Inside Singapore's Mega Kitchen

Food

A behind-the-scenes look at how 6,300 tonnes of food products move every month like clockwork.

Before dawn breaks over Singapore, a vast kitchen hums to life. The air fills with the rich, fragrant scent of simmering spices as warm meals are carefully prepared, packed, and loaded for delivery.

Few people get to see how food is made before it reaches their plate, especially at the kind of volume needed to feed thousands every day. In Singapore, Wilmar’s central kitchen is quietly doing just that, producing meals, managing inventory, and coordinating deliveries all under one roof.

Deep in the west of the country, Wilmar operates a state-of-the-art 72,000 square metre (sqm) manufacturing complex that combines a central kitchen and warehouse in a single facility. About the size of 10 football fields, it supports a wide range of needs including catering, ingredient supply, manufacturing of proprietary food recipes and products, and research and development (R&D) for food businesses.

^{Wilmar's integrated warehouse and central kitchen complex}

The warehouse alone stretches across more than 23,600 sqm and is divided into three distinct zones: ambient storage, chilled rooms, and air-conditioned spaces. Each area is expertly designed to maintain the perfect temperature for every type of food, from dry goods to fresh produce and frozen items. The temperature of some frozen sections plunges below minus 30 degrees Celsius to ensure that even the most delicate products stay properly preserved.

Equipped with 42 loading bays and a fleet of 20 delivery vehicles, this facility moves an impressive 6,300 tonnes of cargo and handles about 6,700 delivery trips each month – that is one trip in under 7 minutes every day! Supported by advanced automated systems and a finely tuned logistics workflow, a team of 65 employees works closely behind the scenes to keep everything running like clockwork.

In the central kitchen, Wilmar demonstrates what modern food production truly looks like. This is more than just a place where meals are prepared. It is a highly organised, technology-powered system built for reliability, scale, and consistency. Every element is designed to serve a wide range of needs, from customised meal solutions to high-volume production for institutional clients.

^{Meal cooking and packing in the central kitchen}

One of its key operations include providing daily meals for Singapore’s migrant worker community. Every morning, the kitchen produces warm, ready-to-eat meals and delivers them to dormitories across the island. 

As part of the Ministry of Education's new canteen model to address the shortage of food operators in schools, Wilmar was also brought on board to provide meals for students. From January 2026, it will serve pupils from four schools across the northern and eastern parts of Singapore, ensuring that they have reliable access to healthy, delicious and affordable meals every day.

^{Workers in Singapore enjoying a meal provided by Wilmar’s central kitchen} 

Beyond meal deliveries, Wilmar invites the public to experience its food firsthand. At its headquarters on 28 Biopolis Road, a public cafeteria serves a variety of dishes prepared by chefs using the same high-quality ingredients and recipes the company provides. From sourcing raw materials to R&D and manufacturing, this setup completes the entire process, bringing the food full circle.

Here’s a candid review of our canteen by Ghib Ohjisan, one of the top food vloggers based in Singapore: