Singapore’s food and beverage scene is known for its diverse range of cuisines. From Asian to western, we have it all. Restaurants and food businesses are popping up everywhere. You might be one of these entrepreneurs that are looking to set up your own food and beverage business.
Before diving headfirst into setting up shop, there are some important aspects that you must know. Here are 8 things that you should know that could save you thousands of dollars.
Getting the right licences
To set up your food and beverage business, you need the right licences. However, information is not very easily found, and different people may give you varying information on what licences to apply for. Here is a government website that may help in your F&B license application.
Labour is scarce, and expensive
Manpower has always been a common challenge for food and beverage businesses. Ask any experienced F&B owner, and he will tell you about his struggles with scarcity, and the rising cost of manpower in Singapore.
Locals are demanding higher work pay and are unwilling to work the long hours that F&B requires and part-timers come and go often. On top of that, the quota for hiring foreigners is tightening up, making labour a major headache for F&B owners.
A quick fix for this is to use digital tools like
iMakan, to reduce heavy manpower dependence on order taking staffs by digitalizing your ordering process. Food establishments like Swee Choon Tim Sum Restaurant, BBQ box, Song Fa Bak Kut Teh, etc, have also adopted
iMakan
to help with their manpower hurdles.
Marketing Strategy
Before setting up shop, it is important to define your unique selling point and come up with a plan on how to get customers. Opening up a shop and praying that customers find you seldom works.
Test out your marketing strategy and see what works for your business before dumping your life savings into your shop, securing your road to bankruptcy. Look to some F&B establishments and get some ideas from their marketing strategy helps as well.
Getting the right location
Before committing to a location, decide on your target audience demographics. Spend some time on surveying different locations to see if your target demographic frequent the area you intend to set up shop.
Avoid rushing into decisions when choosing a location. It is easy to to make the mistake of compromising on location due to rent or impatience, which will be regretted eventually.
The chef
Did you know that some restaurants that were doing well close down overnight when their chef decides to leave? It is important to not depend on a sole person that knows how to cook.
Either learn it yourself, or take up preventive measures like legal agreements, giving equity as ownership and documenting cooking techniques along the way. Hiring someone to replicate the taste of your previous chef is not an easy task.
Service standard
Good food and good service go hand in hand. Even if you have really good food, but provide poor customer service, customers may not return, and returning customers are very important to an F&B business.
Getting a trusty POS system
Running an F&B operation can be complicated. Therefore, investing in a trusted POS solution is essential. A POS solution not only acts as a billing terminal but also helps in your operation management. For example, table management, inventory management, promotion management, and kitchen printing management as well.
Many food business owners have made the mistake of getting a cheap POS but eventually grow out of it. Investing in a trusted POS solution like
MEGAPOS
helps you manage your operations effectively and does not trouble you with technical difficulties. In the long run, saving you extra money.
Look out for grants in Singapore to save you cost
There are grants put up by the government to help businesses defray the cost of acquiring equipment or solutions that boost productivity through digitalization. For example, the
Productivity Solutions Grant
subsidises up to 80% pre-approved equipment and solutions, and the
Digital Resilience Bonus
gives a payout of up to $10,000 to help businesses defray the cost of adopting digital tools.