then-wife Jaime Teo. Following their divorce in 2016, Ong and Teo sold the company to India-based conglomerate Dhunseri Group.

In January 2021, Twelve Cupcakes, under Dhunseri Group, was fined S$119,500 (US$91,800) for underpaying seven employees about S$114,000 over two years, between December 2016 and November 2018.

At the time, the chain claimed that it had continued the practice that was installed by the previous management, by indicating on paper a salary that was higher than what the workers actually received.

Months later, Mr Ong and Ms Teo were each fined S$65,000 under the Employment of Foreign Manpower Act.

In a statement on its Facebook page on Thursday afternoon, Twelve Cupcakes said: "We sincerely apologise for any inconvenience caused and would like to express our heartfelt thanks for your kind support and partnership over the years."

No reason has been given for the closure.