Late chef Tan Yong Hua’s wife closing bao business
Another local food business is shutting its doors.
Owner Sandra Chan announced on Restaurant Home’s social media pages that it would be closing on March 31, or earlier, if there were tenants to take over.
She posted that she had hoped to carry on her late husband’s legacy by continuing his food business, but that it was not her “forte to manage F&B operations”. She also said that the business had taken a toll on her health and she was hoping to spend more time with her 11-year-old son.
Her husband, chef Tan Yong Hua, who specialised in Chinese cuisine, had died in his sleep in 2020 at the age of 47 from heart failure.
Madam Chan converted his restaurant, known for its Peking duck and rice vermicelli with pork knuckles, into a takeaway business selling handmade bao such as meat, turnip and brown sugar buns.
Business was good, but the amount of time and energy required had been difficult for her, she told Shin Min Daily News.
“I start work every morning at 6am till seven, eight at night, sometimes even past 10pm,” she said.
She sometimes operated the business as a pop-up stall, so she would work 17 hours straight.
“It’s too much to take,” she added.
Madam Chan also rued the fact that her hectic schedule meant less time with her son.
She said: “He already doesn't have his dad by his side, so all the more I should focus my time and energy on him as he grows up.”
For six months, she said she thought about closing the business before finally deciding to do it. And to her surprise, she received several messages from interested parties asking whether the business and recipes were for sale a day after her announcement.
“To be honest I’ve not considered what price I’d be willing to sell them for,” she told the Chinese evening daily, adding that she will “wait and see” before making a decision.
In her post, she thanked her customers for their support and did not rule out going back to the food industry.
“Who knows, I might be back again on a smaller and [more] manageable scale on my own,” she wrote.
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