Opening Remarks at 32nd Excellent Service Award (EXSA)’s Presentation Ceremony

Mr Shawn Huang, Senior Parliamentary Secretary (Manpower), Nanyang Polytechnic Auditorium

Mr Benjamin Boh, President of Restaurant Association of Singapore;
Mr Andrew Chan, Vice President of Restaurant Association of Singapore;
Ms Esther Ho, Deputy Principal of Nanyang Polytechnic;
Distinguished guests, award winners, ladies and gentlemen.

A very good afternoon. It is truly a pleasure to join you at the 32nd Excellent Service Award (or EXSA) Presentation Ceremony. 

2. For more than three decades, these awards have shone a light on the people who make food services meaningful. Today, we celebrate the people behind the counter, in the kitchen, and those who show up every day with skill, care, and quiet professionalism. This reminds us that service excellence is a craft worth celebrating.

Celebrating Service Excellence

3. Service excellence can sometimes look effortless. A warm welcome, a thoughtful recommendation, or the calm handling of difficult situations may take only a few moments. Yet behind each of those moments is judgement, experience and dedication, qualities that our cooks, servers, and service staff bring to their jobs every day, often without much fanfare.

4. This year, over 2,600 awards will be presented across 94 companies in the Silver, Gold and Star categories. Each award represents an individual who has chosen to take pride in their work, to care for customers, and to uphold high standards even when the work is demanding. 

5. I would like to extend my warmest congratulations to all award recipients this year. Your achievements show that excellent service is not a single act. It is a commitment, built through consistency and a genuine desire to serve others.

6. One of this year's recipients is Escoto Maria Teresa Ronquillo, Assistant Restaurant Manager at Commonwealth Concepts - Native Kitchen. With 12 years in food and beverage hospitality, Maria has a particular gift for caring for families with young children. Understanding that a meal out can be as stressful as it is joyful for parents, she responds with patience, warmth and proactive care so that families can simply relax and enjoy their time together. Guests have written in specifically to say how welcomed and well looked after she made them feel. 

7. Beyond the table, Maria coaches her team to anticipate guests' needs and respond with genuine care, helping to build a culture of kindness that earned Native Kitchen recognition as a Kindness Champion outlet by the Singapore Kindness Movement. A Far East Organisation Service Champion for three consecutive years and a regular EXSA recipient, Maria is a reminder that behind every excellent service moment is a person who has chosen to invest in their craft, and in the people around them.

Progressive Wages, Progressive Careers

8. Stories like these are why this award matters. But honouring good work is only part of the picture. For the sector to truly thrive, workers also need to be supported with better wages, skills and career pathways. The Food Services Progressive Wage Model, or PWM, supports more than 53,000 full time and part time food services workers.

9. Earlier this year, the Tripartite Cluster for Food Services Industry released its latest recommendations. From 1 July this year, food services workers will earn at least the entry-level PWM wage requirement of $2,220 per month, up from the previous PWM wage requirement of $2,080. This will continue to increase year-on-year from 2026 to 2028, helping to attract and retain workers while supporting employers in building a more stable and productive workforce. 

10. To better cater to the diverse operational needs of the sector, we also expanded the list of Workforce Skills Qualification training modules that workers can attend to meet the minimum PWM training requirement. Additionally, food services workers who hold relevant qualifications from Institutes of Higher Learning and Private Education Institutions will also be recognised as meeting the minimum training requirements. 

Industry Transformation through Partnership and Technology Adoption

11. Alongside this, we want to strengthen the connection between learning and workplace excellence. The 32nd edition of EXSA marks the first time the Restaurant Association of Singapore (RAS) is working with an Institute of Higher Learning as its training partner. Together with Nanyang Polytechnic, they have developed a more structured curriculum, starting with a module on customer-centric service design that gives F&B frontline staff and supervisors the authority and the method to close service gaps as they happen. This is what it means to empower workers to learn for life and take charge of their careers. And RAS is already looking ahead – next year's curriculum will focus on how technology can enhance service excellence even further.

12. I am also heartened to see RAS use AI to build its own portal, supporting registration, attendance tracking, scheduling and certificate issuance, work previously managed manually across many participating companies. The portal was built in two months, by one person who is not a trained software engineer, without a vendor or additional headcount. This is what it looks like when organisations are willing to experiment and use technology thoughtfully.

13. The NYP partnership and the AI-enabled portal reflect two sides of the same commitment. One invests in how workers learn and grow, the other in how the industry organises and operates. Taken together, they point to a sector serious about professionalising its workforce and modernising its operations, and that is necessary if the sector is to remain resilient and attractive to workers.

14. Ultimately, the success of these efforts depends on the people in this room. The frontline staff who show up every day, the supervisors who coach and encourage, and the employers who invest in their teams. Their growth and dedication are what make service excellence possible, and what will carry this industry forward.

Conclusion

15. Once again, my heartiest congratulations to all award recipients. I want to express my heartfelt appreciation to Restaurant Association of Singapore, Nanyang Polytechnic, employers, trainers and industry partners for your commitment to service excellence and workforce development.

16. To everyone in this room who has given their best to this industry, Singapore's food and beverage industry is one that Singaporeans from all walks of life are proud of. You are one of the biggest reasons for that, and I hope you wear this with pride.