TRUSTED BY
i.
The Singapore F&B reality
The cost of getting the setup wrong
Singapore's F&B licensing process is one of the most complex in the region. Most first-time operators don't know what they don't know — until something goes wrong. And by then, they're already paying rent.
$40K
Saved by one client after engaging us
They had signed a lease and started paying rent, but their Public Entertainment Licence hours were capped at midnight. They could not operate as a nightlife venue until the hours were extended.
3,000
+
F&B Outlets closed in Singapore in 2024
3,047 in total, which is more than eight closures a day, every day, for a year. It was the highest figure in nearly two decades. The operators who survive aren't the ones with the best food. They're the ones who got the foundations right.
6-12
weeks of approval time, if done wrong
Every revision from the Singapore Food Agency, every round of back-and-forth with the Urban Redevelopment Authority, and every resubmission to the Singapore Civil Defence Force adds time. Those are weeks where you are paying rent and staff, without serving a single customer.
ii.
what we are
Your off-site operations team. From day one.
Most F&B consultants in Singapore offer one of two things: a full turnkey service that takes over everything, or a narrow licensing agent that handles paperwork and disappears.
Secret Sauce is built differently. We are an operations team, not a licensing desk. When we take on your SFA application we also take on the things that decide its outcome: the physical unit, the layout, the exhaust, the fit-out, and the coordination of this timeline. Nobody hands us a form and waits. You may engage us for one workstream or for all of them, from the unit hunt to opening day.
You bring the concept, the passion, and the product. We bring experience with every agency in Singapore built since 2018, a vendor network tried and tested over 100 openings, and zero SFA licence rejections. Together, you open faster, cheaper, and without the mistakes that quietly sink first-timers.
i.
We find the right unit before you sign
With a licensed property agent specialising in F&B tenancies in our core team, we assess every shortlisted unit for regulatory suitability, concept fit, and commercial risk — before you're committed.
ii.
We navigate every agency, every time
SFA, URA, HDB, SCDF, SPF — we've submitted to all of them, across every outlet type. Zero rejections is not luck. It's preparation, sequencing, and knowing what each agency needs before they ask for it.
iii.
We build the operational backbone
Kitchen equipment, exhaust configuration, software setup, work passes — the unglamorous operational layer that has to be right before you open. We handle it so you don't have to learn it from scratch.
iv.
We launch your brand into the market
Food photography, digital marketing, PR — through a vetted specialist network, managed by us. You only get one opening week. We make sure it lands.
v.
We work the way you need us to
Pick one service or pick all of them. No padded retainers, and no scope you did not ask for.
iv.
case studies
Real businesses. Real Results.
Six outlets, six different stories. The thread running through all of them: the right help, at the right stage, changed the outcome.
v.
THE TEAM BEHIND IT
Built by people who've done this before.
Muralee V Reddy
Co-Founder · Business Development
Having spent his career in commercial roles across various industries, including consulting and F&B import and distribution, Muralee brings a consultative, client-first approach to every engagement. He helps Secret Sauce clients solve the problems they came in with — and the ones they didn't know they had yet.
Cheryl Tay
Co-Founder · F&B Licensing Specialist
Zero SFA licence rejections across every application she has submitted. Working directly with Singapore's F&B operators since 2016, from home bakers opening their first shop to late-night venues navigating multi-agency approvals. In 2016 she also started running a monthly crash course for aspiring F&B entrepreneurs, at a point when nobody else was teaching it. It sold out every session for seven years.