[This is a sponsored article with Enterprise Singapore.]
For many F&B businesses, technology is often associated with digital ordering systems, delivery platforms, or point-of-sale software.
But for Yong Yi Sung, the next major shift is less about putting restaurants online and more about using technology to fundamentally change how they operate.
Sung is the co-founder and CEO of Grain, a Singapore F&B company that has been around for more than a decade. The business started out as an online restaurant and catering business, and has since grown into a business serving both individual and corporate customers.
Now, Sung is looking at how artificial intelligence (AI) can help make the day-to-day running of an F&B business easier—from cutting down repetitive work to saving employees time.
Looking at F&B challenges through a different lens
F&B is a demanding industry. Margins can be thin, manpower is a challenge, and keeping operations running smoothly becomes challenging as a business grows.
Having spent more than a decade running Grain, Sung and his team are familiar with these challenges.
But from the beginning, the company has taken a somewhat different approach to solving them.
Grain’s founders themselves came from management consulting backgrounds rather than traditional F&B, which meant they entered the industry with a problem-solving mindset. They were less tied to the usual ways of doing things and more willing to ask whether there was a better way to solve a particular problem.
That approach also meant building many of Grain’s capabilities themselves. In its early days, the company developed its own logistics and technology to support its online restaurant and delivery business.
Over time, this became part of the company’s culture: when the team encountered a problem, they would look for ways to solve it, experiment with different approaches and learn along the way.
It was this same mindset that helped Grain embrace AI.
Making AI experimentation part of the routine
When AI first gained traction, the team was quick to explore its potential, and adoption soon gathered pace.
Grain took a two-way approach to AI adoption. Leaders set the direction for change, while employees were encouraged to explore using AI.
Through weekly learning sessions, team members could explore how AI tools can help improve their day-to-day work and share what they had learnt with the rest of the team. This created a cycle of experimentation: someone would discover a new use case, test it out, and then passed useful applications on to their colleagues.
One example came from Grain’s stewarding team, which handles the essential work of managing the company’s dishes and equipment.
A significant problem the company faced was predicting how much dirty ware is coming back. This, in turn, affected how much manpower was needed for each shift and which equipment required attention.
With the help of AI, Grain’s stewarding team built a system that forecasts ware volumes and manpower needs, while also tracking maintenance and routine tasks.
The system now saves the team 15 to 20 hours each week, reduces missed tasks and repeat defects by 20%, and cuts issue resolution time by 50%.
AI doesn’t always have to solve a big problem
But not every use of AI at Grain involves building a new system or tackling a major operational problem.
Some of the changes are much smaller—and might not seem significant on their own. An employee might use AI to summarise information, organise data, draft something more quickly, or take a repetitive task off their plate.
Individually, these may only save a few minutes here and there. But across a team, and repeated day after day, those minutes can add up.
For Sung, that is ultimately what AI adoption is about: not using AI for the sake of it, but constantly asking whether there is a better, faster or simpler way to do something.
This approach has also been supported by the technology foundations Grain built over the years. Through government support, Grain was able to strengthen its technology capabilities and build up its tech team from a few people to a team of 10.
Today, AI has become part of Grain’s day-to-day operations, with around 200 employees actively using or building AI-powered tools. More than 100 new tools and workflows have also been rolled out, with many more being created and used by employees at an individual level.
Taking the first step doesn’t have to be difficult
Looking back on his AI adoption journey, Sung emphasises that businesses do not need to make a large investment or have a team of technical experts to start using AI.
For small businesses especially, he believes the first step is simply being willing to learn and experiment. The tools are increasingly accessible, and many can be tested without significant upfront investment.
In Grain’s case, the technology may have changed over the years, but the approach has remained the same: find a problem, try something new, learn from it, and keep improving.
The key, says Sung, is not to wait until AI is perfect before getting started. The earlier businesses begin experimenting, the sooner they can understand what works for them—and where AI can genuinely make a difference.
For businesses that are unsure where to begin, there are also avenues available to help them take that first step.
Enterprise Singapore provides support and resources for businesses looking to build their digital capabilities and explore new technologies, giving small businesses a starting point for their own AI journey.
Visit the Enterprise Singapore website here to find out how your business can take its next step in its AI journey.
Featured Image Credit: Vulcan Post/ Grain
