Mr Jime Essink,

President and CEO of UBM Asia,

Mr Hans Werner Reinhard,

Managing Director of Messe Dusseldorf Group,

Your Excellencies,

Distinguished guests,

Ladies and gentlemen,

A very good morning,

1.            It is my pleasure to join you at the opening ceremony of the Food & Hotel Asia (FHA) and ProWine Asia (PWA) 2018. Let me also extend a very warm welcome to our guests from all over the world who have joined us for this event.

2.            This year, FHA will celebrate its 40^th anniversary. FHA 2018 will also feature its largest-ever showing with 3,500 international exhibitors from over 70 countries, as well as an estimated 78,000 attendees. To accommodate the growth, the event is held at both Singapore Expo and Suntec City Convention Centre this year. In addition, following a successful debut in 2016, ProWine Asia has returned alongside FHA at the Singapore Expo.

Changing Trends in Food and Hospitality Landscape

3.            Let me start by highlighting a few key trends in the food and hospitality landscape.

4.            Consumers today are increasingly discerning, particularly millennials. Coupled with the general trends of growing incomes and a rapidly expanding middle class in Southeast Asia, we can identify two areas of opportunity for the food and hospitality industry.

5.            First, consumers are now more ethically engaged than before. Not only do they seek offerings with better quality, but also products that resonate with their values. As a result, clean labelling and traceability have become indispensable requirements for our food establishments to stay relevant.  

6.            Second, consumers are more digitally engaged today. The use of social media and mobile apps is on the rise.

Consumer preference for convenience is also driving the growth of food delivery and online ordering. Through the use of technology, businesses can now provide consumers with more seamless experiences and offer greater convenience and choices.

7.            In view of these trends, businesses must continue to take the lead to embrace new technologies, innovate and internationalise, so as to capture the strong growth potential in the region.

Capturing New Opportunities in the Food and Hospitality Industry

8.            The Government is committed to supporting our companies and workers in such efforts. In the last two years, we launched the Food Services, Food Manufacturing and Hotel Industry Transformation Maps (ITMs), customised to address each industry’s particular set of circumstances.

Embracing New Technologies

9.            With rapid technological developments, it is critical for companies to embrace new technologies to stay ahead of the curve. Such technologies can be leveraged to redesign work processes, reduce manpower needs, and improve customer experience. This in turn can help improve profitability and productivity.

10.         To support hotels in their adoption of technology, Singapore Tourism Board (STB) offers the Business Improvement Fund (BIF) to all hotels in Singapore. Capri by Fraser in China Square Central, slated to open in 2019, has tapped on BIF to pilot new technologies. These include voice commands and augmented reality to create an app to facilitate guest reservations and requests for services. These technologies not only enhance the guest experience but also enable the hotel to cross-deploy its frontline employees for more value-added jobs.

To date, STB’s BIF has supported pilot projects in areas such as artificial intelligence, the Internet of Things, robotics and facial recognition.

11.         UBM has also worked closely with the government to showcase new products and solutions for both the food and hospitality industries. One example is RESTAURANT 3.0, presented by Enterprise Singapore and Workforce Singapore, and supported by the Restaurant Association of Singapore and the Singapore Productivity Centre. RESTAURANT 3.0 aims to challenge and inspire enterprises on ways to optimise operations and grow the business. The showcase highlights how smaller businesses can adopt automation solutions, and encourages close cooperation between hoteliers and food companies to capture the maximum benefits of automation. Visitors can also experience new technologies such as robotics assistants and urban farming systems.

I strongly encourage you to drop by the showcase at Suntec Convention Level 6 and experience it for yourself.

Innovation in Concepts and Offerings

12.         Next, to enable companies to seize new growth opportunities, innovation is also critical. The case of local food companies across the value chain illustrates this clearly. By consistently developing new food products in response to consumer demand, businesses can better differentiate their offerings and gain market share. Today, innovation begins at the farm level, in a crucial move to address traceability and strengthen food safety from farm to fork. For the first time since the inauguration of FHA, 8 Singaporean farms are making an appearance at the show under the banner of Singapore Agro-Food Enterprises Federation (SAFEF).

Supported by the collective efforts of multiple government agencies, SAFEF aims to enhance local sourcing and sustainability as well as increase competitiveness and drive exports of Singapore agri-food products. 

13.         In the post-harvest phase, the Government continues to work with industry partners to encourage innovation among food companies in areas including product development, processing or packaging. This year, the Singapore Pavilion at FHA has a dedicated space that showcases such innovative products. For example, Cheng Yew Heng has worked on D’Petite Baker, a non-oven cupcake mix, introducing new flavours and incorporating healthier ingredients to meet the new demands of consumers. Vismark Food industries has also introduced better packaging technology to maintain freshness and taste, and increase the shelf life of their chilli crab.

14.         I urge business owners who are interested in adopting new technologies or undertaking innovation to approach Enterprise Singapore and STB for more information and support.

Internationalisation

15.         Internationalisation continues to be a key growth strategy for Singapore’s food services and manufacturing companies. We recognise that entering and navigating through new markets can be challenging. Hence, it is important for our players to work together, and learn from one another. Initiatives such as the Singapore Manufacturing Federation (SMF)’s “Working In Partnership” programme, supported by Enterprise Singapore, consolidates orders for food products across food manufacturers to better access overseas retailers and importers.

This has helped companies to enjoy economies of scale, reduce their risks, and optimise their marketing mileage. Enterprise Singapore will continue to support companies to build capabilities and internationalise, through programmes such as the Capability Development Grant (CDG) and Global Company Partnership (GCP) grant.

16.         Enterprise Singapore will also continue to strengthen Singapore’s international standing as a leader in food safety and food quality. We will continue to promote Singapore’s food safety standards through dialogue with our counterparts in key export markets. To share the best of Singapore’s food culture with the world, we have the “Tasty Singapore” brand, which provides a collective mark of excellence for our food brands when they venture overseas.

Role and Importance of Partners

17.         As we embark on these transformation efforts, we must continue to form strong partnerships between the Government, industry stakeholders and Trade Associations and Chambers (TACs).

18.         For the Food Services Sector, IMDA is working with major food suppliers such as Australian Fruit Juice, Globe Mart, Indoguna, Vismark, and Win Sin to lead their F&B SMEs clients through the digitalisation process using a B2B e-sourcing platform by Zeemart. With the e-sourcing platform, SME food service operators can streamline the procurement and sourcing of food supplies, enabling them to achieve cost savings of approximately 5% to 15% from improved operational efficiencies. In the longer term, the aggregation of demand in procurement and logistics fulfilment allows SMEs to achieve economies of scale, enabling them to lower cost of food supplies.

I am happy to note that the platform will be launched at the end of July and over 100 SMEs are expected to benefit from this project.

19.         For the Food Manufacturing Sector, SMF has partnered with Enterprise Singapore to launch two key initiatives at FHA 2018. The first is a lead finder website developed jointly by SMF and Innovative Media to bring the Singapore Pavilion at FHA to the Alibaba portal. The website connects local businesses to overseas buyers beyond FHA. The second is the SMF SMART App, a collaborative effort between SMF and i-Sprint Innovations Pte Ltd, a Cyber Security 500 Singaporean company. SMF Smart App is an online B2B platform that facilitates consolidation of orders for overseas buyers and provides features such as traceability and authentication of products through QR code and IT security technology.

20.         These examples clearly show how strong partnerships can multiply our strengths, and provide better support for our local SMEs to improve capabilities and capture opportunities overseas.

Conclusion

21.          Events such as FHA and PWA provide invaluable opportunities to help our companies network and exchange ideas. I encourage all of you to visit the many innovative showcases, conference tracks and workshops at FHA 2018, to gain insights on the latest food and hospitality concepts, processes and product improvements.

22.      Even  today, I understand that UBM already has plans to expand the next edition of FHA into two dedicated events, FHA HoReCa and FHA-Food and Beverage 2020.

This is a testament to the show’s growth potential and I am confident that upcoming editions of the show will continue to foster stronger cross-sector collaboration and open doors to generate new business engagements for all participants.

23.         In closing, I would like to congratulate UBM and Messe Dusseldorf on another successful FHA and PWA, and I wish all of you a fruitful and engaging time at the exhibition. Thank you.