Life Power List 2024: Fong Chi Chung of Putien Group waives service charge, absorbs GST

SINGAPORE – In a year where diners made themselves scarce – preferring to spend their strong Singapore dollars overseas, and leading restaurant owners and chefs to despair over empty dining rooms – this power lister made a power move that others in the industry are watching closely.

Mr Fong Chi Chung, 56, founder and chairman of the Putien Group, which has 22 restaurants in Singapore, announced in August that all 19 Putien outlets, two Uncle Fong Hot Pot Restaurant outlets and Sam Leong St Chicken Rice would waive the 10 per cent service charge and absorb the 9 per cent goods and services tax (GST).

Not for a spell. This looks to be a forever move that essentially knocks a fifth off what his diners pay.

Prices, he tells The Straits Times, will not change, and neither will portion sizes. What makes the decision possible, he says, is that over 24 years, the group has grown to have enough scale and purchasing power.

The gambit worked.

Footfall at his restaurants went up by 30 to 40 per cent, The Business Times reported in September. Diners, it would seem, can resist everything but the promise of a less expensive meal.

Cynics might say Mr Fong – who parlayed one Pu Tien in Kitchener Road, serving Heng Hwa food from his home town of Putian in China’s Fujian province, into the Putien empire spanning Singapore, China, Malaysia, Indonesia, Taiwan and the Philippines – is doing damage control or service recovery.

After all, in June, that restaurant in Kitchener Road, which opened in 2000,

lost the Michelin star it had had since 2016

.

Then in July, the

Singapore Food Agency suspended the licences

of Pu Tien Services, the group’s catering arm, and Chinese chain Yun Hai Yao. This was after 169 people at Chinese tech company

ByteDance’s One Raffles Quay office suffered gastroenteritis

, allegedly from eating food supplied by the two caterers. Some 17 people were hospitalised.

Pu Tien’s suspension was lifted on Aug 10. Mr Fong says the company resumed catering services at ByteDance from Nov 18.

“We took over the catering for an entire canteen – previously, there were two caterers in this canteen. When I heard that many staff members of ByteDance had made requests for Pu Tien catering to return, I was very touched.”

Mr Fong, who moved to Singapore in 2000 with three of his siblings to relocate the family’s electrical parts factory and who is now a Singapore citizen, says he had been planning to

waive the service charge and absorb the GST

since January, and would have announced it earlier had it not been for the food poisoning incident.

He is sticking to his guns, as he tells ST.

“It has put pressure on costs,” he says. “We hope our business will improve, to balance that out. So far, it hasn’t. But some of our old regulars have come back to dine at our restaurants.”

The entrepreneur is playing the long game.

“The economy is not very good and competition is stiff. But our development has come about because of support from Singaporeans. So, this decision has its cost, but I have no regrets.”

If 2024 has been bad for the restaurant business, he expects the next three years – at least – to be worse or very challenging.

“So many brands from China are coming in,” he says. “The wave is continuous. We need to wait for them to lose money and realise that coming to Singapore might not be a good move. All the local F&B players should plan for the worst for at least three years.”

And yet, he is looking to expand his empire – and not in the restaurant direction.

Yes, the group is

opening a Hakka restaurant with China’s Hakka Yu

in late December. But for 2025, he is looking to open more Putien Mama stalls in foodcourts.

The brand launched in December 2022 and there are currently four stalls – at Plaza Singapura in Orchard Road, Jem in Jurong, Kang Kar Mall in Hougang and VivoCity in Harbourfront Walk. The stalls sell Putien’s noodle dishes, including its Signature Fujian Seafood Lor Mee and Fried Heng Hwa Bee Hoon at $7 to $8 a serving. He wants to open eight to 10 more outlets.

He is also looking to take his fast-casual chicken rice brand, Sam Leong St Chicken Rice, which launched in January, out of Singapore. The brand is awaiting halal certification.

“Chicken rice is the most influential Singapore dish. What should you eat in Singapore? The answer is chicken rice,” he says of his next power move. “I want the brand to represent Singapore overseas.”