Average Licensing Cost Incurred by Non-hawker Food and Beverage Establishment and Plans to Waiver Costs for Licence Renewals for FY2022 Given Impact from COVID-19

6 Mr Melvin Yong Yik Chye asked the Minister for Sustainability and the Environment (a) what is the average licensing cost incurred by a non-hawker food and beverage establishment; and (b) whether the Ministry will consider waiving the costs for licence renewals (excluding liquor licences) for FY 2022 given the significant impact that COVID-19 has had on food and beverage outlets.

Ms Grace Fu Hai Yien: The Singapore Food Agency (SFA) licenses Food and Beverage (F&B) establishments including restaurants, coffee shops and food courts. Operators of F&B establishments are required to obtain a food shop licence from SFA, which costs $195 annually. Individual food stall operators obtain a food stall licence from SFA which costs $32 annually.

The cost of the licence is therefore insignificant. The Government is committed to supporting F&B establishments during this difficult period through significant support measures, such as the Jobs Support Scheme (JSS) and Foreign Worker Levy rebates, rental waivers and rental reliefs for qualifying owner-occupiers and tenants under the Rental Relief Scheme (RRS).