SINGAPORE, Sept 6 — So you want to get into the food business, but would you pay S$42,800 (RM128,700) for a secret recipe?

That’s exactly what two Singaporeans have done, according to a report in today’s Straits Times.

The newspaper said that workplace safety officer Koh Teng Loke, 34, and information technology consultant Cheong Wai Fong, 36, have both parted with the astronomical sum each for a chicken rice recipe.

According to the Straits Times, Niven Leong, owner of Uncle Chicken Rice stall at The Bedok Marketplace, put his late father’s Sin Kee Famous Chicken Rice recipe up for sale in 2014.

After a stringent vetting process involving 18 applicants, he accepted Koh and Cheong’s offers.

Apart from the recipe, the fee covers "the A to Z of running a chicken rice stall”.

The hands-on training at the stall includes cooking and chopping the chicken, preparing condiments, serving customers and managing inventory.

Koh told the newspaper that he decided to buy the recipe because he is a big fan of Sin Kee’s chicken rice.

He was quoted as saying: "I dream about the chicken rice every night and cannot get enough of it. I love how the natural taste of the chicken is brought out without using much seasoning.”

According to the Straits Times, Sin Kee is one of the more established chicken rice stalls in Singapore. It opened for business in 1971.