By Jake Chng

A SEVEN-YEAR-OLD food-and-beverage chain popular with young executives for its array of healthy soups has bagged the Promising Brand accolade at the Singapore Prestige Brand Award for the first time.

Ms Teresa Lim, managing director of IBM Singapore and one of the award judges, praised The Soup Spoon for its innovation and brand dedication.

Opened by entrepreneurs Anna Lim, Andrew Chan and Benedict Leow in 2002, the chain has 10 branches. It also owns The Handburger, an eatery specialising in burgers which opened in September in Raffles City. It joined 14 other winners in this category, such as Bread- Talk's coffee-shop chain Toast Box and Apple reseller EpiCentre.

They were among 52 winners feted at a press conference at the Marina Mandarin hotel yesterday.

For Mr Leow, business-development director of The Soup Spoon, winning the award was a milestone in the company's plans for expansion.

"If you want to expand your brand overseas, you need local recognition first," he told my paper. "With this accolade, we have gained the recognition we need to move forward with our plans."

The Singapore Prestige Brand Award, now in its eighth year, is organised by the Association of Small and Medium Enterprises and Lianhe Zaobao.

Divided into five categories - Promising, Heritage, CitiBusiness Regional and Established brands, as well as the inaugural Special Merit award - the awards are given out annually to the most successful home-grown brands.

Notable winners of the Special Merit award, given to non-profit organisations for their brand-building initiatives, include the Singapore Children's Society and the Singapore Kindness Movement.

chngjm@sph.com.sg

For more my paper stories click here.