F&B jobs portal launched to address industry labour crunch

A DEDICATED jobs portal for the food services sector has been launched to attract more Singaporeans into the workforce.

Called FABjobs, or short for food and beverage (F&B) jobs, the portal was co-developed by the Restaurant Association of Singapore (RAS) and FastCo, the company behind blue-collar job portal FastJobs.

One key trend the food services sector faces is the increased competition for workers, said Senior Minister of State for Trade and Industry Low Yen Ling at the portal’s launch on Wednesday (Jun 26).

She was speaking at this year’s Restaurant Asia, a flagship event for the F&B industry across the region. The event is organised by RAS and the Italian Exhibition Group.

The idea to launch a jobs portal for the food services sector was first mooted a year ago “in response to a problem statement pertaining to our perennial manpower challenge”, said RAS president Andrew Kwan.

Unlike a general jobs portal, FABjobs is tailored to the needs and preferences of food services companies and job seekers.

Companies can customise their landing pages to highlight their unique value propositions, allowing them “to more intelligently recruit and perhaps retrain the right candidates”, he said.

On the other hand, job seekers can identify job openings using key metrics such as location and employer type – for instance, whether full-time or part-time employment is offered.

Low said: “Such design parameters are important for the food services sector, and this will facilitate a more seamless match between a company’s needs and a job seeker’s preferences.”

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FABjobs also intends to attract greater workforce participation from latent job seekers, she added.

Low noted, for instance, that the portal has specific features for stay-at-home mothers and “aims to reduce the barriers such job seekers face in rejoining the workforce”.

The launch of FABjobs comes on the back of several initiatives to invest in human capital for the F&B industry.

The Jobs Transformation Map for the food services sector was launched in May 2023, while Enterprise Singapore has collaborated with institutes of higher learning and industry partners to develop an industry-specific internship playbook.

Launched recently, the playbook is a step-by-step guide that helps food services companies identify their areas of focus, and structure internships for young talent.