How to Open a French Bistro in Singapore

This guide is general information, not legal advice. Official rules and fees quoted were taken from the SFA, SPF and MOM pages linked below, checked on 28 September 2026. Confirm the current position with each agency before you sign a lease or pay a deposit.

French food in Singapore ranges from tasting-menu restaurants to neighbourhood bistros serving steak frites, duck confit and crème brûlée. The bistro model is the more approachable business: a shorter menu, a wine list that sells by the glass, and prices that bring people back. The general steps are in our guide on how to open a restaurant in Singapore. If you are aiming at tasting menus, read our fine dining guide as well. For another European format, see how to open an Italian restaurant. This article covers what is specific to a French bistro.

Bistro, brasserie or fine dining

Format	Typical menu	What to plan for
Neighbourhood bistro	A dozen classics, daily specials, simple desserts, house wine	Small brigade, relaxed service, strong regulars
Brasserie	Longer menu, seafood platters, all-day service	Bigger kitchen, longer hours, cold seafood station
Fine dining	Tasting menus, premium imports, deep wine list	Skilled chefs, sommelier service, high spend per guest
Casual counter or stall	Steak frites, croque monsieur, quiche	One or two cooks, accessible prices, limited drinks

Write a one-line concept, such as “Lyon-style bistro, wine by the carafe, set lunch on weekdays”, and hold to it.

Where to open

• Shophouse. The natural home for a bistro. Check approved use, exhaust routes and land authority support for the liquor licence. Our conservation shophouse guide covers the extra checks.
• Mall or office podium. Strong weekday lunch trade for set menus; check the landlord’s fit-out rules.
• Hotel or residential area. Good for dinner and weekend brunch.

Pick a location where the set lunch and dinner crowds can both reach you, since a bistro relies on both.

Licences: SFA Food Shop Licence and SPF liquor licence

SFA’s fees page lists the Food Shop Licence at $195 a year. Apply on GoBusiness with a scaled layout plan; SFA reviews complete applications within 7 working days, and you should renovate only after approval. Food handlers need WSQ Food Safety Course Level 1, which SFA says is 6 hours of training plus a 1.5-hour assessment.

Liquor licences are issued by the Singapore Police Force. SPF’s licence classes page lists:

Class	What it covers	Hours	Fee per year
1A	All liquor, consumed on the premises	0600 to 2359hrs	$880
1B	All liquor, consumed on the premises	0600 to 2200hrs	$660
2A	Beer only, consumed on the premises	0600 to 2359hrs	$460
3A	All liquor for consumption elsewhere, typically deliveries and takeaways	0700 to 2230hrs	$110

Wine, champagne and digestifs need an all-liquor class. A bistro that closes by 10pm may find Class 1B enough; one serving late needs 1A. If you plan to sell bottles to take home, ask SPF about Class 3A. SPF’s application page says processing takes about three weeks from a complete application, and you need land authority approval such as HDB approval or URA or SLA planning permission. Our liquor licence guide covers conditions in full.

Imported produce: butter, cheese, meat and more

French cooking depends on imported dairy, charcuterie, duck, flour for pastry and wine. Most bistros buy from licensed importers and specialist distributors. If you import directly, SFA’s import fees page lists the meat and fish products licence at $84 a year and registration to import processed food products as free, with a Cargo Clearance Permit for every consignment. SFA says imported meat must come from approved sources. For specialist products such as raw-milk cheeses, ask your importer and SFA what applies before you plan a menu around them. Our import licence guide explains the process.

Imported prices move with exchange rates and freight, so re-cost dishes when supplier prices change. Keep a backup supplier for butter and cream, because a French kitchen cannot run without them. SFA lists milk, egg and wheat among the 8 most common allergens, and they appear in most French sauces and pastries, so keep an allergen matrix.

Oysters, tartare and other raw dishes

Oysters, steak tartare and smoked salmon are bistro staples and carry higher food safety risk. SFA’s December 2024 advisory says:

• Do not serve thawed frozen oysters as raw oysters.
• Store and display ready-to-eat raw seafood below 5C, in chillers or on food-grade ice, and keep display time short.
• Shuck oysters only when ordered, or display small portions and replenish.
• Thaw frozen food in a chiller at 0 to 4C, and store cooked and ready-to-eat food above raw food.
• Do not keep ready-to-eat food between 5C and 60C for more than 4 hours.

Buy raw-consumption seafood and beef from suppliers who can state it is intended to be eaten raw, and keep their paperwork.

Building a wine programme

Wine is often where a bistro’s margin comes from, and where cash gets tied up. A practical approach:

• Short by-the-glass list. Four to six wines covering sparkling, white, red and something sweet for dessert. Every open bottle must sell before it spoils.
• Carafes. A house wine by the carafe suits the bistro style and moves volume.
• A bottle list that fits the food. Regional wines that match your dishes, at a range of prices.
• Measured pours and stock counts, so you know what each glass costs and spot losses.

This guide gives no market wine margins; price from your own purchase costs and watch how fast each wine sells. Our bar inventory guide covers stock counts and pour costs.

Course firing and kitchen tickets

A French dinner often runs entrée, plat, dessert, with cheese in between for some guests. If the whole order hits the kitchen at once, mains wait under the lamps while starters are eaten. Decide how you will fire courses:

• Send by course. Servers send each course when the table is ready. Simple, but depends on attentive floor staff.
• Send all, fire on call. The full order goes to the kitchen with courses marked; the pass calls each course.

Long-cooking items such as duck confit reheats or soufflés need clear timing. Our guide on speeding up ticket times covers pass management.

Set lunches and pricing

A weekday set lunch, two or three courses at a fixed price, is the bistro’s way into office crowds. Keep it fast:

• Two or three choices per course, built from dinner prep to limit waste.
• A price that covers the set’s food cost; cost each component from its recipe using our recipe costing template.
• A glass of wine or coffee add-on to lift the average bill.
• Clear pricing: CCCS’s Guidelines on Price Transparency say mandatory charges should be in the headline price or shown clearly with it, so state whether service charge and GST apply.

Our menu pricing guide and table turnover guide help you plan a lunch service that finishes on time.

Staff, foreign worker rules and the POS

A bistro kitchen needs a chef with classical sauce and pastry skills; the floor needs staff who can recommend wine. MOM’s services sector page says restaurants may employ Work Permit holders, with a 35% quota and monthly levies from $300 to $800 depending on skill level and tier; MOM says the first two tiers merge from 2028.

For the POS:

• ChaChaCha’s restaurant POS supports custom modifiers, so servers can mark courses, doneness for steaks and allergy notes. For hold-and-fire course control on your setup, ask us to confirm.
• The kitchen display system routes dishes to the hot line, cold station and pastry, with prep timers and order prioritisation. Epson cloud printing sends tickets to several printers.
• Table management, split bills and tabs suit long dinners where a table orders another bottle; staff permissions control voids and discounts.
• Recipe-level stock deduction and recipe costing per menu item show how butter or duck price changes hit each dish.
• Payments via PayNow, PayLah!, NETS, Visa/Mastercard and GrabPay, and loyalty with points, vouchers and birthday rewards.

Pricing is quote-based. AppsPOS, which powers ChaChaCha, is approved under the EDGE Grant; see our grant guide.

French bistro opening checklist

1. Concept fixed: bistro, brasserie, fine dining or counter.
2. SFA layout approved before renovation; food handlers trained.
3. Liquor licence class chosen and applied for at least three weeks ahead.
4. Importers and backup suppliers chosen; raw-seafood handling rules written down.
5. Wine list, pours and carafes costed.
6. Set lunch built from dinner prep and priced clearly.
7. POS set up with courses, station routing and tabs.

Want to see course notes, station routing and wine tabs on your own menu? Talk to us for a demo and a quote.