Mental health on the menu: S'pore start-up wants to help restaurant owners and workers cope

Source: The Straits Times
Author: Tan Hsueh Yun

SINGAPORE - For chefs and restaurant owners, it is the never-ending grind of finding and keeping employees, and dealing with high rents and other costs that keep increasing.

For people who work in restaurants, bars and cafes, it is the pressure that comes with having to be switched on all the time to deliver good service, and the stress of working long hours, exacerbated by, again, the manpower crunch.

The high-octane world of food and beverage is not for the faint-hearted. And it can take a toll on mental health. This is especially so in what has so far been a tough 2024, when people are cutting back on dining out because of cost-of-living increases, economic uncertainty and the promise of stretching their dollars more effectively on trips overseas.

Half, a local start-up that organises workshops, seminars and events to build mental wellness and resilience, is organising a workshop targeting people in the food and drink industry. AnyONE: F&B x Mental Wellness will take place on July 31 at Sago House, a bar in Duxton Hill.

The idea, say Half co-founders Rebekah Lin and Cynthia Chu, is to provide a safe space for people in the industry to talk about their personal and professional struggles, and to ask questions.

Members of the industry have come together to help. Three veterans will be speaking at the workshop: Chef Willin Low, who owns Relish in Singapore and Roketto in Niseko, Japan; Ms Jess Hutchinson, a hospitality consultant who co-founded No Sleep Club, a bar in Keong Saik Road; and Mr Ivan Kuek, co-founder of Stellar M, which supplies coffee-making equipment.

Lumo Bar & Restaurant in South Bridge Road is sponsoring the two-hour event, which has places for 20 to 30 participants. Registration for the free session is via tinyurl.com/half-wellness.