Man sells beer at Maxwell Food Centre after burning out as lawyer -- and his name is Manbeer
Ali Kasim
Tabla
Feb 27, 2025
While he was in university some 20 years ago, business owner Manbeer Singh was given the Chinese nickname "ren pijiu" - the literal translation of his first name "man beer".
When I meet up with the 41-year-old outside Ren Min, a hawker stall selling craft beer at Maxwell Food Centre that he founded and runs, I waste no time in asking him if his fate - and future trade - was indeed written in his name.
"A lot of people have made puns with my name, but no, I didn't decide to do this just because of that," he insists with a laugh. "Though I will admit I was inspired to name the stall partly because of that nickname."
Ren Min, Manbeer explains, as we sit ourselves at a rare empty table at the bustling food centre, means "people" in Mandarin, and was suggested to him by his girlfriend of 10 years when he set up shop in 2016.
With the help of a few investors, he has since opened a second stall at Old Airport Road Food Centre. These stalls serve a rotating selection of Ren Min's locally produced craft beers on tap.
Talk to him about craft beer and you'll find the Singaporean's reply to be endless - from detailing the types of brew his stalls sell to expressing his disdain of the word "craft".
"I actually hate the word craft beer because it's often used as a pure marketing point. So many beers are labelled as craft, but you drink it and it's a poorly made beverage. It's just an opportunity for a business to label their product, mark it up and sell it.
"But the phenomenal thing about beer that we've realised in the past 30 or 40 years is that it can be a lot of things - not just your regular lager. It's really up to the creativity of the brewer. You can do so many things around it. If some component of the drink is still beer, it can still be a unique beverage on its own.
"I wanted to be part of the industry because I've noticed good quality beer taking off in other countries. And I felt the same thing would happen in Asia."
As he takes a sip of the bubbly beverage, I ask Manbeer about his previous job as a lawyer.
Raised by a single mother who was a teacher, Manbeer moved to Indonesia after primary school when his mum remarried. There, he attended the Jakarta International School - which explains his slightly Americanised accent.
When he returned to Singapore, he attended law school at NUS.
"I was in practice for about five years. I used to work for (prominent lawyer) Davinder Singh, and then I got burnt out," he says with a smile, shaking his head.
"I enjoyed it, but it also was very taxing - the high expectations, the long hours. At one point I took a break from it, and in the midst of that break, I decided to start this business.
"I always had plans to (open an F&B outlet). By doing it now, I knew that if I failed, at least I'd be young enough to go back to practising law."
Starting up Ren Min wasn't at all easy. When the Covid pandemic hit, plans to build and operate a brewery in Singapore to complement the stalls were scrapped. After losing money on that front, the circuit breaker period made things even worse.
Somehow, Manbeer says, he and his start-up team survived. They pivoted to "gypsy brewing", where they pay to use another company's facilities to get their beer made.
Today, both stalls are running smoothly, with Manbeer handling the business operations while a partner oversees the brewery operations. They have nine to 10 part-time bartenders across both outlets.
Setting up the bars in hawker centres have also reaped benefits in terms of lower rent and overheads - as opposed to a stand-alone bar.
"Our hawker centers are in a way akin to the beer halls in Germany. It's where the community - of all economic statuses - come and mix together," he explains, adding that he wanted to sell Ren Min beer at an affordable price.
One of the bar's popular offerings is the Jiayou Pale Lager, which costs $12 a pint. At a bar, craft beers cost $15 on average.
Gulping down his last sip of beer, Manbeer turns to me and says: "You know, you mentioned about my name earlier. Actually, in Punjabi, Manbeer means 'brave mind', but it could also mean 'foolish' as well.
"When my parents heard I was leaving law and starting a beer business, they thought I was being very foolish. They tried to talk me out of it. Part of that relates to my grandfather, who was a businessman here back in the 80s.
"When Covid hit, and things were a struggle, my mum explained that she didn't want me to do this because of how much my grandfather struggled in trying to build something. And in the end, it all got taken away from him. She didn't want the same to happen to me.
"Thing is, I would have done it regardless. Once you have an itch, you have to scratch it, right? Plus, life is a journey and you have to take a risk sometimes.
"So yes, beer aside, you could say I was being brave. But it could also mean I'm being very foolish."
