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Don’t know what you don’t know?
Most opening mistakes are invisible until they cost money. The pre-opening blind spots checklist names them, Singapore-specific, from the lease clause to the licence timeline, so you find the gaps on paper instead of in the bank statement. Prefer to read it all now? The full guide is open on the site, no email needed.
- 32
- Checks
- 8
- Categories
- 1
- Email, no drip campaign
Eight places openings bleed.
What it walks
- 01Concept and business fundamentals
- The plan that has to survive a slow first quarter: break-even, runway, projections on paper before the bank statement writes them for you.
- 02Site and lease
- The clauses nobody reads before signing, then pays for later: permitted use, reinstatement, the exit.
- 03Licences and regulatory
- SFA, NEA and the licence timeline that sets your opening date. Rent does not wait for approvals.
- 04Kitchen and equipment
- A kitchen laid out for your menu at your volume, and an equipment list that is not the contractor's generic one.
- 05Menu and costing
- Every dish costed, and priced to survive GST, service charge and platform commissions.
- 06Manpower
- Headcount, work passes, training and a payroll that is ready before the first cycle, not after it.
- 07Operations and systems
- POS, SOPs, inventory and cash handling, decided before day one. Variance you never measured is money you never knew you lost.
- 08Launch
- A soft opening that keeps the mistakes private, and a 30-day review already in the calendar.
From page two
“One early exit cost six figures. Read the exit clause as if you will use it.”
Every check comes with the reason it matters, from shops that paid for the lesson. No theory, no filler.
Questions owners ask.
Before we talk
- What licences do I need to open a cafe in Singapore?
- The core one is the SFA Food Shop Licence, applied for through the GoBusiness portal once your tenancy is signed. Around it sit the ones your concept triggers: a liquor licence from the police if you serve alcohol, SCDF fire safety clearance for the fit-out, NEA requirements for the grease trap and exhaust, and MUIS halal certification if you pursue it. The sequence matters as much as the list.
- Do I need a food hygiene certificate to run a food business in Singapore?
- Every food handler needs the WSQ Food Safety Course Level 1 certificate. An establishment with five or more food handlers, which covers most restaurants, must also appoint at least one certified Food Hygiene Officer. Both sit under the Singapore Food Agency's requirements and are checked, so build the training into the hiring plan instead of scrambling before inspection.
- How long does it take to open a restaurant in Singapore?
- From signed lease to first service, a realistic run is three to six months: design and SCDF approval, fit-out, the SFA licence, hiring and training, then a soft opening. SFA processes a complete application in about a week; the slow parts are usually the build and slow responses to approval queries. Incorporating the company itself takes days.
- Can a foreigner open a restaurant in Singapore?
- Yes. A foreigner can own a Singapore company outright, but the company needs at least one locally resident director, and working in your own restaurant requires a valid work pass. Common routes are appointing a local director while you hold the shares, or an EntrePass or Employment Pass if you plan to run it yourself. Verify current criteria with ACRA and MOM.
- Is a restaurant profitable in Singapore?
- It can be, but the base rate is honest and hard. More than 3,000 F&B businesses closed in 2024. Of 2025's closures, 63% had traded five years or less, and 82% of those young closures never once recorded a profit. The survivors hold their numbers: food cost in a tight band, labour rostered to revenue, rent the concept can actually carry.
- What is a realistic food cost percentage for a restaurant?
- Most Singapore operators aim for 25% to 35% of revenue, and where you sit in that band depends on the concept: fast casual runs leaner than a full-service kitchen. The percentage matters less than the discipline behind it: every dish costed before it goes on the menu, prices checked against GST, service charge and platform commissions, and the number watched weekly, not discovered at year end.
- Why do most restaurants fail in Singapore?
- Rarely the food. Closures trace to decisions made before opening: a lease the concept could never carry, a kitchen that cannot do the menu at volume, uncosted dishes, headcount guessed rather than planned. By the time the symptoms show in the bank statement, the causes are months old. The fix is boring: know your break-even, cost every dish, and measure what you want to control.
- Do I really need an F&B consultant to open a restaurant in Singapore?
- Not for everything. You need one when the mistakes are expensive and hard to undo: the lease, the kitchen layout, the first hire, a menu priced wrong for the room. Most openings that struggle were readable early, in the numbers, before the doors opened. Crux is for the owner who wants those blind spots named while they can still change the plan.
- What does an F&B consultant do?
- For an opening, the work runs stage by stage: feasibility maths before the lease, the licence sequence, kitchen design against the menu, menu development and costing, supplier setup, hiring plans and the launch itself. For an existing venue: reading the numbers, naming the leaks, tightening the systems. The good ones transfer the ability to run without them, and the engagement ends on purpose.
- How much does an F&B consultant cost in Singapore?
- There is no standard rate card. One-off pieces of work such as licensing or a menu review are usually fixed-fee; setup and launch engagements typically run monthly. What matters is that the scope, timeline and price are in writing before work starts, and that the fee is weighed against the cost of the mistake it prevents: a wrong lease or a mispriced menu costs far more than any consultant.
- What does Crux actually do?
- Two situations. Opening a new place: concept and feasibility, venue and site review, a menu built to a food-cost target, the setup before the doors open, and the launch itself. Fixing an existing one: a full read of the shop as it trades now, its leaks named and ranked, and the systems tightened so it holds under a full room and runs without the owner on the floor. Licensing, photography and video sit alongside both.
- How is Crux different from other restaurant consultants in Singapore?
- Crux is run by an operator, not an advisor who has only ever advised. Thirty-plus F&B brands, time on the line, and a five-outlet group's P&L run first-hand. The work is hands-on: planner, executor and advisor, on the floor when the job needs it, never the one signing your cheques. And it ends on purpose, leaving a shop that stands on its own, not a dependency and not a deck you file away.
- How much does Crux cost?
- Crux does not bill by the hour. Every engagement starts with a conversation, then a written scope, timeline and price, agreed before anything begins. It runs from one-off reviews to month-by-month setup and launch partnerships, scoped to where you are. The work is priced to pay for itself: a wrong lease or a mispriced menu costs far more than getting it right the first time.
- Can I use Crux OS without hiring the consultancy?
- Yes. Crux OS, the operations suite, is a product you can run on its own: invoices, inventory, rosters, payroll and a live P&L in one place. It also comes built into the consulting work, so the systems set up during an engagement keep running after. Take the software alone, or take both.
- How do I start?
- Message Crux on WhatsApp, through the site, or by email. The first step is a conversation about where you are and what you need, before anything is scoped or priced. If it is a fit, you get a written scope and price to approve, then the work begins.
The checklist
Take it. Tick honestly.
Free. One email, no drip campaign. The unticked boxes are where your opening bleeds.
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Want the gaps closed for you, not just named? See what Crux does.