Mr Lee Yi Shyan at the Excellent Service Award 2013

Opening Address by Mr Lee Yi Shyan, Senior Minister of State for Trade and Industry and National Development, at the Excellent Service Award 2013, 9 October 2013, 2.00 pm at NTUC Auditorium

Mr Andrew Tjioe, President, Restaurant Association of Singapore

Distinguished Guests

Ladies and Gentlemen

Good Afternoon.

Introduction

I am happy to join you to recognise the BEST service professionals in the food and beverage industry. Someone told me that if you surround yourself with great people, you will become great too! We are in great company!

Our food and beverage industry is growing. It is a big sector in Singapore’s economy. The most recent Economic Survey of Services in 2011 reported a 4.5 per cent increase in the number of F&B establishments, bringing the total number of F&B establishments in Singapore to 6,500. The sector employs over 100,000 people and generates S$7.1 billion in operating receipts for the economy.

As a diner myself, I would add my observation that our F&B scene has also become more creative in recent years. There are more thematic restaurants now than before. F&B operators are introducing more concepts, and new ones. Some based on foreign cultures and others create their own fusion cuisine designs.  Our players realise that differentiation is a better way to create value and compete.

At the same time, more F&B players are embracing technology and training. Now, it is more common to see restaurants relying on wireless tablets integrated with POS for order taking and food preparation. These automation modules reduce human-errors, save manpower and more importantly, empower customers and make them feel that they are in control of about the situation. Service staffs are also freed up to focus on customer interactions.

The Excellent Service Award

Since its launch in 1994, EXSA has recognised a total of 160,000 individuals for service excellence. This year, 45 food and beverage organisations have nominated their employees for the EXSA. For some awardees, such as Ms Susan Low from McDonald’s Singapore and Mr Muhamad Riduwan bin Boharri from Pizza Hut Singapore, this year would be their third consecutive year receiving the EXSA STAR award.

Susan’s strength lies in her desire to make the McDonald’s experience memorable for every customer. Susan’s extra mile service includes sheltering customers from rain and helping them with their heavy bags to the bus stop. Riduwan, on the other hand, stands out because he pays meticulous attention to detail to ensure that customers’ needs are diligently anticipated and met.

What both Susan and Riduwan show us is that if you follow the standard template for service, you will be a GOOD service staff. But if you do it with a heart, you will become an OUTSTANDING service staff.  Excellent service comes from the heart.

Three suggestions

Any employer having a pool of motivated service staff is a happy and blessed employer. But for an average employer, there is much you can do to bring out the best in their service staff.  Employers’ roles can be likened to be cutting and polishing raw gems. Each one can excel if you create for them the conditions to do so.

What can employers do to bring out the best in their service staff? I would like to offer 3 suggestions:

a.               Individual empowerment

b.               Clearly-Defined Process

c.               Seek help from Industry-Wide Platforms

Let me elaborate. By individual empowerment, I suggest employers take full advantage of all the WSQ programs offered by WDA in conjunction with SPRING and RAS. These courses are highly subsidised. They comprise both classroom learning and on the job practices. We need to empower our staff with the skills to engage customers, to anticipate their needs, and to do service recovery when things go wrong. We need to give them the skill sets to excel. “You take care of staff, staff will take care of customers”. This philosophy I learnt from Hai Di Lao, a Chinese restaurant chain, which has been studied in Harvard Business School case studies.

By clearly defined process, I suggest we learn from the best practices. Unlike manufacturing which only allows a new recruit to join the production line after he pr she has been certified to acquire certain level of competency, far too many service organisations including F&B outlets lack structured processes to help new staff fit into their roles. The lack of clarity in processes seems to be a recipe for employees’ confusion, low morale and ultimately unhappy customers.  Service firms with outstanding service start with consistency in delivery of services. Whether it is Ritz Carlton, Macdonald or Singapore Airlines, they all have operating manuals for service staff with which staff must familiarise themselves.

By seeking help from Industry-Wide Platform, I mean drawing resources from industry-wide programs and initiatives. Andrew Tjioe just mentioned the collaboration between RAS and Unilever Food Solutions under the Partnerships for Capability Transformation (PACT), where RAS will customise a training programme for SMEs under the Unilever’s Chefmanship Academy, to allow SMEs to learn from Unilever’s expertise. RAS is also working with the Singapore Chinese Chamber Institute of Business, part of SCCCI, to offer RAS members specially-priced courses for them to send their staff for training. SPRING has also set aside $75 million to help the F&B industry to raise productivity under the Industry Roadmap Plan.  Our industry players must come together, just like what we are doing here in recognising the best service staff with the EXSA, to share resources and work on common challenges. In this way, we can maximise the outcomes of our collective efforts in raising productivity for the industry as a whole. By working together, we can achieve higher productivity better and sooner.

Conclusions

In conclusion, I would like to commend Andrew and his committee in Restaurant Association of Singapore (RAS) for taking the lead to champion service excellence in the F&B sector and organising the Excellent Service Awards. RAS is in a unique and influential position to transform the industry.

I would also like to extend my heartiest congratulations to all the award winners today. Through your great service, you bring happiness to the customers you serve and the people working around and with you. Thank you.