Recipe for Expansion : How Chili Pan Mee Spiced Up the Singapore Food Scene

About the Client

Chili Pan Mee Batu Road SG is a well-loved family-run Malaysian restaurant brand with over 17+ outlets in Malaysia and first oversea outlet in Singapore. At the helm of its Singapore operations is Amanda Khoo, who stepped into the business with a background in hospitality—but zero knowledge of business admin, compliance, or accounting.

The Challenge

As the brand expanded from a single outlet to three, Amanda found herself juggling:

Daily restaurant operations
Hiring and HR duties
Growing piles of receipts and financial paperwork

Amanda’s previous service provider was inexpensive—but not helpful. When the business approached the GST registration threshold, they refused to support her in the process, leaving her overwhelmed.

“I knew nothing about secretary work, tax, or admin. I come from hospitality. Numbers just weren’t my thing.” ~ Amanda

Her frustrations included:

Having to prepare GST paperwork without guidance
Inadequate support from her provider
Needing to hand-deliver boxes of receipts
Lack of flexibility and technical support

The Turning Point

Amanda found Grof—then known as Sprout—through a simple Google search. What caught her eye?

“I realised the office was literally upstairs from my shop. I used to lug boxes of paper to my previous provider. This was too convenient not to try.” ~ Amanda

From the first meeting with Jason and the team, Amanda was impressed by:

Responsiveness and clarity
Willingness to educate, not judge
Proactive reminders about GST deadlines, ECI filing, and more

The Solution

Since partnering with Grof, Amanda and her team have enjoyed:

End-to-end bookkeeping and GST filing support
Clear, easy-to-read P&L statements tailored for non-accountants
A team that helps chase missing documents and explains every step
Ongoing flexibility to submit documents the old-school way (paper) or digitally

“I don’t use Xero or fancy apps. I just send my paperwork. Grof makes it work anyway.” ~ Amanda

The Outcome

Amanda is now confidently running three outlets in Singapore, without being buried in admin stress.

✅ Business successfully registered for GST with full support
✅ Expanded to three outlets with minimal compliance bottlenecks
✅ No missed deadlines despite the fast pace of F&B
✅ Clear, detailed monthly reports even with mixed-source receipts

“F&B is chaos. We have tiny receipts from wet markets, suppliers, even handwritten ones. Grof still manages to sort and summarise everything clearly. That’s not easy.” ~ Amanda

What Amanda Loves Most About Grof

Three words: Reliable. Knowledgeable. Approachable.

“With Grof, I never worry if my documents will go missing. I drop them an email, and it’s done.”