Tastemakers: The Halal Mixologist builds alcohol-free bar brand

Straits Times

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In September 2023, Max Ahmad decided to try a new concept and opened Muslim-owned R.I.B. Soul Food in Jalan Kubor.
SINGAPORE – By the time Mr Max Ahmad turned 32, he had packed up a six-year career in public service, opened two backpackers' hostels and launched Singapore's first halal rooftop bar.
The year was 2017. Atap Bar was carved out of a corner of his second shophouse hostel's rooftop. He served up mocktails under strings of fairy lights, with nary a drop of alcohol.
'I wanted to show that you can have fun, experience nightlife, without alcohol,' says Mr Max, now 40, who is founder of lifestyle company Seriously Fun Collective.
He has since added on a string of concepts – Wanderlost Lounge, Fairytail Bar, R.I.B. Soul Food and the now-shuttered poolside oyster bar Nauti Nauti.
His e-commerce platform Mockohol, currently closed for restocking and scheduled to reopen by end-2025, sells bottled alcohol-free drinks. He also runs the Halal Mixologist Academy, opened in June 2024, which offers courses on crafting mocktails.
Mr Max Ahmad wants to show people nightlife can be fun without alcohol.
ST PHOTO: AZMI ATHNI
Revenue peaked in 2021 at $5 million. Today, his business brings in close to $2 million annually, supported by a lean team of 15.
Early drive
His entrepreneurial streak was shaped by a sporting childhood. His father, a tennis coach, now aged 68, started training him at five. He was the middle child with two older sisters, now aged 43 and 42, and two younger brothers, aged 37 and 33.
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'My father taught me the importance of winning,' he recalls. 'Sport is competitive. It made me have a mindset to be the best at what I do.'
From age seven, weekends meant rising at 6.30am for a 5km run, then two hours of tennis. Weekdays after school were filled with tennis or tuition.
While classmates dreamed of being doctors or lawyers, he trained his sights on business. 'I wanted to do something different – where I could stand a chance at winning. Not what everyone else was aiming for,' he recalls.
His only toys were racquets and tennis shoes. 'I didn't have much leisure or play growing up,' he says. 'So, I'm now making up for lost time – while combining it with work.'
He named his company Seriously Fun Collective. His title? Chief Player. Employees are called Players.
But the discipline he learnt in boyhood stayed with him. 'Nothing is handed to you on a silver platter. We have to earn what we want,' he says. 'There is no free lunch in this world.'
In junior college, his father handed him two tennis students. Coaching brought in $500 a month, enough for him to stop receiving pocket money.
At Nanyang Technological University, where he studied business, his father paid for his first year of study. He funded his remaining two years himself.
He charged $80 an hour for tennis coaching, ran court game boot camps at $1,000 a student and recruited other varsity players as coaches. By the time he graduated with a business degree in 2010, he had earned nearly $100,000 – enough to pay his school fees, buy a Vespa and save $50,000.
'That's how I funded my first business,' he says. 'I am not from a rich family. It was all from work I put in.'
After graduation, Mr Max joined a statutory board as a manager, where his work entailed working with hotels to develop staff training and development programmes.
Meetings with industry partners were often held at hotel lounges, which served alcohol. Although no one partook of alcoholic beverages at those meetings, such venues made Mr Max feel uncomfortable.
That discomfort sparked the idea of starting a dry bar. He was also inspired by the world of hospitality and dreamt of running his own hotel, though it felt out of reach. So, he settled for hostels.
In 2016, at 30, he left his job after amassing $200,000 in savings. He convinced five friends to pool $375,000 to take over the 50-bed Moni Gallery Hostel in Lavender Street. He ran operations himself and lived on-site.
At the end of 2017, he took over the 50-bed The Shophouse Hostel in Arab Street with a new partner. 'The others found the first hostel marginally profitable and not worth their while,' he says.
Launching his first halal bar
Both hostels brought in thin profits and were sold by end-2019. But it was at his second backpackers' hostel that Mr Max made his foray into the food and beverage industry. It had a 600 sq ft rooftop space, which served as his first halal bar. He spent $60,000 fitting out a 30-seater space and opened Atap Bar in December 2017.
'The idea was to have a bar that served fully non-alcoholic drinks,' he says. 'When I asked my Singaporean-Chinese friends if they'd go to a place like this, they told me I was crazy. People want to drink alcohol at a bar, not mocktails, they told me.
'There was no existing bar like this for me to learn from. I felt I had to try to see if it works.'
The kampung-themed bar served mocktails based on local folklore. For example, Sang Nila Utama ($14) was a fizzy blend of elderflower cordial, lemongrass, ginger juice, topped with soda water.
'It took me three weeks to learn how to make drinks and bar bites from YouTube. I had no cooking experience,' he recalls. Food included chicken karaage and nuggets, sold at $8 a plate.
Business was poor. 'After the official launch party, we hardly had any paying customers,' he says with a grimace. 'There were many days when it was just my bar manager and me looking at each other , waiting for customers. By the end of the first month, I told him I may have to let him go.'
In the second month, a Muslim blogger featured Atap Bar. The post went viral. His bar was full house for months after, which prompted the landlord to raise the rent by 50 per cent. His response was to close the bar in October 2018.
Two months later , he launched Wanderlost Lounge at the now-demolished Realty Centre's rooftop in Tanjong Pagar, with his eldest sister and another silent partner. It cost them $150,000 to renovate the hidden spot in an old office block with zero foot traffic.
Drinks at the 1,500 sq ft space, which seated 60, were themed after storybooks such as The Little Prince and The Alchemist, and priced at $15+.
He says: 'It was all about marketing. I wanted to gamify the experience – make it fun for visitors to seek out this hidden spot.'
He targeted young Muslims and teetotallers in their 20s and 30s. Word spread that the much-hyped Atap Bar team was behind it. Within six months, the business turned profitable and broke even by end-2019.
Business expansion
In December 2019, he and his sister sunk in another $30,000 to refurbish a 1,200 sq ft al fresco space at D'Hotel in Outram Road into another rooftop bar with 45 seats.
Fairytail Bar opened in February 2020, just as Covid-19 fears were mounting. When the circuit breaker was announced in April, Mr Max had 10 employees across both bars on his payroll.
He recalls: 'We didn't operate, but we continued paying rent. I was very stressed and panicking.'
A lifeline came two months later when the hotel, converted into a quarantine facility for migrant workers, asked Mr Max to cater meals for the quarantined guests. His staff pivoted to food prep and packaging.
Both bars reopened by July 2020 and were packed again almost every night, with social distancing measures in place. Business held steady through 2021. Revenue hit $5 million and his staff strength rose to 30.
In February 2021, Mr Max met his future wife online. By October, they were married. 'I was 35 and felt it was time,' he says. 'I was ready to settle down and I knew she was the one.'
'Our friends and family were shocked we moved so fast,' he says with a laugh. 'But they all agree we are a great match.'
In August 2021, Wanderlost Lounge moved out of Realty Centre to Bugis+ mall, where it reopened in December 2021.
But as borders reopened and Singaporeans started revenge travelling, receipts fell. In June 2023, Mr Max and his sister spent $130,000 to open Nauti Nauti – a poolside oyster and seafood bar in River Valley, renovating the space previously occupied by a Japanese restaurant. He closed it a year later after incurring a $200,000 loss.
Its poor location was a deal-breaker. With no MRT station nearby, getting there felt like a trek. 'We took four months to decide on closing it,' recalls Mr Max. 'By then, the pandemic was pretty much over and customers had less patience for hunting down an oddly located restaurant or bar.'
No amount of marketing could save it.
It was the first setback for Mr Max, who had not experienced any business failures up to then. He realised his hidden-location strategy no longer worked in an increasingly fickle and novelty-seeking market. Fairytail Bar also closed in August 2023 for hotel renovations.
Back on track
But ever the optimist, in September 2023, he decided to try a new concept and opened Muslim-owned R.I.B. Soul Food in Jalan Kubor, which serves American Southern soul food such as Crispy Catfish ($19.90+) and Southern Okra Gumbo ($27.90+), featuring the use of Cajun spices.
This time, he roped in his wife, now aged 34, who works at a Chinese internet tech firm, as a silent partner. They spent $30,000 on the 950 sq ft unit, which seats 25 indoors and 15 outdoors, and has an R&B theme with menus printed on vintage vinyl records and album sleeves.
Appealing to a young Muslim crowd of diners aged 18 to 30s, they recouped their initial investment after 15 months.
Mr Max Ahmad at R.I.B Soul Food.
ST PHOTO: AZMI ATHNI
Popular items there are the Mama's Back Ribs ($38.90+), which is BBQ beef back ribs served with roasted vegetables and mashed potato.
Mama's Back Ribs at R.I.B Soul Food.
ST PHOTO: AZMI ATHNI
As well as the tongue-tingling Cajun Jambalaya ($29.90+), which is spicy Cajun rice with a medley of prawns, clams, mussels, catfish and beef meatballs.
Cajun Jambalaya at R.I.B Soul Food.
ST PHOTO: AZMI ATHNI
There are also spooky-themed mocktails, a nod to the restaurant's proximity to the Jalan Kubor Cemetery situated across Victoria Street. Boo Hag ($16+) is a concoction of blue peaflower tea, yuzu, grape and soda. There is also Vampire Venom ($15+), made with strawberry, mint and orange, and served in an IV drip bag.
(From left) Mama's Back Ribs, Boo Hag, Butterbeer Tower, Cajun Jambalaya and Vampire Venom at R.I.B Soul Food.
ST PHOTO: AZMI ATHNI
As always, Mr Max works 12-hour days. He splits his time between Wanderlost Lounge and R.I.B. Soul Food, runs mocktail workshops for schools and corporate clients looking for team-building sessions, and offers consulting to businesses looking to upgrade their drink menus.
'Being the owner of an F&B business, you are not just a boss,' says the employer of 15 people now. 'You also have to sometimes take on the roles of therapist, counsellor, financial adviser and dish out advice to employees facing personal problems.'
But he does not regret a moment of it and intends to forge on, carving out new businesses as he goes along. He intends to move into food production, such as healthy drink supplements. He is also diverisfying into marketing services for other F&B businesses.
'I encourage everyone to run a business if they have a chance, at least once in their life. When you start to run a business, it strengthens your resolve and you learn to be resilient.'
He adds: 'When you light a lamp for others, it also brightens your own path.'