What to know before Starting a F&B business

Dreaming of opening a café or restaurant?

​What if there is a structured and more informed way to plan and start fulfilling your dream?

​Opening an F&B business isn’t just about passion — it’s about preparation, precision, and resilience. With razor-thin margins, rising costs, and high failure rates, the food and beverage industry is one of the most challenging sectors to break into.

​Before you pour your life savings into your dream café or concept restaurant, this bootcamp helps you pressure-test your idea and build a strong foundation — the smart way.

​Why Join?

​✅ Reality Check:
We’ll give you a clear, honest look at what it takes to start and sustain an F&B venture — from hidden costs to operational pitfalls.

​✅ Startup Toolkit:
Learn proven frameworks to validate your concept, test demand, and plan your launch with minimal risk.

​✅ Live Workshop + Online Prep:
Get hands-on in a 7-hour in-person session, plus a week of self-paced online learning to master the essentials.

​✅ F&B-Focused Insights:
Hear from successful food entrepreneurs and industry insiders who’ve been in your shoes — and survived.

​✅ Peer & Mentor Network:
Join a powerful community of 1,000+ founders, mentors, and investors across Southeast Asia to support your growth.

​Who It’s For:

​Aspiring café or restaurant founders who want to be smart about how they start — whether you're still exploring ideas or ready to take the leap.

​📍Location: 36 Everton Road

​💰Fee: S$300 (+ S$30 Stripe processing fee)
🧧SkillsFuture eligible (S$798, via ZilLearn Platinum plan for two half day masterclasses, please check out the respective ticket and we will reach out with the payment instructions)

​Program

​1. Welcome & Introductions

• ​Who’s in the room

• ​What you will get out of the workshop

​2. The Truth About Starting an F&B Business

• ​Passion vs. reality

• ​Starting from scratch: pros & cons
• ​Acquiring an existing brand: what to look for
• ​Understanding different F&B models (kiosks, cafés, restaurants, bars)

• ​Basics of franchising

• ​What experienced operators wish they knew earlier

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​3. Fireside Chat: Lessons from the Trenches

• ​What operators got right

• ​What nearly broke them

• ​Real insights from scaling and franchising​

​Live Q&A

​The F&B dream is beautiful — but it's not for the faint-hearted.
Come prepared, build strong, and give your idea the best chance of success.

​🎟️ Register now!

​If you are in a career transition, this launchpad for getting started on your dream F&B business idea.

​Prior to the live bootcamp, we kickstart with a week of self-paced course, where we will expose you to 7 essential concepts as well as easy to use generative AI tools and prompts you need to quickly build a prototype and get feedback. The list of concepts represents the culmination of our team's collective learnings over the past decade, by working closely with more than 100 startup companies.

​By the end of 7 days, you'll know which tool or framework to fall back on while figuring out your business idea as well as other questions that pop up along the way, and learn how to use the lean canvas method to analyze which idea makes the most sense to start.

​Prepare to challenge your assumptions and reevaluate what you've learned, whether from academic settings or corporate environments.

​On the day of our Pre-founder Catalyst bootcamp, we will begin the day with grounding on the 7 elements, making sure that you have mastered them. Next, this is when the rubber meets the road - we organise a hackathon where you will process from ideation to a business idea that is aligned with your passion, experience and values. Our experienced mentors will be there at the workshop to give instant feedback during the hackathon as well as critique at the end.

​We will also help you develop an actionable roadmap so that you will be able to grow your business to raise angel funding before quitting your full time job. Beyond the workshops, you will get to directly plug into a supportive network of more than 1,000 experienced entrepreneurs, investors and mentors throughout Southeast Asia, ready to provide mentorship and guidance to help you navigate the intricacies of startup life as well as invest in your business. Join us at one of the external events monthly (we have events exclusive women too!) to help you network, make like-minded friends and quickly grow as a founder on your startup journey.

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​Former Owner, Jekyll & Hyde | Revenue & GTM Leader at TOKEN2049 & SuperAI

​Ee Chien Chua is a seasoned entrepreneur and business leader with a diverse background spanning finance, technology, and the food & beverage (F&B) industry. He is best known for owning and operating Jekyll & Hyde, one of Singapore's pioneering cocktail bars, which he managed alongside a full-time career in tech and finance.

​Ee Chien's professional journey includes roles at prominent organizations such as Goldman Sachs, Uber, Grab, and Endowus. At Uber Singapore, he led the Vehicle Solutions team, focusing on driver acquisition and retention strategies. His tenure at Grab involved launching financial products within the Grab Financial Group, showcasing his ability to bridge traditional finance with innovative tech solutions.

​In 2018, driven by a passion for F&B, Ee Chien acquired Jekyll & Hyde, transforming it into a renowned establishment in Singapore's bar scene. Under his leadership, the bar not only offered bespoke cocktails but also expanded its offerings to include brunch and Mod-Sin cuisine. Despite the challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic, including temporary closures and operational hurdles, he demonstrated resilience by adapting the business model, such as introducing bottled cocktails for delivery and hosting online cocktail classes.

​Ee Chien's experience underscores the complexities of the F&B industry, from managing rising operational costs to navigating shifting consumer behaviors. His insights into the importance of financial acumen, adaptability, and strategic planning make him a valuable resource for aspiring cafe and restaurant owners.

​Read more about his interview on Vulcan post: https://vulcanpost.com/744210/jekyll-and-hyde-bar-business-singapore/

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​Founder, Excelerate SG | Full Stack Creative Director

​Bobby Yeoh is a Full Stack Creative Director known for translating idealistic and conceptual visions into compelling brand experiences across multiple industries. He is also the founder of Excelerate SG, the fastest-growing F&B community in Singapore, having united over 300 F&B owners within just nine months.

​With experience managing portfolios exceeding seven figures across Asia, Bobby specializes in business transformation. He takes a hands-on approach—identifying revenue weaknesses, engaging in strategic management discussions, and crafting actionable roadmaps that drive results. From consumer services to retail, Bobby is passionate about helping businesses evolve and thrive.

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​About Asia Startup Network

​ASN didn’t start as an educational institute or training centre. ASN is a living, thriving startup ecosystem. Their founders have spent more than one decade coaching and supporting entrepreneurs and created one of the largest communities of > 3,000 startup founders, operators, investors and partners in Southeast Asia to collaborate and support each other’s growth. Since 2020, ASN has been organising 100s of startup workshops, events and programs to help entrepreneurs leapfrog their growth and raise funding. Join ASN for the knowledge, but stay because of the network. These are the reasons why taking a course at ASN and quickly plugging into the community would move the needle more than you expect.

​ASN is founded by Elise Tan and Andrew Tan. Elise has experience designing programs and personally coaching hundreds of founders at incubators and accelerators for over 10 years. She assisted more than 40 companies in raising more than US$1 million each. Andrew has more than 10 years of leadership experience founding his own social enterprise, building start ups and managing scale ups, as well as running ground up initiatives and communities, Andrew has a proven track record of driving growth and success and this will be transferred directly to this accelerator and its startups.

​ASN began firstly with Mentor For Hope in 2020, an impactful mentoring initiative initially supported by the Temasek Foundation under the OSCAR grant. The initiative facilitated 525 mentoring hours for 300 founders adversely affected by the COVID crisis, connecting them with invaluable insights from 250 investors, partners, and experts. They raised S$42,000 in donations through the initiative.

​In 2021, Elise and Andrew organised Makan For Hope Festival (with zero budget), a series of 30 virtual roundtables featuring VC managing partners and founders from notable startups like PropertyGuru, Shopback, and Carousell. The festival drew participation from 500 attendees, raising S$123,000 in charity donations.

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