Why fish soup stall proprietor Low Boon Chuan took a $300,000 gamble on a Bedok espresso store, Way of life Information

SINGAPORE – Once a sleepy espresso store with almost half its stalls vacant, Lau Ka Kopitiam in Bedok North is now buzzing at meal occasions and crowded on weekends.

The transformation came about inside a yr of second-generation fish soup stall proprietor Low Boon Chuan taking on the espresso store in October 2025 with a $300,000 financial institution mortgage.

At the time, three of its eight meals stalls had been empty for nearly a yr. When Low learnt that the earlier operator needed to lease out the premises, he was anxious that whoever took over may increase his lease.

Another coffee-shop operator throughout the highway, who had heard the information, provided him a stall. But Low turned him down.

His Boon Keng Road Fish Head Bee Hoon stall, began by his mom in a Boon Keng Road industrial canteen in 1998, has been at the moment espresso store since 2005.

“My weak point is that I wanted to keep my stall here because business is stable,” says Low, 40.

Instead of ready to see who would turn out to be his new landlord, he approached the operator and landlord to take over the espresso store himself.

Coffee-shop takeover

Of the $300,000 mortgage, $170,000 went in the direction of the takeover charge. Rent for the complete espresso store at Block 416 Bedok North Avenue 2 is $34,000 a month.

But as an alternative of passing the associated fee on to his tenants, Low lower lease by about 30 per cent to fill the three vacant stalls.

It was a sensible resolution. Many prospects who come for his fish soup skip ordering drinks. Now that he’s working the espresso store and drinks stall, he wanted extra meals decisions to attract diners and increase beverage gross sales.

He introduced in tenants together with Chong Pang Huat, recognized for barbecued rooster wings and satay, in addition to a zi char stall and financial system bee hoon stall.

Low additionally spent greater than $10,000 to spruce up the premises, together with putting in 17 massive wall followers, altering the tables and placing up a brand new awning.

He renamed the place Lau Ka Kopitiam, a play on his surname and the Hokkien time period for “downstairs”. The title displays his want for the espresso store to turn out to be a gathering place for residents within the neighbourhood.

He additionally employed two dishwashers, who assist stallholders wash crockery and clear trays, retaining the eating space cleaner than earlier than. Low says the improved hygiene has additionally lowered the variety of birds on the espresso store.

He plans to renovate the bathroom subsequent and make it extra senior-friendly. This is partly for the sake of his mom, Tan Chwee Lian, 71, who nonetheless works part-time as a cashier on the fish soup stall.

Low not permits her to prepare dinner, regardless of requests from some prospects. In the previous few years, she had fallen a number of occasions, together with on the slippery kitchen flooring. One fall in the bathroom left her hospitalised with a damaged wrist.

Despite his efforts to help his tenants, the journey up to now has not been with out casualties.

The financial system bee hoon stall threw within the towel after six months and was changed by a satay bee hoon stall. A Thai stall promoting laksa and fried rooster known as it quits after seven months.

But Low managed to usher in a longtime title, Eng Kee Chicken Wings, which opened its Bedok North outlet there on Sept 11.

Today, all eight meals stalls are occupied.

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Taking a pay lower

Yet, for all of the outward indicators of success – full tenancy, packed weekend tables and motorists typically struggling to discover a parking house within the carpark behind – Low says working the espresso store is much less worthwhile for him than working solely his fish soup stall.

He earns a four-figure wage and has lower his personal pay by about 30 per cent, utilizing earnings from his stall to assist subsidise rents for newer tenants.

Nearly a yr after reducing rents, he has stored them on the lowered stage. “I want all the stalls in my kopitiam to have proper earnings rather than to close down and I have to bring in new tenants,” he says.

Asked if the gamble has been price it, he says it’s too early to inform. He nonetheless has one other 4 years to repay the mortgage. He reckons it could take one other two years to interrupt even.

His purpose for taking the chance was merely to outlive. He had no intention to be a coffee-shop boss. 

Low had helped his mother and father, who began as fishmongers, at their moist market stall and later began promoting fish soup, from the age of seven. But as a teen, he was extra focused on basketball and billiards.

He failed his N ranges and O ranges, which he took as a personal candidate. He then enlisted early for nationwide service and signed on as a daily, however give up in 2008 as he needed a better revenue.

The military, he says, taught him self-discipline and the best way to push himself.

“There were times when I felt I couldn’t pull through the hardship. But when I felt physically stretched to my limits, somehow I managed to push through.”

After leaving the military, he began a cellular car-grooming enterprise, shopping for a second-hand van with a $32,000 financial institution mortgage. But enterprise was sluggish and he supplemented his revenue by doing deliveries.

His mom requested him round 2010 to hitch her enterprise, saying she was getting older and that he ought to be taught to prepare dinner and run the stall.

He turned her down a number of occasions earlier than becoming a member of part-time in 2011, working from 7pm to 11pm whereas persevering with his supply jobs.

“I wasn’t close to my mother at that time. I was usually curt to her and felt irritable whenever she spoke to me,” he says.

He manned the cashier and took orders. “I didn’t enjoy working at the stall. It was hot and exceedingly humid, especially with the boiling vats of stock and soup.”

Turning level

What modified his thoughts was seeing one other prepare dinner behave rudely in the direction of his mom.

Low determined to be taught to organize the shares and prepare dinner a la minute for purchasers so she wouldn’t need to depend upon the worker. It was bodily tiring, however he continued.

Customers shunned him as a result of he didn’t give as many fish slices as his mom. Some retracted their orders once they noticed him cooking. Others particularly requested his mom to not let him put together their meals.

“I would tell them, ‘Then don’t eat’,” he says. “I chased a lot of customers away.

“I was young and took offence easily. I couldn’t control my emotions.”

It took him a few yr to grasp cooking the fish soup.

Working alongside his mom additionally modified their relationship.

“Working at the stall made me realise how much my mother had sacrificed to raise me and keep the business running,” he says.

By 2015, Low had joined the stall full-time on a hard and fast month-to-month wage of $2,000.

He started noticing weaknesses within the enterprise.

“Despite the long queues, the business was not profitable because my mother had no idea about costing. She undercharged customers and often gave regulars too much fish or big discounts,” he says.

He additionally found cash disappearing from the until.

Low formally took over the enterprise in 2016, introducing upfront fee and a pager system, and tightening portion and value controls.

He stored his mom’s recipes largely intact, including housemade minced pork balls flavoured with flatfish to the fish soup.

The stall’s premium signature is Sliced Red Grouper Soup ($9 for small, $13 for medium and $17 for giant).

Low prepares the inventory himself after closing. Dried flatfish is fried entire and crushed earlier than being added to batang bones and huge pork bones.

The inventory takes three hours to boil. Fresh fish, together with purple grouper, arrives every day from a provider at Jurong Fishery Port.

Another well-liked merchandise is Pig’s Stomach Soup ($5 for small, $8 for medium and $11 for giant). Tender slices of pig’s abdomen are available a cloudy white broth with a pointy spicy kick from white peppercorns.

By 2024, Low had overhauled the group of six fish soup stall staff and educated them effectively sufficient for the enterprise to function with out him continually being there.

He lastly had extra time to go fishing and ship donated meals to nursing houses and senior centres, one thing he has accomplished for near a decade.

But taking on the espresso store led to a drastic change in his routine and way of life.

Low, who describes himself as an introvert, discovered himself having to vary even his character.

In the early months, he would arrive at 8am, go away at 10am to make charity deliveries, return for the lunch crowd, go residence for a break, then come again at 5pm to speak and typically drink with prospects till near midnight.

He needed to construct rapport, get suggestions and create some buzz.

The frenetic tempo took a toll. Low misplaced 9kg in his first three months, dropping from 80kg to 71kg.

“I drank so much, I lost my appetite,” he says. These days, he begins work at round 10am, however nonetheless ends his day near midnight as lots of his common prospects have changed into buddies and luxuriate in his firm on the espresso store.

There was additionally a win for his personal stall in July, when Boon Keng Road Fish Head Bee Hoon was named a brand new entrant on the Michelin Guide Singapore Bib Gourmand checklist.

There at the moment are 16 staff throughout Lau Ka Kopitiam, together with the six at his fish soup stall. Low has no mounted time off.

Apart from work, he’s in a long-distance relationship with a 39-year-old Taiwanese kindergarten principal whom he met at a temple dinner whereas holidaying in Taiwan two years in the past.

He says marriage will probably be additional down the highway, as “it is still early in our relationship”.

Nor does he plan to take over one other espresso store.

“I prefer to have a more relaxed lifestyle. I just want enough money to live the life I like, do my charity work, deliver food and have time to go fishing.”

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This article was first revealed in The Straits Times. Permission required for replica.