Speech by Minister Chan Chun Sing at the Restaurant Association of Singapore Epicurean Star Awards Gala Dinner

1. A very good evening to all friends from the Restaurant Association of Singapore (RAS) family. Thank you very much for being here. I am always happy to attend such events to honour our best performers in this industry. 

2. I must be frank - this is not an easy industry. Competition is tough and in Singapore, a small economy with a small market, it is not easy for us to do well. In many countries, people compete on the basis of price and size - how low I can go in terms of my price, and how big a scale I can go in order to conquer the market.

3. But very often in Singapore, just tapping on the local market is not an option. So tonight for all the winners, you are here not because you competed on the basis of price or size. But instead, you demonstrated three qualities which make you stand out amongst the competition, and that has to do with your service, your quality and your innovation. 

4. In Singapore, all of us are actually building the same brand together. You might think that you have a slightly different brand in terms of your company’s name, but I can proudly say that while you are all building your own respective brands, you are all at the same time, building our collective brand called Brand Singapore. 

5. And when you see the little red lion logo on your product anywhere around the world, it commands a premium. Whenever I am overseas, I will always check out the supermarkets to see whether some of our products with the red lion logo are there. Because when you have a product like that, it speaks to us about the quality and innovation it represents. And this is how many of you have excelled and done well. 

6. Gone are the days where the food industry competes by price. I remember when I was a student in the UK, because we were so hungry for local, Chinese food, some of us would take the train down to London, to this particular restaurant which was infamous for scolding their customers. But because there were so few options available for good Chinese food, even when a customer got scolded, they took it as part of the experience. 

7. Today, this will not happen in Singapore or anywhere else, which is why I am very happy and proud to see so many of you competing and innovating on the basis of your quality and service. Today, when you see a product with the little red lion logo, especially in many of the major markets, people are prepared to pay a price premium, and that is the collective brand that we must defend, uphold and improve. 

8. But the most important element between service, quality and innovation, is the last one, innovation. And today, I am particularly proud to see two aspects of innovation that our companies here have continued to do well. 

9. The first is the kind of products that they can bring to the market at different price points. I challenged some of our restaurant owners to give us pre-cooked, microwavable meals, restaurant-quality food but at a price point that is almost comparable to a food court at four to five dollars. When we first talked about this, we thought we were all dreaming. But today, with innovation, with quality control and central kitchens, they are able to achieve mass production. 

10. Today, I see many of our local firms partnering NTUC to sell products whereby you get almost restaurant-quality food at food court prices, and so conveniently available in pre-packed packages that you can not only sell in Singapore, but also to markets beyond Singapore. This is just one example of the kind of aspiration, the kind of innovation that we have achieved because we have put our minds together. 

11. The other innovation I am very happy to see tonight, is innovation using digital platforms. And this is why I am so happy tonight to see IMDA working with RAS to launch the Food Industry Digital Platform. Because once you are on the digital platform, our food industry will no longer be constrained by the size of the local market. Instead, our products can reach out to the world beyond Singapore. 

12. And I always remind myself, November 11 has just passed, what the Chinese call 光棍节 (Singles’ Day). What the Chinese achieved selling in one day, we may need one full quarter. But today, I see many of our people in the food industry joining the November 11 sales to sell our products to China and beyond. 

13. All these would not have been possible without the digital platform. So for us, for many industries in Singapore, embracing the digital platform is not an option or a strategy. In fact, it is a way for us to break through our conventional constraints of the limited size of the Singapore market. 

14. If we can work with IMDA, RAS and many other partners to use such platforms, I am sure we will continue to grow from strength to strength, unconstrained by the size of our local market. So on that note, let me congratulate the efforts of RAS, IMDA, and many other agencies and associations working together to help build Brand Singapore. 

Conclusion

15. I hope that all of us will remember one thing from tonight - regardless of the individual brands that brought us here tonight, we are all collectively building Brand Singapore. 

16. Regardless of where we come from, we have a collective brand called Brand Singapore, and it will continue to speak to the world about service, quality and innovation. If we can do that well individually, and do it well together, I have every confidence that our food industry will continue to grow from strength to strength. 

17. Thank you very much and I wish you an enjoyable evening.