i. Agreeing to these terms

This website is operated by Secret Sauce Consulting Pte. Ltd. (UEN 202331271Z), trading as Secret Sauce Consulting — "Secret Sauce", "we", "us", "our" — a company incorporated and registered in Singapore.

By accessing or using secretsauce.sg, our landing pages at lp.secretsauce.sg, or any content we publish on them, you agree to these terms. If you don't agree with them, please don't use the site.

You confirm that you're at least 18 years old and legally capable of entering into a binding agreement, and that if you're using the site on behalf of a company or other organisation, you have authority to bind it to these terms.

These terms govern your use of the site. If you engage us for services, the terms of that engagement are set out separately in a written proposal or letter of engagement — and where those terms conflict with these ones, the engagement terms prevail for the services.

ii. What this site is for

Secret Sauce is an F&B licensing, compliance and operations consultancy in Singapore. This site exists to explain what we do, show the kind of work we've done, publish articles that are useful whether or not you ever hire us, and give you a straightforward way to get in touch.

That's the whole purpose. It isn't a transactional platform, a booking system, a marketplace, or a substitute for professional advice on your own project.

iii. No professional advice — and who actually decides

Everything on this site is general information. It doesn't take account of your unit, your lease, your layout, your equipment, your menu or your timeline — and in Singapore F&B licensing, those specifics are usually what determine the answer.

Nothing on this site is legal, tax, accounting, financial, property or investment advice, and reading it does not create a professional or advisory relationship between us.

Approvals are the agencies' to give

We prepare, coordinate and lodge applications. We do not grant approvals, and neither does anything published here. Licensing and approval decisions rest with the relevant authority, which depending on your project may include:

•     Singapore Food Agency (SFA)  —  — food shop and food stall licences, and food import matters.

•     Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA)  —  — planning permission and change of use.

•     Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF)  —  — fire safety plan approval and the Fire Safety Certificate.

•     National Environment Agency (NEA)  —  — hygiene, environmental and public health requirements.

•     PUB  —  — sanitary, plumbing and trade effluent requirements.

•     Police Licensing & Regulatory Department (PLRD), Singapore Police Force  —  — liquor licences and public entertainment licences.

•     Building and Construction Authority (BCA)  —  — building works and permits.

Nothing on this site is an approval, a pre-approval, or an indication of how any authority will decide your application.

Requirements change

Regulatory requirements, fees and processes are revised regularly — the GST rate, for instance, rose to 9% on 1 January 2024, and agency requirements change more often than that. Content on this site is accurate to the best of our knowledge as at the date it was published, and we don't undertake to keep every article current. Check the position with the relevant agency, or with us, before you act on it.

iv. Results, statistics and case studies

We publish figures about our track record — including our record of zero rejected SFA licence applications, the number of outlets we've helped launch, and our years in F&B consulting. Those are records of completed work as at the date of publication, on engagements we accepted, where the client followed our advice and gave us accurate information. We're happy to substantiate any published figure on request.

They are not a prediction, promise, warranty or guarantee of the outcome of your application or your business. Every application is decided on its own merits by the relevant agency.

Case studies describe specific projects with the client's permission. Details are simplified for readability and some are anonymised. Similar circumstances do not guarantee similar outcomes.

Statements attributed to clients are their own views, published with consent.

v. Nothing starts until it's in writing

Nothing on this site is an offer capable of acceptance. Descriptions of our services are an invitation to talk, not a contractual commitment.

We become your consultants only when we've issued a written proposal or letter of engagement setting out the scope, and you've accepted it in writing. Until that happens:

•     We owe you no duty of care in respect of your project.

•     A first conversation, a call, a site visit or a free consultation is exploratory, not an engagement.

•     You shouldn't act, or refrain from acting, on the basis of anything discussed informally.

We also reserve the right to decline an enquiry or a project without giving reasons.

vi. What you send us

Accuracy

When you submit an enquiry, you confirm that the information you give us is accurate and complete as far as you know. We rely on it to assess your project, and inaccurate information leads to bad advice.

Other people's data

If you send us personal data about anyone else — a business partner, a landlord, a contractor, a staff member — you confirm you're entitled to share it with us and that they know it's being shared for this purpose. How we handle it is set out in our Privacy Policy.

Confidentiality of unsolicited material

Please don't send us confidential, privileged or commercially sensitive material before there's an engagement or a signed non-disclosure agreement in place. Material sent to us unsolicited isn't treated as confidential, and unsolicited concepts, ideas or business plans don't create any obligation on us — including where we later work with a business in the same category. If you want confidentiality before you share, ask us for an NDA. We'll sign one.

What we may do with feedback

If you send us general feedback or suggestions about the site or our content, we may use them freely and without obligation to you.

vii. We take no payment on this site

This website does not process payments. There are no card fields, no checkout, no deposits, no subscriptions and no stored payment credentials anywhere on secretsauce.sg or lp.secretsauce.sg.

Fees for any engagement are set out in a written proposal and invoiced separately, through our normal business channels.

If you ever receive a request to make a payment through this website, or a link claiming to be a Secret Sauce payment page, treat it as fraudulent. Do not pay it. Contact us at hello@secretsauce.sg or +65 8946 9788 so we can look into it. We will also never ask you to change our bank details by email without confirming it with you by phone.

If we introduce payments on the site in future, these terms will be updated first, with a new effective date and clear terms covering fees, refunds and cancellations.

viii. Franchising content

We represent selected overseas F&B brands seeking partners in Singapore and the region. Brand pages on this site describe those opportunities as they stood at the date of publication.

•     Information, not an offer.  —  Franchise content is published for information. It is not an offer, invitation or solicitation to enter into a franchise agreement, and it is not a disclosure document.

•     The brand owner decides.  —  Territory availability, fees, terms and partner selection are set and approved by the brand owner, not by us. We introduce, vet and coordinate.

•     Accolades belong to the brands.  —  Awards, rankings and honours shown on brand pages are the records of the brands and the awarding bodies concerned, published as supplied to us.

•     Marks belong to their owners.  —  All brand names, logos and trade marks — including those of the brands we represent — remain the property of their respective owners, and are used with permission in our capacity as their appointed representative.

Singapore has no franchise-specific registration or disclosure legislation; franchise relationships are governed by general contract law and by whatever the agreement itself says. Take independent legal and financial advice before signing anything. Franchising carries commercial risk, and no return is promised or implied.

ix. Our partners, and who does what

Some of what we deliver is done by specialist partners working alongside us, and this site names them. Where a partner is engaged on your matter, professional responsibility for their scope sits with them, under their own licence, registration or professional indemnity arrangements.

•     Fire safety.  —  Fire safety plan submissions are made by a Qualified Person appointed under the Fire Safety Act 1993. We coordinate the submission; we don't certify on the QP's behalf.

•     Property and leasing.  —  Estate agency work is carried out by a licensed salesperson subject to the Estate Agents Act 2010 and the Council for Estate Agencies' regulatory framework.

•     Systems and software.  —  Where we resell or implement third-party software, the software itself is provided under the vendor's own terms and licence.

Naming a partner on this site is not a warranty by us of their work, and we are not liable for services provided directly to you by a third party under a separate contract with them.

x. Intellectual property

All content on this site — text, articles, guides, checklists, photographs, illustrations, layout, design, the Secret Sauce name and the drip device — is owned by us or used under licence, and is protected under the Copyright Act 2021, the Trade Marks Act 1998 and other applicable law.

What you may do

View, download and print pages for your own internal, non-commercial use in evaluating or working with us. Quote short extracts with clear attribution and a link back to the source page.

What you may not do

•     Republish, redistribute, resell or commercially exploit our content, in whole or substantial part.

•     Systematically scrape, harvest, index or copy the site or its content by automated means.

•     Use our content to train, fine-tune or evaluate machine learning models, except to the extent a statutory exception applies — including the computational data analysis exception under the Copyright Act 2021, which requires lawful access.

•     Remove or alter any attribution, copyright notice or branding.

•     Use our name, logo or marks in a way that suggests endorsement, partnership or affiliation without our written permission.

xi. Acceptable use

Use the site lawfully and sensibly. You must not:

•     Attempt to gain unauthorised access to the site, its servers, or any connected system — conduct of that kind is an offence under the Computer Misuse Act 1993.

•     Introduce malware, or otherwise interfere with the site's operation or availability.

•     Submit automated, bulk or fraudulent enquiries, or use our forms to distribute unsolicited commercial messages.

•     Impersonate another person or misrepresent your affiliation with anyone.

•     Submit content that is unlawful, defamatory, obscene, or infringes someone else's rights.

•     Use the site to compile a database, or for competitive benchmarking, market research or model training without our written permission.

We may restrict or block access where we reasonably believe these terms have been breached, and report conduct we believe to be criminal to the relevant authorities.

xii. Links to other sites

We link to government agency pages, partner sites, brand sites and other resources because they're useful. Those links aren't endorsements, we don't control what's on the other end, and we're not responsible for their content, accuracy or availability. Agency pages in particular are updated on their own schedule — always take the agency's own published position as authoritative over ours.

You may link to our homepage or to any public page on this site, provided you do so fairly, without implying an endorsement or association we haven't given, and without framing our content within your own site.

xiii. Availability and changes

We aim to keep the site available, but we don't guarantee uninterrupted or error-free access. The site is hosted on third-party infrastructure and depends on services we don't operate. We may suspend, withdraw, change or restrict any part of it — including articles, resources and features — at any time and without notice.

We may also update these terms. The current version, with its effective date, is always the one published on this page. Material changes take effect when published, and continuing to use the site after that means you accept them.

xiv. Our liability

To the fullest extent permitted by law, the site and its content are provided as they are, without warranties of any kind — express or implied — including as to accuracy, completeness, currency, fitness for a particular purpose, or uninterrupted availability.

We are not liable for any loss or damage arising from your use of, or reliance on, this site or its content, including loss of profit, loss of revenue, loss of business, loss of opportunity, wasted expenditure, or any indirect or consequential loss — whether or not we were told such loss was possible.

Where liability can lawfully be limited, our total aggregate liability arising out of or in connection with your use of this site is limited to  S$500.

Nothing in these terms excludes or limits our liability for death or personal injury caused by our negligence, for fraud or fraudulent misrepresentation, or for anything else that cannot be excluded or limited under Singapore law — including under the Unfair Contract Terms Act 1977. Any exclusion in these terms applies only so far as it is reasonable and permitted.

This clause does not affect the terms of any engagement you enter into with us. Liability for our services is dealt with in the engagement documents for that work.

xv. Indemnity

You agree to indemnify us against reasonable losses, costs and expenses we incur as a result of your breach of these terms, your unlawful use of the site, or your provision to us of another person's personal data without the right to do so.

xvi. Governing law and disputes

These terms, and any dispute or claim arising out of or in connection with them or your use of this site — including non-contractual ones — are governed by the laws of Singapore.

If something goes wrong, tell us first. Most things are resolved with a conversation. If that doesn't work, the parties may refer the matter to mediation at the Singapore Mediation Centre before commencing proceedings.

The courts of Singapore have non-exclusive jurisdiction over any dispute.

xvii. General terms, and how to reach us

Privacy

How we handle personal data is set out in our Privacy Policy, which forms part of these terms.

Severability

If any provision of these terms is found to be unenforceable, it is severed and the rest continues in force.

No waiver

If we don't enforce a right straight away, that's not a waiver of it.

Third-party rights

A person who is not a party to these terms has no right under the Contracts (Rights of Third Parties) Act 2001 to enforce any of them.

Assignment

You may not transfer your rights or obligations under these terms. We may transfer ours as part of a restructuring, merger or sale of the business.

Entire agreement

These terms, together with our Privacy Policy, are the whole agreement between us in respect of your use of this site, and replace anything said or written previously about it. Services we perform for you are governed by the engagement documents for that work.