How to open small restaurant in Singapore

[shosho]

Hello!

How can a foreigner open a small restaurant in Singapore? Please advice. Thanks!

[Strong Eagle]

What is your current residency status in Singapore? Right now, if you are not a citizen or PR, the only way to open a restaurant is to spend a bunch of money either purchasing an operating restaurant or to rent and build out a new place.

The government will not let you open a small operations, especially something like a stall at a hawker center... these are reserved for locals. Think of a quarter of a million dollars to create your new place... and that's at the low end.

I would highly recommend that you already be very knowledgeable about restaurants and that you know off of the Singapore rules and permits required... a friend of mine very nearly went bankrupt trying to open a restaurant because of delays and denials in permits and inspections.

You should also have thoroughly done your homework with respect to demographics, foot traffic, etc. Singapore is a tough place to successfully operate a restaurant these days... very high rents at desirable locations drive up menu prices and drive away customers while cutbacks in foreign worker permits makes it much more difficult and expensive to hire and retain workers. Quite a few well known restaurants in town have gone out of business for exactly these reasons.