Proof & Company Spirits closes Singapore distribution business
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Proof & Company Spirits said 16 staff will lose their jobs in Singapore as a result of the closure.
PHOTO: PROOF & COMPANY
Follow topic:
- Proof & Company Spirits in Singapore enters provisional liquidation after 13 years, impacting 16 jobs due to F&B industry challenges.
- Closures in Singapore's F&B sector are rising; 1,404 have closed in the first half of 2025.
- Distribution continues in Hong Kong and New Zealand. Consultancy Proof Creative is unaffected, operating from Hong Kong.
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SINGAPORE – After 13 years, Proof & Company Spirits – the Singapore-based distribution arm of independent spirits company Proof & Company – has entered provisional liquidation.
It cited closures in the food and beverage scene (F&B) as a reason for its decision to close.
“The decision follows a period of mounting challenges for the F&B and hospitality industry in Singapore, including the closure of some of the company’s longest-standing restaurant and bar customers,” the company said in a statement on July 21.
It told The Straits Times that 16 staff in Singapore will lose their jobs as a result of the closure.
The distributor, which most recently had an annual turnover of $7 million in Singapore and $34 million globally, has been supplying more than 50 types of independent spirits in Singapore and the Asia-Pacific region for the past decade.
Singapore has seen a growing number of F&B closures in recent years. A total of 3,047 establishments shut their doors in 2024 – the highest figure since 3,352 closures in 2005. Still, more than 3,790 new food businesses opened in 2024.
The first half of 2025 had seen 1,404 closures, compared with 1,611 in the same period in 2024.
In its statement, Proof & Company Spirits said its cocktail bar 28 HongKong Street will continue operations.
Its consultancy arm, Proof Creative, will also continue to operate independently from its Hong Kong office, and “remains committed to its global portfolio of ongoing client projects”.
Proof Creative is behind award-winning bars in the region, such as Atlas and Manhattan in Singapore, BKK Social Club in Bangkok, and Argo in Hong Kong.
“We are doing all we can to ensure a well-managed and productive outcome, while keeping our partners informed every step of the way,” a spokesman for Proof & Company Spirits said of the provisional liquidation process.
The process will be overseen by RSM SG Corporate Advisory, which will “work closely with creditors, stakeholders and management to evaluate potential paths forward”, the company added.
Proof & Company, which operates in four markets – Singapore, Australia, Hong Kong and New Zealand – put its Australian business into voluntary administration in April, citing a local economic downturn and a changing landscape in the spirits industry.
Founded in Singapore in 2012 during what it called a “period of regional growth in the spirits and hospitality industry”, the company said market conditions in the past two years have been markedly different.
It added that “significant market challenges in China, an extended downturn in Australia and a recent acceleration in bar and restaurant closures in Singapore have all impacted the company’s distribution operations”.
The company’s distribution operations in Hong Kong and New Zealand will continue.
