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Industry brief · Food & Beverage

Food and beverage, where our guests build

Three Building Real founders work in food. In Singapore, Dhruv Shanker's Mad Onion Slicer teaches Indian home cooking to travellers through Airbnb Experiences, and Ivan Chandra Suriady's Paco Coffee runs a character-led specialty coffee bar at Marina Bay; in the Philippines, on the cold-chain side of food, Joe Khoo's Polar Cold rents modular cold-storage boxes to small businesses. This brief covers what surrounds them: F&B sales, openings and closures, delivery platforms, hiring rules, AI support for operators, regional deals, and food losses and cold storage in the Philippines.

SingaporePhilippines
Checked 20 Oct 2026 · every figure linked to its source · next review Jan 2027

01At a glance

S$1.7B

Singapore F&B services sales in August 2026, down 1.6% year on year, extending a 1.9% fall in July1

One month's estimate, compared year on year
20.6%

of Singapore F&B sales came through online channels in August 2026, about one dollar in five2

3,357

new retail food establishments from 1 January to 23 October 2025, against 2,431 closures, so openings still outnumbered closures3

ACRA registrations, not shopfronts
+42%

net rise in the number of F&B entities in Singapore between 2015 and 2025, with formations outpacing cessations in most years4

Registered entities, not outlets
S$4,912M

spent by visitors on food and beverage in Singapore in 2025, against S$4,269 million in 2024, according to STB5

Visitor spending only, full year
P3B

allocated by the Philippine Department of Agriculture in January 2025 to build around 99 cold storage facilities, about 65 of them small or modular chiller-type units6

An allocation and plan, not money spent or facilities built

02How AI is reshaping it

What the numbers show

  • Operators. A June 2026 UOB survey cited by the government found about one in three Singapore F&B operators had yet to adopt any AI tools, and six in ten ran most of their digital tools as standalone systems7.
  • Merchants. In a September 2026 release, Grab said only 33% of its merchant-partners use AI in their work and only 25% say their employees can apply AI effectively, from a survey whose details it has not published8.
  • Platform tools. Grab's AI merchant assistant handled more than 6 million merchant queries in May 2025, according to Bain analysis in e-Conomy SEA 20259.
  • Capital. Singapore drew US$1.31 billion of private AI funding (excluding data centres) between H2 2024 and H1 2025, 55% of the ASEAN-10 total, according to Google, Temasek and Bain10.
UOB has not published its survey method, and it partners the Enterprise Singapore programme below. Grab's figures come from its own survey, published alongside its own AI-training push. The AI funding figure covers all sectors.

Programmes and our guests

  • Programme. Enterprise Singapore and UOB launched an F&B AI and Digital Integration Programme in July 2026 to move at least 200 F&B businesses onto connected, AI-enabled operations over two years11.
  • Grants. Budget 2026 widened the Productivity Solutions Grant to cover more digital and AI-enabled solutions12.
  • Tax. Budget 2026 announced that the Enterprise Innovation Scheme's 400% tax deduction will be extended to up to S$50,000 a year of AI spending for Years of Assessment 2027 and 202813.
  • In the episode. Ivan Chandra Suriady explains that Paco Coffee runs on Paco OS, in-house software that one developer built with AI instead of buying SaaS.
The programme's 200 businesses are a target, not an outcome. The tax deduction is a Budget announcement.

03Where the money is moving

Deals and exits near our guests' sector

  1. Malaysia's Paramount Corp bought a 28% stake in SGX-listed Envictus International, operator of Texas Chicken and San Francisco Coffee in Malaysia, for S$38.33 million in cash14.
  2. Singapore's Creative Eateries, whose portfolio of 13 brands includes Suki-Ya and Bangkok Jam, was acquired by Asia White Knight Group, an investment and operations group in the franchise sector, in a deal reported in November 202515.
  3. Deliveroo left Singapore after 11 years, keeping its app live only until 4 March 2026, as part of a portfolio review by its parent DoorDash16.
  4. Grab agreed to buy foodpanda's Taiwan business from Delivery Hero for US$600 million in cash, its first market outside Southeast Asia, subject to regulatory approvals, with closing expected in the second half of 202617.
  5. Alpha JWC, Tybourne and Horizons Ventures raised their stakes in Indonesia's Kopi Kenangan in an ongoing funding round. The chain runs more than 1,500 outlets in seven markets and had opened 221 in 202618.
Kopi Kenangan's round size is undisclosed. Grab's foodpanda Taiwan purchase had not been approved or completed when this page was checked.

Chinese chains arrive

Chinese F&B outlets in Singapore

Jun 2024
184
Aug 2025
405

About 85 Chinese F&B brands were running around 405 outlets in Singapore by August 2025, up from 32 brands and 184 outlets in June 2024, according to consultancy Momentum Works19.

A private consultancy estimate, not an official count.

For scale, startup funding across all sectors: Southeast Asian startups raised US$7.25 billion across 217 deals in H1 2026, the strongest total since H1 2022, but a single US$4.5 billion round, DayOne's Series C, lifted the total and deal count fell to its lowest since at least 201820.

04The Philippine cold chain

Food lost between farm and market

  • Vegetables. In January 2024 Agriculture Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel said the Philippines loses about 30% of its vegetable produce to wastage because of poor supply-chain logistics, a figure he based on his own experience running a cold chain company21.
  • Fish. The Philippine Daily Inquirer reported in April 2023 that BFAR data put Philippine fish spoilage at 25 to 40% because of a lack of post-harvest equipment22.
  • Specific routes to Manila. In an ADB-funded SEARCA value-chain analysis, postharvest losses reached 33.89% for Iloilo mangoes and 63.90% for cold-stored onions from Nueva Ecija; freshly harvested onions on the same route lost 45.06%23.
A minister's estimate, second-hand BFAR data and a 2022 study of specific routes: none is a measured national loss rate. The vegetable remark came days after farmers dumped cabbage over oversupply, so it is not purely a cold-chain figure. On the onion route, cold-stored onions lost more than freshly harvested ones.

Storage capacity and new investment

Marc Anthony Dizon, cold chain business unit head at FAST Logistics Group, said in July 2026 that the Philippines needs around 1.4 million pallet positions of cold storage to support annual food consumption but has only about 860,00024.

One executive's estimate. Other estimates of current capacity are higher, and no official national count was found.

I Squared Capital broke ground in October 2025 on a $130 million expansion of Royale Cold Storage in Bulacan, adding 22,000 pallet positions25.

Royale is large, centralised cold storage, a different business model from the small modular rooms Polar Cold rents. Its new positions are not added to any national figure.

05Governments: wages, grants and storage rules

Singapore policy timeline

  1. Ministry of Manpower. Cooks replaced the earlier 'cooks in Indian restaurants' on MOM's Non-Traditional Sources Occupation List from 1 September 2025, and firms hiring NTS Work Permit holders under the list must pay them a fixed monthly salary of at least S$2,00026.
  2. METI (then MTI). In a parliamentary reply, the government pointed smaller F&B firms to Productivity Solutions Grants for equipment such as smart cooking machines, and said S$1.26 billion in digital CDC vouchers had been spent at hawkers and heartland merchants between December 2021 and July 202527.
  3. Budget 2026. The Productivity Solutions Grant was widened to more digital and AI-enabled solutions. PSG, the Enterprise Development Grant and Market Readiness Assistance will be folded into a single scheme, EDGE12.
  4. Budget 2026. The government announced that the Enterprise Innovation Scheme's 400% tax deduction will be extended to up to S$50,000 a year of AI spending for Years of Assessment 2027 and 202813.
  5. Ministry of Finance. The government announced it would raise the Year of Assessment 2026 corporate income tax rebate from the 40% announced at Budget to 50%, lifting the cap per company from S$30,000 to S$40,000 and the minimum for firms with a local employee from S$1,500 to S$2,00028.
  6. Ministry of Finance. The government said it would open the base tier of the Energy Efficiency Grant, previously limited to six sectors including food services, to all sectors and extend the support to 31 March 202829.
  7. Ministry of Manpower. The wage floor for a local food or drink stall assistant rose from S$2,080 to S$2,220 a month, in firms that hire foreign workers30.
  8. Enterprise Singapore and UOB. A new programme aims to move at least 200 F&B businesses onto connected, AI-enabled operations over two years11.
Budget and Ministry of Finance measures are announcements, not enacted law, and the tax rebate applies to all companies. EDGE has no start date yet. METI was MTI when its reply was given; its website moved to meti.gov.sg on 1 Oct 2026.

Singapore wage floor and hiring rules

  1. S$2,080
    Monthly floor for a local food or drink stall assistant before 1 July 202630
  2. S$2,220
    From 1 July 202630
  3. S$2,360
    From July 202730
Applies in firms that hire foreign workers.
  • Quota. Restaurants and other SFA-licensed food shops can fill at most 35% of their workforce with Work Permit holders, paying monthly levies of S$450 to S$800 per basic-skilled worker depending on how close they are to that cap31.
  • Local hires. A local worker counts fully toward a firm's foreign-worker quota only if paid at least the S$1,800 Local Qualifying Salary; those earning S$900 to S$1,800 count as half32.
  • Cooks. Cooks are on MOM's Non-Traditional Sources (NTS) occupation list, so licensed food shops can hire them from NTS countries, capped by an 8% sub-quota33. Those hired under the list must be paid a fixed monthly salary of at least S$2,00026.
Food stalls and hawker stalls are outside the Work Permit quota above.

Philippine cold storage plans and rules

  1. Department of Agriculture. The department said it had allocated P3 billion to build around 99 cold storage facilities, about 65 of them small or modular chiller-type units6.
  2. Department of Agriculture. By February 2026 the department had issued Memorandum Circular No. 3, guidelines for an online Registry System for Agri Storage that requires those handling cold or dry storage warehouses, silos, storage tanks or stationary refrigerated container vans for farm and fishery products, whether owned or leased, to register them, in step with the Anti-Agricultural Economic Sabotage Act34.
The P3 billion is an allocation and plan, not money spent or capacity built; no completion count was found. The storage registry sits under a law aimed at agricultural smuggling and hoarding.

06Trends to watch

Sales are shifting between formats

Singapore F&B services sales fell 1.6% year on year in August 20261. Inside that total, fast-food outlet sales rose 7.8% while cafes fell 5.3%, food courts and other eating places 4.8%, and restaurants 2.1%35.

Churn, not collapse

From 1 January to 23 October 2025, Singapore recorded 3,357 new retail food establishments and 2,431 closures3. Most closures hit young businesses: 36.3% had been registered under three years and another 26.7% for three to five years36. Over 2015 to 2025, F&B entities still rose a net 42%4.

Delivery platforms consolidate

Deliveroo left Singapore, keeping its app live only until 4 March 202616. Grab agreed to buy foodpanda's Taiwan business, subject to regulatory approvals17. Across its markets, Grab's deliveries business grew gross merchandise value 22% year on year to US$4,249 million in the second quarter of 202637. In Singapore, online channels carried 20.6% of F&B sales in August 20262.

Regional chains arrive at scale

About 85 Chinese F&B brands were running around 405 outlets in Singapore by August 2025, according to Momentum Works19. Indonesia's Kopi Kenangan runs more than 1,500 outlets in seven markets and had opened 221 in 202618.

Labour costs rise, productivity gets subsidised

The wage floor for a local stall assistant rose to S$2,220 a month on 1 July 2026 and goes to S$2,360 in July 202730. Budget 2026 widened the Productivity Solutions Grant to more digital and AI-enabled solutions12, and in July 2026 Enterprise Singapore and UOB launched a programme to move at least 200 F&B businesses onto connected, AI-enabled operations over two years11.

07The problems our guests are solving

Dhruv Shanker on Building Real
Singapore

EP02Dhruv Shanker · Mad Onion Slicer

In the episode, Dhruv describes building a deliberately simple Indian cooking class on his balcony, sold to travellers through Airbnb Experiences, which he says became Airbnb's highest-rated culinary experience.

S$2,233M

Visitors spent S$2,233 million on food and beverage in Singapore in the first half of 2026, against S$2,380 million in the first half of 2025, according to STB38.

Visitor spending on food and drink. Cooking classes may be counted under sightseeing and entertainment instead, so this is market context, not a measure of Mad Onion Slicer's bookings.
Watch the episode →
Joe Khoo on Building Real
Philippines

EP11Joe Khoo · Polar Cold

In the episode, Joe Khoo describes joining a corporate venture studio run by the energy company ENGIE to build a cold-chain startup, then spending two years pivoting from selling energy-efficient cold rooms to renting modular cold-storage boxes. He says Philippine small businesses use them instead of unreliable chest freezers or costly built-in cold rooms, and that onboard sensors and a battery-backed router flag refrigerant leaks or brownouts before compressors fail.

200,000+

On 13 May 2026, in a week when Luzon's grid went on red alert, Meralco's emergency rotating brownouts hit more than 200,000 customers across parts of Metro Manila, Batangas, Bulacan, Cavite, Laguna and Rizal, with interruptions averaging three hours39.

One day's event, not an outage rate. The source does not say food spoiled, and it is not a measure of Polar Cold's customers or of how its boxes performed.
Watch the episode →
Ivan Chandra Suriady on Building Real
Singapore

EP13Ivan Chandra Suriady · Paco Coffee

In the episode, Ivan explains that he picked one of Singapore's most crowded markets on purpose. Paco Coffee sells specialty-grade beans through illustrated characters instead of tasting notes, and he says one of its blends won Gold at the Global Coffee Awards Asia, judged double-blind.

-5.3%

This is the market Paco chose to enter: Singapore cafe sales fell 6.1% year on year in July 2026 (revised) and 5.3% in August 202640. Across all of F&B, the number of entities still rose a net 42% between 2015 and 20254.

SingStat's cafe class covers every cafe, not only specialty coffee. It describes the market, not Paco's own sales.

ICO composite coffee price, US cents/lb (monthly average)

Oct 2025
326.38
Sep 2026
262.18

In October 2025 the ICO composite coffee price averaged 326.38 US cents/lb, 30.3% above a year earlier41. In September 2026 it eased to a monthly average of 262.18 US cents/lb, down 8.7% from August 2026 as Brazil's record crop reached the market42.

The ICO estimates world coffee consumption declined 0.8% in coffee year 2025/26, leaving a surplus of 3.0 million bags after four deficit years43.

Global green-coffee benchmarks, not the landed cost of specialty beans in Singapore.
Watch the episode →

See how these conversations connect on the Discovery Atlas →

08Sources

One research agent gathered 54 figures from government, regulator and established data sources. A separate red-team agent then reopened every source, checked each number, its scope and its date, and looked for newer or conflicting data. It kept 33 figures as written, corrected 20 and cut 1. Each figure above links to its source below, with the date it refers to.

  1. SingStat, Oct 2026 · August 2026 (SingStat release of 5 Oct 2026)
  2. SingStat, Oct 2026 · August 2026
  3. METI (then MTI) parliamentary reply, Nov 2025 · 1 Jan to 23 Oct 2025 (ACRA registrations)
  4. METI (then MTI) parliamentary reply, Feb 2026 · 2015 to 2025 (registered entities)
  5. STB data via SingStat Table Builder, Oct 2026 · 2025 calendar year (year-to-date 4Q)
  6. Department of Agriculture, Jan 2025 · DA plan and allocation, Jan 2025
  7. METI speech by SMS Low Yen Ling, Jul 2026 · June 2026 survey (speech of 15 Jul 2026)
  8. Grab, Sep 2026 · Grab press release, 23 Sep 2026 (survey details not published)
  9. e-Conomy SEA 2025 (Google, Temasek, Bain) · May 2025
  10. e-Conomy SEA 2025 (Google, Temasek, Bain) · H2 2024 to H1 2025, all sectors
  11. Enterprise Singapore, Jul 2026 · Launched 15 Jul 2026; two-year target
  12. Enterprise Singapore, 2026 · Budget 2026 (12 Feb 2026); EDGE start date not yet set
  13. Singapore Budget 2026 statement, Feb 2026 · Budget 2026 measure (12 Feb 2026), YA2027 to YA2028
  14. The Edge Malaysia, Mar 2026 · July 2025 (reported Mar 2026)
  15. Vulcan Post, Nov 2025 · Reported 17 Nov 2025; value undisclosed
  16. Marketing-Interactive, Feb 2026 · Announced 25 Feb 2026; offline after 4 Mar 2026
  17. Grab Holdings 6-K (SEC EDGAR), Mar 2026 · Announced 23 Mar 2026; pending regulatory approval
  18. TechNode Global, Sep 2026 · Sep 2026 (round ongoing; size undisclosed)
  19. Momentum Works via Reuters, Oct 2025 · Aug 2025 vs Jun 2024
  20. DealStreetAsia, Sep 2026 · H1 2026, all sectors
  21. ABS-CBN News, Jan 2024 · Ministerial estimate, Jan 2024
  22. Philippine Daily Inquirer, Apr 2023 · BFAR data (year not stated), reported Apr 2023
  23. SEARCA (ADB-funded), Mar 2022 · SEARCA/ADB study, Mar 2022
  24. Insider PH, Jul 2026 · One executive's estimate, stated Jul 2026
  25. PortCalls Asia, Oct 2025 · Groundbreaking, Oct 2025
  26. Ministry of Manpower, COS 2025 factsheet, Mar 2025 · From 1 Sep 2025 (announced at COS 2025)
  27. METI (then MTI) parliamentary reply, Nov 2025 · Reply of 5 Nov 2025; vouchers Dec 2021 to Jul 2025
  28. Ministry of Finance, Apr 2026 · YA2026 (announced 7 Apr 2026)
  29. Ministry of Finance, Apr 2026 · Announced 7 Apr 2026; support to 31 Mar 2028
  30. Ministry of Manpower, Sep 2026 · 1 Jul 2026 to 30 Jun 2027 schedule
  31. Ministry of Manpower, Sep 2026 · MOM page updated 16 Sep 2026
  32. Ministry of Manpower, Jul 2026 · MOM page updated 1 Jul 2026
  33. Ministry of Manpower, Sep 2026 · NTS list updated 1 Sep 2026
  34. Philippine Daily Inquirer, Feb 2026 · DA circular, reported Feb 2026
  35. SingStat, Oct 2026 · August 2026
  36. METI (then MTI) parliamentary reply, Nov 2025 · 1 Jan to 23 Oct 2025 (registration-to-cessation)
  37. Grab Q2 2026 results (SEC EDGAR), Aug 2026 · Q2 2026, all Grab markets
  38. STB data via SingStat Table Builder, Oct 2026 · Jan to Jun 2026 vs Jan to Jun 2025
  39. Philstar.com, May 2026 · One event, 13 May 2026
  40. SingStat, Oct 2026 · July and August 2026
  41. International Coffee Organization, Nov 2025 · October 2025
  42. International Coffee Organization, Oct 2026 · September 2026
  43. International Coffee Organization, Oct 2026 · Coffee year 2025/26 (ICO estimate)