Commentary: As more restaurants shut, is it time to rethink Singapore’s F&B rules?

PLAYING FIELD MUST BE LEVELLED

Singapore has gained a reputation for being a country of regulations. We’ve also gained international admiration as a food haven blending multicultural identity and innovation.     

So when we lose local F&B players, we lose pieces of the Singaporean story as well as the physical spaces where our shared culture lives and breathes.

The current regulatory framework may be well-intentioned, but we must be careful that it doesn’t undermine F&B players’ ability to survive, let alone thrive.

I know this strain intimately. When I ran the now-defunct Jekyll & Hyde in Tanjong Pagar, we encountered unexpected zoning restrictions that resulted in a temporary shutdown, despite repeated efforts to comply with requirements. 

My experience is but one example of how navigating the ins and outs of compliance can be a significant source of financial strain. For smaller F&B operators especially, each round of clarification or modification can translate into lost revenue, disrupted staffing and uncertainty over long-term viability.

It may be worth considering if the industry needs a tiered regulatory framework that scales requirements according to business scope and impact.

Similar to how GST registration is tied to each business’s revenue thresholds, perhaps it would be more useful to require small-scale F&B operations to comply with lighter or fewer regulations. Businesses serving significant numbers of customers or generating substantial revenue could face tiered requirements for licensing, safety compliance and zoning adherence – standards according to scale.

It would also be a great help to see more government intervention in the problem of rising rents. For instance, could the authorities collaborate with landlords on rent stabilisation mechanisms, or co-invest in public space activation to boost foot traffic?

The goal of this would not be to prop up underperforming businesses, but rather to preserve a vibrant F&B ecosystem where players with proven track records don’t collapse under avoidable constraints.

It seems only fair to expect that regulations don’t inadvertently favour one group over another. More importantly, they shouldn’t place an undue burden on businesses that are already making every effort to comply with both the spirit and letter of the law.

Chua Ee Chien is commercial director at TOKEN2049 and SuperAI. Up until 2024, he was the co-owner of the now closed F&B establishments Jekyll & Hyde, Graft and Operation Dagger.