On Feb 16th Shake Farm Telok Ayer is predicted to close.

We the undersigned call on the owners of Shake Farm to veto this decision and instead implement the alternative proposal we outline below. 

Shake Farm is the CBD's last bastion for affordable healthy eating that enables casual working on laptops. Their burgers are the best in Singapore. The artisanal smoothies are the best in the world. They enjoy high business traffic and a loyal customer base. It is the favourite coworking cafe in Singapore for many of the nation's most enterprising young people.

Shake Farm's food is so excellent that they have also developed a lucrative online delivery business. It is the intention of management to close down the restaurant in favour of focusing more on delivery D2C. While the Telok Ayer outlet enjoys immense popularity, the high rental costs associated with the heritage building in which it is domiciled have led management to the decision to move out and close down the in person store.

While we the undersigned respect the business rationale for this decision, we think that ultimately it is to the detriment of both Singaporean society and Shake Farm as a business - and hereby call on the owners of Shake Farm to desist from this course of action. 

Closing down the store would rob shake farm of its key customer acquisition channel for the online business: most people try the product in the store before they convert into subscribed recurring customers online. Has management surveyed current online customers to determine what percentage first fell in love with the menu when visiting the brick and mortar store? Much as fashion brands like Zara and tech heavyweights like Apple maintain brick&mortar as a way to build relationships with customers rather than the direct ROI of in-store sales / rental, we believe that a similar hybrid strategy is most suitable for Shake Farm in a digital post-corona age which will enjoy a boom in F&B over the coming year.

But how to deal with the high rental costs?

We propose the establishment of a coworking space upstairs from the Shake Farm restaurant in the currently underutilized second story. This would subsidise rental costs, and unlock the synergies of having many more customers situated upstairs throughout the day, who will order meals etc from downstairs while they work. It is well documented that co-working space usage demographics are also amongst the highest for D2C consumption and social media influence - having coworking as customers upstairs will help grow Shake Farm's online presence. Such a coworking space should either be subleased or managed via a collaboration with a respected coworking brand or VC, digitize it so that no staff are needed to manage, etc. 

The united masses that have signed this communique believe that such a strategy would maximise Shake Farm's business potential - while also upholding the Shake Farm's cultural contribution to the CBD.

We urge management to consider their long term business success and patriotic obligations to Singapore.