Distinguished Guests,

Ladies and Gentlemen

Good Morning

1. Welcome to the launch of the Customer-Centric Initiative for the Food & Beverage sector.

Launch of CCI for Retail Sector

2. Four organisations came forward to provide the support systems for CCI. They are WDA, SNEF, STB and SRA. The CCI for Retail sector was finally born on 26 August 2005.

3. Now, after about one and a half years from the launch of CCI, I am proud and encouraged by the results shown by the retailers. Today, there are 37 retailers and 14 shopping malls which make up some 2,500 outlets and 32,000 service staff dedicated to serving and delighting shoppers island-wide.

Proliferation / Importance of F&B sector

4. Following the success of Retail CCI, we are now ready to introduce the CCI for the F&B industry. Singapore is well known for our wide variety and good quality food. The F&B CCI aims to set benchmarks and improve customer service standards to enhance our reputation as a gastronomic capital.

5. Today, 44 F&B companies will embark on the service excellence journey with the launch of the CCI for the F&B sector. It will not be an entirely new journey for them; thanks to the fact that their "siblings" in the retail sector have already forged the way earlier.

The Three Ps of CCI success

6. I think we can learn from the success and results of our retailers' CCI journey. Their results can be categorized into the three Ps. Some of you may have noticed the kacang puteh man at the foyer this morning. We invited the three of them here to show how professionalism can even take place for the kacang puteh man. For instance, I hope all of you received good service from him and are happy with your nuts. You may even have noticed the little message slips in your cones of kacang puteh earlier this morning. These messages explain in greater details the three Ps under CCI.

• The first P is Proficiency. CCI workers are now equipped with the relevant skills and product knowledge to provide better service to their customers.
  
  
• The second P is Performance. CCI companies, equipped with customer-centric processes, now receive significantly more customer compliments and enjoy greater customer loyalty and more sales. Overall, there has been a significant 120% improvement in the ratio of customer compliments over complaints received. Better still, there has also been a corresponding 9% increase in sales for the CCI companies.
  
  
• The third P is Pay. With increased sales, CCI companies are also rewarding their workers with enhanced remuneration packages.

Conclusion

7. Today's launch of the F&B CCI signifies a new birth. Giving birth is usually the easy part but any mother will tell you that it is not entirely painless. Raising, nurturing and bringing up the "baby" to realise his/her potential are our challenges ahead. As proud CCI "parents", we know there is a lot of hard work ahead but we will still forge ahead because we want the best for our "children".

8. I urge all F&B companies to join us on this important CCI journey. I am confident that if everyone pitches in, our service level will improve by leaps and bounds. Good - no, excellent - service simply means win-win-win for everyone -  the company, the customers and the staff. So all will benefit, just as our retail "kids" have from the three Ps earned along their own CCI journey.