Rising fish costs push sushi prices up in Singapore

esther fung, Today Online 3 Apr 08;

Sushi lovers watch out. Your favourite dishes are going up in price.

Sakae Sushi raised the cost of a plate of its salmon sushi by 5 per cent to $1.99 in December, and now warns of possible further revisions this year.

"Fish prices rose by slightly less than 10 per cent last year because of the rising cost of fish feed such as corn," said Mr Douglas Foo, chief executive of Apex-Pal International, who founded the chain of conveyor-belt sushi restaurants in 1997.

It's not just fish. Rice is also getting more expensive to source, amid fears of looming shortages.

Mr Foo said this would result in more expensive sushi across the board, speaking at the company's annual report media briefing yesterday.

Apex-Pal is exploring cost-controlling measures such as buying in bulk directly from farms distributing it to other Singapore food and beverage companies.

While higher raw material costs is a challenge, Mr Foo is still keen on expanding the chain of 87 outlets worldwide, to about 100 outlets by the year-end. It is considering markets in the Middle East, Mongolia, Central Europe and Vietnam.

In January, it opened its first United States outlet in the Chrysler Building in New York, and is planning to open four other outlets in the Big Apple by the end of the year. It took 11 months to start operations in the US because of a myriad of regulations; in Singapore, Mr Foo said this can be done in one month.

"People thought we were crazy when we said we're starting an outlet in New York, but I think of our company as the Indiana Jones of the food and beverage market," said Mr Foo.