Call Him the Halal Mixologist

Max Ahmad is shaking up the nightlife with booze-free beverages and dry bars

- Hedy Khoo

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.

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.

"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.