Cupcakes from Teacosy are sold alongside angel figurines and furniture.
As technology advances and business concepts evolve, an increasing number of F&B entrepreneurs and service solution providers are thinking out-of-the-box and making life easier for customers.
By innovating, F&B entrepreneurs enjoy reduced overheads, better customer service and additional revenue. Customers feel more satisfied too. In this article, we chart four recent trends in the F&B industry that have dramatically improved how businesses are run.
If you’re a restaurateur or cafe owner, do look at these trends and consider implementing them in your business. Read more
Filed under F&B, Featured, Innovation & Technology, Retail, TechnologyTags: a thousand tales, chope, eordernpay, food icon, pocket full of posies, reserveit.sg, swiff, teacosy, ten thousand angels, wi-serve
After being at SGE for about seven months now, I’ve noticed something about Singapore entrepreneurs: We’re pretty adept at taking a business concept from overseas and applying it locally.
Which is fine by the way — as long as it isn’t blind copying.
The latest to follow in this fine tradition is Singapore-based Connoisseur Club, which is essentially an online restaurant reservation site combined with a group buying site. Think Open Table and Groupon‘s love child. Read more
In the restaurant-eat-restaurant world of the F&B industry, few local brands have stood out as clearly as Crystal Jade, one of the market leaders in Singapore. Celebrating its 20th anniversary last year with a refreshing of its identity that involves extensive refurbishments at its restaurants, Crystal Jade enjoyed a turnover of S$240M (US$189M) in 2010.
Over the last three years, it has expanded aggressively, investing S$25M (together with partners) to open 39 new outlets across Asia. This year, the F&B group will sink in a further S$17M to open 17 new outlets across eight cities. These efforts helped it to achieve a targeted 10 percent to 15 percent yearly growth in sales.
Beginning from a single outlet in Cairnhill in 1991 — which was closed and reopened with a Kitchen outlet in Shaw Plaza and a Palace outlet in Ngee Ann City – the group now has more than 100 outlets sprawled across 18 cities in nine countries. Half of these are in Singapore while the other 50 are in China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia and more. Read more
A hungry journalist is a grumpy journalist.
That’s why it’s important to cater serviceable food at press events, instead of serving the usual fried bee hoon and fishballs, which is sure to dampen the mood of the occasion.
I’m exaggerating, of course, but the importance of good food at any event — corporate pow wows, birthday parties, and networking sessions — cannot be underestimated.
Read more
The idea is obscenely simple: It’s a website that detects your current location and helps you find the nearest bar or pub. Hate the recommendation? Simply click ‘No, that place looks shit’ and you’ll be brought to another pub. As far as we can tell, Wherethefuckshouldigofordrinks.com works in Singapore, the UK, and the US. Read more
Customizable desserts and beverages have been around for quite awhile. From customized yogurts to make-your-own gelato, Singaporeans have been spoilt for choice when it comes to satisfying their sweet tooth.
So it’s only a matter of time that someone applies the same concept to milkshakes, which of late seemed to be playing second fiddle to the ever-popular bubble tea. Read more
Asking Singaporeans to be disloyal is like asking them to commit seppuku. Be prepared to be given a cold shoulder — Singaporeans are, after all, known for being extremely obedient.
So it comes as no surprise that when two young chaps, Dutch-Indonesian Erik Posthuma and American Luke Norman, brought the concept of a disloyalty card to Singapore, they got plenty of press coverage.
But that aside, Be Disloyal (which is what their loyalty program is called) is an epic win, branding wise. Read more
Chope your seats before it's too late!
Sooner or later, someone was going to use the Internet to let diners make restaurants reservations instantly.
Such an idea isn’t new: US-based OpenTable has been doing it since 1998, and they’ve expanded their services into eight countries.
In Singapore, the concept is just beginning to take off. Within the past couple of years, at least four such websites have already sprung up.
Reservations.SG started operating in 2010, while Reserveit.sg (read our interview with them) and Chope launched around the same time, in June 2011. Read more
Filed under F&B, Featured, Innovation & Technology, Special Commentary, WebTags: chope, crm, online restaurant reservation, opentable, reservation.sg, reserveit.sg, table management system, tabledb
While searching for a restaurant to fulfill your gastronomical craving these days is much easier with food blogs and directories like HungryGoWhere, making a reservation can still be a hair tearing experience.
Spotting an Italian restaurant online and reserving a table for two this weekend sounds pedestrian enough, but in fact comes with unforeseen hassles.
Sometimes, finding the right phone number can be difficult, especially if the website is not updated or badly designed. And if you do manage to call them, you may be kept waiting if the restaurant is either closed or the waitresses are busy. Even if you do get through, the time slot you want may not be available. Read more
