Dear Friends,

The food and beverage business continues to be flamboyant with Singapore economy in particular, recovering fast and emerging out of recession ahead of others in the second half of 2009. Similarly, the developing economies of Asia seem to be roaring out of the 2008 economic downturn.

Europe’s government debt situation is a growing concern while America’s economic situation is slowly stabilizing with the government laying groundwork to avoid depression and avert a global economic meltdown. However, hurdles still remain for full recovery.

Asia is enjoying some good businesses and I believe that the hotel industry will see a robust growth in the booking and occupancy levels with the two new Integrated Resorts being opened recently which draw customers principally from Malaysia, Indonesia and Singapore, and additional customers from Taiwan, Mainland China, Hong Kong, the Middle East and India. The hotel inventory in Singapore will be critical to increase the competitiveness of Singapore as an International MICE destination and enhancing food and beverage as well as retail growth. As such, potential new businesses and growth aspects in Singapore is prominent. Therefore, the need to recreate, innovate and diversify is important in order to stay on the competitive edge. For new companies, they will need to work closely with industry partners as well as be customer-oriented in order to stay afloat.

This year, we are working closely with Singapore Press Holdings and Workforce Development Agency to organize two major events on a national level - Amazing Waiter’s Race and Restaurant Skills Competition, to raise the image and profile of food and beverage jobs as well as to raise the standard of service in Singapore from the exchange of F&B creativity and service standards amongst contestants from restaurants and hotels. Through these competitions, we also hope to change the negative perception of the industry and bring across a message to all that F&B jobs are not just plain waitering jobs but they can be fun, motivational and creative as well. The vision of the industry is to develop a vibrant, top-class F&B sector with excellent service standards and a reputable industry image. Singapore will be positioned as the test-bed for innovative F&B concepts. Therefore, there will be lots of business and career opportunities within the industry.

We are pleased to share that the strong alliance with our overseas counterparts endures. The recent Food Hotel Asia 2010 show was a wonderful opportunity to meet up with industry partners, both local and overseas, and we were delighted to catch up with our Malaysian counterpart during the event. It was also our pleasure to meet with our European counterparts – The Germany Food & Beverage Managers’ Association, during our recent visit to Baden-Baden. In the forthcoming months, we will be signing a Memorandum of Understanding with Cambodia Restaurant Association. We are committed to work with our overseas counterparts to develop a gateway for supply chain partners as well as to create human resource opportunities in Asia with potential trainings, cross exposure and sharing of best practices as part of continuous improvements for our associations and members.

Wishing you great success for the year and hope to see you at our annual dinner soon.

Yours sincerely

Cheong Hai Poh