Local actor Adam Chen recently revealed he has withdrawn from the food and beverage (F&B) industry.
The 49-year-old told Lianhe Zaobao in a report published on Jan 7 that he left about two years ago to help out at his wife’s marketing consulting firm, mostly involved in operations and human resources management.
Over the past decade, he has owned multiple F&B businesses including Japanese burger restaurant R Burger, Park Cafe, yakitori restaurant Birders, donburi restaurant Ebisu Bowls and rooftop cafe Sunset on 11.
When asked why, Adam said it was because of a piece of news he saw.
He shared: “When I saw that by the end of this year, Singaporeans can take the Johor Bahru-Singapore Rapid Transit System (RTS) to Johor Bahru, I started having these thoughts [of leaving the industry]. I think this is the same case with Hong Kong and Shenzhen, where F&B businesses are getting harder to operate.
“Since this is not something that is within my control, I can only let it go.”
Travellers can travel from Hong Kong to Shenzhen through the MTR East Rail Line and vice versa through Shenzhen Metro Line.
The RTS Link, which is targeted to commence passenger service by the end of 2026, aims to ease Causeway congestion with a train journey time of about five minutes between the two stations. The first train dynamic run was successfully completed on Dec 26, 2025.
Adam told 8Days in an interview in 2020 that during the Covid-19 circuit breaker, his businesses were down by 90 per cent.
On whether he thought of closing them down, he said then: “If I give up now, it stops my losses. But it also means there’s no moving forward, no change for recovery. You lose what you’ve invested overnight. I’ll never let go till there’s really no alternative.”
Adam also shared with Zaobao he married his Japanese girlfriend three years ago during the Covid-19 pandemic, after 10 years together.
He added he was looking for stability amidst the instability during the pandemic and as his partner was an Employment Pass holder, he proposed for them to be married.
They only spent three days between deciding to get married and registering their marriage, and kept the ceremony simple.
However, because of their busy schedules, they haven’t registered their marriage in Japan. As the procedure couldn’t be done at the Japanese embassy in Singapore, his wife’s marital status is still “single”.
“We expect to fly to Japan in the next month or two to get the paperwork done,” he added.
Adam also shared they considered retiring at his wife’s hometown in the Japanese suburbs in the future.
As for children, he said they have no plans for it.
“My wife’s career is taking off and the timing isn’t right. She’s two years younger than me, so it would be a bit late to have a child now,” Adam said.
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yeo.shuhui@asiaone.com
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