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How a humble hawker stall became a S$160m F&B giant

SINGAPORE — What started as a humble Chinese mixed vegetable rice stall in Bedok is now a sprawling food and beverage conglomerate with 24 firms, an international footprint, and a spanking new S$60 million headquarters facility with a production line that can cook 40,000 portions of rice a day.

Select Group Limited officially opened its new S$60 million headquarters at Senoko South Road on Sept 8, 2016. Photo: Wee Teck Hian/TODAY

Select Group Limited officially opened its new S$60 million headquarters at Senoko South Road on Sept 8, 2016. Photo: Wee Teck Hian/TODAY

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SINGAPORE — What started as a humble Chinese mixed vegetable rice stall in Bedok is now a sprawling food and beverage conglomerate with 24 firms, an international footprint, and a spanking new S$60 million headquarters facility with a production line that can cook 40,000 portions of rice a day.

Mr Vincent Tan, founder and managing director of Select Group, started off 25 years ago with a tingkat delivery service from the family’s hawker stall in Bedok. Tingkats, or tiffin carriers, contain prepared food — typically rice, meat, vegetables and soup — in four steel compartments. The delivery service has been around since the mid-20th century.

Back in 1991, Mr Tan with his then-girlfriend-later-turned-wife Doris, parents and brother, designed flyers, went to the market to buy groceries in the morning, prepared the food and delivered tingkats to homes in the afternoon. The business grew rapidly as satisfied customers spread word of the good food and quality service.

The company opened its first commercial kitchen in Siglap a year later, and its second and third kitchens in 1993 and 1995 in Hougang and Aljunied, respectively. Within five years, the company’s two delivery vehicles grew to a fleet of 30.

Today, Select owns 24 companies with 160 food and beverage outlets and catering operations. Its chain of restaurants include household names such as Peach Garden and Texas Chicken. It now hires 1,800 employees and boasts an annual turnover of S$160 million.

Yesterday, the group opened its new headquarters at Senoko South Road, with Deputy Prime Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam officiating the launch. The 200,000sqft building houses production and central kitchens, training facilities and a new regional base for its international operations.

Within the facility is a 20,000sqft kitchen using advanced technology and automation that can produce more than 30,000 quality ready-to-eat meals daily. This is a new business arm for the group to cater to the growing demand for ready-to-eat meals.

Its automatic rice cooking line requires only two staff to cook 4,000 portions of rice in an hour, with a capacity of over 40,000 portions a day. Together with a conveyor steam oven, conveyor vegetable washers and a pau (bun) making machine, the automated processes reduce manpower in the traditionally labour-intensive industry. Select estimates the investment will translate to significant manpower savings over the next three years.

Mr Tan said: “The labour crunch is something that we cannot deny but since 2009, Select has already embarked on the productivity journey. We met up with the productivity team every month to come up with a lot of initiatives. Moving forward, we will still continue to go on this journey and invest in a lot of technology in automation and work processes.”

The group, which also has operations in Malaysia, plans to expand to other countries in the region such as Indonesia, Myanmar, Thailand and Cambodia. It wants to make its mark in the ready-to-eat meals business, a core thrust in the food services industry transformation map announced by Mr Tharman yesterday. Angela Teng

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