Tuesday, February 28, 2023
My home cooked mixed milk soup on 2023-02-28.
Ingredients:
Frozen dumplings x 2
Frozen chicken nuggets x 2
Frozen fish cubes x 3
Egg x 1
Some frozen French fries
Some small frozen carrot cubes
6 Red Dates
One tablespoon of
*Japanese "Shijimi" Clam Soup* Seaweed
One tablespoon of Goji berry
One teaspoon of fried garlic
200ml of UHT full cream milk
About 50ml of plain water
HDB 逾4400个预购组屋单位开放申购. 非成熟市镇四房式28单位未含津贴的售价全都不到40万元 - 早报 2023-02-28
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（早报讯）逾4400个预购组屋单位开放申购，非成熟市镇四房式单位未含津贴的售价全都不到40万元。花拉公园计划发展的新组屋区，则通过黄金地段组屋模式推出了首个预购组屋项目。
建屋发展局星期二（2月28日）发文告说，这次的预购组屋销售活动推出共4428个单位，其中过半数坐落在加冷黄埔和女皇镇，其他在裕廊西和登加。
加冷黄埔Farrer Park Fields以及女皇镇乌鲁班丹区Ulu Pandan Glades通过黄金地段组屋模式推出，津贴回收率和之前的项目一样都是6％。
Farrer Park Fields坐落在花拉公园与小印度地铁站之间，共有1274个二房式灵活到四房式单位。政府去年4月宣布把这个地段重新发展为组屋区时说，区内也会建设多个体育和休闲设施。
Ulu Pandan Glades是乌鲁班丹区第二个预购组屋项目，有732个三房式和四房式单位。四房式不含津贴售价介于54万1000元至71万1000元，是本次销售活动中价格范围最高的。
建屋局说，这次推出的项目等候时间中位数约为4.4年，想要尽快搬进新家的申购者可考虑申请等候时间较短的裕廊西Jurong West Crystal（约3.9年），以及登加Brickland Weave（四年）。
登加的项目毗邻红砖路和红砖坡交界处，靠近将在2030年迁至登加的英华小学，也是这次唯一提供五房式单位的项目。
重新拥屋计划扩大至三房式单位
从本次销售活动起，符合条件的家庭可通过重新拥屋计划（Fresh Start Housing Scheme），选购屋契介于45年至65年的三房式单位。此前，参与计划的租户只能购买屋契较短的二房式灵活单位。
建屋局5月将在登加、勿洛、加冷黄埔和实龙岗等推出约5400个预购组屋单位，8月则会在蔡厝港、登加、红山、加冷黄埔和女皇镇等推出5200到6200个单位。
My 15-plus-year Weight Management Records from 2007-05-28 to 2023-02-28 (by Calorie Restriction, i.e. Dietary Energy Restrictio
Note: According to the Singapore Health Promotion Board, a Healthy BMI is greater than18.5 and less than 23.0. A BMI less than 18.5 would mean that the individual is at risk of nutrition deficiency diseases and osteoporosis.
A BMI equal or greater than 23.0 would mean that the individual is at risk of obesity-related diseases. (Ref: DD-Md2022J28)
As of 2023-02-28,
Note: ### indicates BMI = 23 or > 23
Total number of Monthly Weight monitored was 189 (100%)
The no. of times my BMI between 18.5 and 22.9 was 184 (97.35%)
The no. of times my BMI equal or more than 23.000 was 5 (2.65%)
=======================
2007
2007-05-28 morning, my weight = 65.0 kg, BMI = 23.588###
2007-06-28 morning, my weight = 61.0 kg, BMI = 22.136
2007-07-28 morning, my weight = 59.0 kg, BMI = 21.410
2007-08-28 morning, my weight = 58.7 kg, BMI = 21.302
2007-09-28 morning, my weight = 57.5 kg, BMI = 20.866
2007-10-28 morning, my weight = 57.5 kg, BMI = 20.866
2007-11-28 morning, my weight = 56.2 kg, BMI = 20.394
2007-12-28 morning, my weight = 55.5 kg, BMI = 20.140
2008
2008-01-28 morning, my weight = 54.8 kg, BMI = 19.886
2008-02-28 morning, my weight = 54.8 kg, BMI = 19.886
2008-03-28 morning, my weight = 54.5 kg, BMI = 19.777
2008-04-28 morning, my weight = 54.4 kg, BMI = 19.741
2008-05-28 morning, my weight = 54.1 kg, BMI = 19.632
2008-06-28 morning, my weight = 54.6 kg, BMI = 19.814
2008-07-28 morning, my weight = 54.5 kg, BMI = 19.777
2008-08-28 morning, my weight = 54.3 kg, BMI = 19.705
2008-09-28 morning, my weight = 54.9 kg, BMI = 19.923
2008-10-28 morning, my weight = 55.3 kg, BMI = 20.068
2008-11-28 morning, my weight = 54.5 kg, BMI = 19.777
2008-12-28 morning, my weight = 55.6 kg, BMI = 20.177
2009
2009-01-28 morning, my weight = 54.8 kg, BMI = 19.886
2009-02-28 morning, my weight = 55.9 kg, BMI = 20.285
2009-03-28 morning, my weight = 54.8 kg, BMI = 19.886
2009-04-28 morning, my weight = 55.3 kg, BMI = 20.068
2009-05-28 morning, my weight = 55.4 kg, BMI = 20.104.
2009-06-28 morning, my weight = 55.2 kg, BMI = 20.031
2009-07-28 morning, my weight = 55.1 kg, BMI = 19.995
2009-08-28 morning, my weight = 55.2 kg, BMI = 20.031
2009-09-28 morning, my weight = 56.3 kg, BMI = 20.431
2009-10-28 morning, my weight = 55.8 kg, BMI = 20.249
2009-11-28 morning, my weight = 56.2 kg, BMI = 20.394
2009-12-28 morning, my weight = 56.1 kg, BMI = 20.358
2010
2010-01-28 morning, my weight = 55.6 kg, BMI = 20.177
2010-02-28 morning, my weight = 56.5 kg, BMI = 20.503
2010-03-28 morning, my weight = 56.4 kg, BMI = 20.467
2010-04-28 morning, my weight = 55.7 kg, BMI = 20.213
2010-05-28 morning, my weight = 55.1 kg, BMI = 19.995
2010-06-28 morning, my weight = 56.4 kg, BMI = 20.467
2010-07-28 morning, my weight = 55.5 kg, BMI = 20.140
2010-08-28 morning, my weight = 55.8 kg, BMI = 20.249
2010-09-28 morning, my weight = 55.8 kg, BMI = 20.249
2010-10-28 morning, my weight = 55.4 kg, BMI = 20.104
2010-11-28 morning, my weight = 55.6 kg, BMI = 20.177
2010-12-28 morning, my weight = 55.5 kg, BMI = 20.140
2011
2011-01-28 morning, my weight = 55.4 kg, BMI = 20.104
2011-02-28 morning, my weight = 56.5 kg, BMI = 20.503
2011-03-28 morning, my weight = 55.6 kg, BMI = 20.177
2011-04-28 morning, my weight = 55.7 kg, BMI = 20.213
2011-05-28 morning, my weight = 55.6 kg, BMI = 20.177
2011-06-28 morning, my weight = 56.3 kg, BMI = 20.431
2011-07-28 morning, my weight = 56.5 kg, BMI = 20.503
2011-08-28 morning, my weight = 56.9 kg, BMI = 20.649
2011-09-28 morning, my weight = 56.2 kg, BMI = 20.394
2011-10-28 morning, my weight = 56.8 kg, BMI = 20.613
2011-11-28 morning, my weight = 59.0 kg, BMI = 21.410
2011-12-28 morning, my weight = 60.3 kg, BMI = 21.882
2012
2012-01-28 morning, my weight = 61.5 kg, BMI = 22.318
2012-02-28 morning, my weight = 62.7 kg, BMI = 22.753
2012-03-28 morning, my weight = 62.5 kg, BMI = 22.681
2012-04-28 morning, my weight = 61.3 kg, BMI = 22.246
2012-05-28 morning, my weight = 60.7 kg, BMI = 22.028
2012-06-28 morning, my weight = 60.6 kg, BMI = 21.992
2012-07-28 morning, my weight = 61.2 kg, BMI = 22.209
2012-08-28 morning, my weight = 60.8 kg, BMI = 22.064
2012-09-28 morning, my weight = 61.5 kg, BMI = 22.318**
2012-10-28 morning, my weight = 62.3 kg, BMI = 22.608
2012-11-28 morning, my weight = 63.4 kg, BMI = 23.008###
2012-12-28 morning, my weight = 62.9 kg, BMI = 22.826
2013
2013-01-28 morning, my weight = 63.0 kg, BMI = 22.863
2013-02-28 morning, my weight = 62.1 kg, BMI = 22.536
2013-03-28 morning, my weight = 61.5 kg, BMI = 22.318
2013-04-28 morning, my weight = 63.1 kg, BMI = 22.899****
2013-05-28 morning, my weight = 62.3 kg, BMI = 22.608
2013-06-28 morning, my weight = 62.2 kg, BMI = 22.572
2013-07-28 morning, my weight = 62.4 kg, BMI = 22.645
2013-08-28 morning, my weight = 62.6 kg BMI = 22.717
2013-09-28 morning, my weight = 62.4 kg BMI = 22.645**
2013-10-28 morning, my weight = 62.3 kg BMI = 22.609
2013-11-28 morning, my weight = 63.1 kg BMI = 22.899
2013-12-28 morning, my weight = 64.4 kg BMI = 23.371###
2014
2014-01-28 morning, my weight = 63.6 kg, BMI = 23.080###
2014-02-28 morning, my weight = 63.3 kg, BMI = 22.971
2014-03-28 morning, my weight = 62.7 kg, BMI = 22.753
2014-04-28 morning, my weight = 62.7 kg, BMI = 22.753
2014-05-28 morning, my weight = 62.9 kg, BMI = 22.826
2014-06-28 morning, my weight = 63.1 kg BMI = 22.899
2014-07-28 morning, my weight = 62.7 kg, BMI = 22.753
2014-08-28 morning, my weight = 62.2 kg, BMI = 22.572
2014-09-28 morning, my weight = 61.2 kg, BMI = 22.209
2014-10-28 morning, my weight = 61.4 kg, BMI = 22.282
2014-11-28 morning, my weight = 60.2 kg, BMI = 21.846
2014-12-28 morning, my weight = 60.8 kg, BMI = 22.064
2015
2015-01-28 morning, my weight = 61.3 kg, BMI = 22.246
2015-02-28 morning, my weight = 61.8 kg, BMI = 22.427
2015-03-28 morning, my weight = 61.8 kg, BMI = 22.427
2015-04-28 morning, my weight = 62,5. kg, BMI = 22.681
2015-05-28 morning, my weight = 62.4 kg, BMI = 22.645
2015-06-28 morning, my weight = 63.6 kg, BMI = 23.080###
2015-07-28 morning, my weight = 62.3 kg BMI = 22.609
2015-08-28 morning, my weight = 62.2 kg, BMI = 22.572
2015-09-28 morning, my weight = 63.0 kg, BMI = 22.863
2015-10-28 morning, my weight = 63.2 kg, BMI = 22.935
2015-11-28 morning, my weight = 62.6 kg, BMI = 22.717
2015-12-28 morning, my weight = 62.3 kg BMI = 22.609
2016
2016-01-28 morning, my weight = 63.0 kg, BMI = 22.863
2016-02-28 morning, my weight = 62.8 kg, BMI = 22.790
2016-03-28 morning, my weight = 62.0 kg, BMI = 22.499
2016-04-28 morning, my weight = 62.0 kg, BMI = 22.499
2016-05-28 morning, my weight = 62.4 kg, BMI = 22.645
2016-06-28 morning, my weight = 62.1 kg, BMI = 22.536
2016-07-28 morning, my weight = 62.2 kg, BMI = 22.572
2016-08-28 morning, my weight = 62.6 kg, BMI = 22.717
2016-09-28 morning, my weight = 62.8 kg, BMI = 22.790
2016-10-28 morning, my weight = 62,5. kg, BMI = 22.681
2016-11-28 morning, my weight = 62.1 kg, BMI = 22.536
2016-12-28 morning, my weight = 62.3 kg, BMI = 22.608
2017
2017-01-28 morning, my weight = 62.9 kg, BMI = 22.826
2017-02-28 morning, my weight = 62.4 kg, BMI = 22.644
2017-03-28 morning, my weight = 62.8 kg, BMI = 22.789
2017-04-28 morning, my weight = 62.3 kg, BMI = 22.609
2017-05-28 morning, my weight = 62.2 kg, BMI = 22.572
2017-06-28 morning, my weight = 62.6 kg, BMI = 22.717
2017-07-28 morning, my weight = 62.4 kg, BMI = 22.645
2017-08-28 morning, my weight = 61.9 kg, BMI = 22.463
2017-09-28 morning, my weight = 62.0 kg, BMI = 22.499
2017-10-28 morning, my weight = 62.0 kg, BMI = 22.499
2017-11-28 morning, my weight = 61.5 kg, BMI = 22.318
2017-12-28 morning, my weight = 61.5 kg, BMI = 22.318
2018
My Weight 2018-01-28 0934 hr 61.0 kg BMI 22.136
My Weight 2018-02-28 0915 hr 60.7 kg BMI 22.027
My Weight 2018-03-28 0620 hr 61.0 kg BMI 22.136
My Weight 2018-04-28 1005 hr 61.7 kg BMI 22.390
My Weight 2018-05-28 0856 hr 60.5 kg BMI 21.955
My Weight 2018-06-28 0600 hr 61.4 kg BMI 22.281
My Weight 2018-07-28 0600 hr 62.2 kg BMI 22.572
My Weight 2018-08-28 0720 hr 61.4 kg BMI 22.281
My Weight 2018-09-28 0805 hr 62.1 kg BMI 22.535
My Weight 2018-10-28 0750 hr 61.3 kg BMI 22.24
My Weight 2018-11-28 1000 hr 61.5 kg BMI 22.318
My Weight 2018-12-28 0650 hr 62.5 kg BMI 22.681
2019
2019-01-28 at 1000 hr 60.9 kg BMI 22.100
2019-02-28 at 0946 hr 61.0 kg BMI 22.136
2019-03-28 at 0700 hr 62.4 kg BMI 22.644
2019-04-28 at 0828 hr 62.9 kg BMI 22.826
2019-05-28 at 0745 hr 62.4 kg BMI 22.826
2019-06-28 at 0650 hr 62.4 kg BMI 22.644
2019-07-28 at 0736 hr 62.8 kg BMI 22.789
2019-08-28 at 0629 hr 62.4 kg BMI 22.644
2019-09-28 at 0644 hr 61.9 kg BMI 22.463
2019-10-28 at 0740 hr 62.5 kg BMI 22.681
2019-11-28 at 0632 hr 62.8 kg BMI 22.789
2019-12-28 at 0726 hr 62.5 kg BMI 22.681
2020
My Weight 2020-01-28 0625 HR 62.6 kg BMI 22.717
My Weight 2020-02-28 0728 HR 62.3 kg BMI 22.608
My Weight 2020-03-28 0649 HR 61.4 kg BMI 22.281
My Weight 2020-04-28 0810 HR 62.0 kg BMI 22.499
My Weight 2020-05-28 0714 HR 62.3 kg BMI 22.608
My Weight 2020-06-28 0757 HR 60.2 kg BMI 21.846
My Weight 2020-07-28 0715 HR 61.6 kg BMI 22.354
My Weight 2020-08-28 0707 HR 61.1 kg BMI 22.173
My Weight 2020-09-28 0609 HR 60.8 kg BMI 22.064
My Weight 2020-10-28 0818 HR 60.7 kg BMI 22.027
My Weight 2020-11-28 0706 HR 60.9 kg BMI 22.100
My Weight 2020-12-28 0631 HR 60.5 kg BMI 21.955
2021
My Weight 2021-01-28 0638 HR 61.3 kg BMI 22.245
My Weight 2021-02-28 0741 HR 61.2 kg BMI 22.209
My Weight 2021-03-28 0659 HR 61.3 kg BMI 22.245
My Weight 2021-04-28 0659 HR 61.1 kg BMI 22.173
My Weight 2021-05-28 0618 HR 61.1 kg BMI 22.173
My Weight 2021-06-28 0604 HR 61.3 kg BMI 22.245
My Weight 2021-07-28 0642 HR 61.2 kg BMI 22.209
My Weight 2021-08-28 0653 HR 61.5 kg BMI 22.318
My Weight 2021-09-28 0618 HR 61.5 kg BMI 22.318
My Weight 2021-10-28 0549 HR 61.0 kg BMI 22.136
My Weight 2021-11-28 0630 HR 61.3 kg BMI 22.245
My Weight 2021-12-28 0528 HR 61.6 kg BMI 22.354
======================================
2022
My Weight 2022-01-28 0910 HR 61.1 kg BMI 22.173
My Weight 2022-02-28 0642 HR 61.2 kg BMI 22.209
My Weight 2022-03-28 0649 HR 61.4 kg BMI 22.281
My Weight 2022-04-28 0649 HR 61.4 kg BMI 22.281
My Weight 2022-05-28 0549 HR 61.0 kg BMI 22.136
My Weight 2022-06-28 0549 HR 61.0 kg BMI 22.136
My Weight 2022-07-28 0700 HR 60.6 kg BMI 21.991
My Weight 2022-08-28 0640 HR 61.3 kg BMI 22.245
My Weight 2022-09-28 0738 HR 61.7 kg BMI 22.390
My Weight 2022-10-28 0708 HR 61.5 kg BMI 22.318
My Weight 2022-11-28 0706 HR 60.9 kg BMI 22.100
My Weight 2022-12-28 0722 HR 61.1 kg BMI 22.173
========
2023
My Weight 2023-01-28 0537 HR 60.9 kg BMI 22.100
My Weight 2023-02-28 0515 HR 61.4 kg BMI 22.281
=======================================
Note:
My current BMI is within the healthy range of 18.5 to 22.9.
For me, the range of healthy weight is 50.9786 kg (BMI = 18.5) to 63.10324 kg (BMI = 22.9).
People with BMI values of 23 kg/m2 (or 25 kg/m2 according to some sources) and above have been found to be at risk of developing heart disease and diabetes.
To be healthy, I must have a healthy weight.
Be as lean as possible without being underweight, as recommended by World Cancer Prevention Foundation, United Kingdom.
=================================
Note: From 2021-05-28, I have removed the unimportant minute details of old records from My Weight Management Records.
=================================
Ref. WeightManagement
Monday, February 27, 2023
人的一生
人不爭,一身輕鬆;事不 比,一路暢通;心不求,一 生平靜。
每個人都有自己的活法,沒 必要去複製別人的生活。有 的人表面風光,暗地裡卻不 知流了多少眼淚;有的人看 似生活窘迫,實際上卻過得瀟灑快活。
幸福沒有標準答案,快樂也 不止一條道路;收回羡慕別 人的目光,反觀自己的內 ,心。自己喜歡的日子,就是 最好的日子;自己喜歡的活法, 就是最好的活法。
不知不覺中,我們漸漸老 了。累了,該款就歇,身體 重要;困了,該睡就睡,別 總熬夜;餓了,該吃就吃, 別再節省。一輩子很短,眨 眼就過完,不要把好東西留 到最後,省來省去,啥都得 不到。
別和小人計較,別和家人生 氣,別和自己過不去,別讓 心情不美麗。活一天,就開 心一天,過一天,就舒服一 天,破事不放心裡,兩耳不 聽碎語。
致: 漸漸 老去的我們
Sunday, February 26, 2023
Lunch with Sumiko ‘But you sell duck rice’: Siblings behind Chicha San Chen bubble tea in S’pore -- Sunday Times 2023-02-26
Lunch with Sumiko
‘But you sell duck rice’: Siblings behind Chicha San Chen bubble tea in S’pore on early scepticism
==========
Seah Boon Lock grew the Yew Kee duck rice brand his father started. With his encouragement, his children have opened 30 outlets of the Chicha San Chen bubble tea brand from Taiwan.
SPH Brightcove Video
Whenever Mr Seah Boon Lock took his family out for dinner on weekends, his daughter, Kun Miao, would be scurrying around in search of bubble tea.
Waiting for her, it struck him how one bubble tea chain was pretty much like another. Even the teas tasted the same.
“I was thinking, why is it that nobody makes it more special? I told my children, ‘if you like bubble tea so much, go find a brand that is different, unique, and I will invest in it’,” he recalls.
Kun Miao, 29, and her brother, Qin Quan, 30, did just that.
In May 2019, the Seah siblings opened the first Chicha San Chen store in Singapore at 313@Somerset. The name translates from Mandarin to English as “eat tea three thousand”.
They have since set up 30 outlets of the Taiwanese brand including in shopping malls such as Ngee Ann City, Plaza Singapura, Jem and Nex.
The bubble tea market in Singapore is big, with one study estimating it to be worth US$342 million (S$462 million) a year. In a saturated market, the Chicha San Chen brand has managed to amass a loyal following (disclaimer: I’m a fan, too).
Unlike most other chains where the tea is pre-prepared and dispensed from cannisters, each Chicha San Chen order is individually and freshly brewed using a “teapresso” machine. You can taste and smell the aroma of the leaves.
The packaging is just as impressive. Every cup is carefully sealed with a sticker, and cup holders come with a handcrafted jute twine to make it easier to carry. For uniformity, each twine measures 116cm and one side is looped like a ribbon to symbolise how the tea is a gift to customers. Paper bags for takeaways are thick and sturdy.
The outlets’ decor is bright, modern and minimal, and servers don smart uniforms. The menu is relatively small and the tea pricier than some other brands, but customers seem happy to pay for the quality.
Mr Seah, 61, is no stranger to the food and beverage business.
He left school early to help his father, a hawker, sell Teochew braised duck rice under the Yu Kee brand, and diversified to other food. He tweaked the name to Yew Kee in 2022.
He is now chairman of the YKGI group, which runs 77 food outlets under brands such as Yew Kee Duck Rice, XO Minced Meat Noodles, PastaGo, Victoria Bakery, and Chicha San Chen. He has a central kitchen in Woodlands, two halal-certified My Kampung foodcourts and two Fine Food foodcourts.
YKGI also holds the exclusive franchise in Singapore for the Taiwanese bubble tea. Earlier in February, it listed on the Singapore Exchange’s Catalist board.
I’m meeting Mr Seah and his children at the Yew Kee Specialities restaurant in Kallang Wave Mall, which also houses a Chicha San Chen outlet and a My Kampung foodcourt.
Mr Seah is youthfully dressed in a black T-shirt, beige jeans and designer loafers. He has a jovial, cheerful demeanour, which Kun Miao shares. Qin Quan is a quieter presence.
Their mother, Madam Jessica Wee, 57, is the company’s chief administrative officer. “She is too shy to do interviews,” says Mr Seah in Mandarin.
He has a relaxed manner with the children.
“He’s like the clown of the family. The cook and the clown,” says Kun Miao.
“I seldom scold,” her father says. “I speak to them as if they are friends.”
Qin Quan, whom friends call QQ, has a theory about this. When the children were young, Mr Seah was too busy with work to spend a lot of time with them, and it was left to their mother to discipline them.
“When we were in secondary school, he probably had more time on his hands and we would hang out more. We talked to each other more like friends than as father and son,” he says. “We don’t really feel pressure when we are with him.”
Mr Seah orders us a mouth-watering spread of Yew Kee favourites such as tender braised duck, tau pok (braised beancurd), peanuts, roasted meats, rice and soup. He insists that lunch is on the house.
“You like the chilli?” he asks, and looks pleased when I nod. He was behind the store’s version.
He urges me to try the soup which accompanies the duck rice.
“Do you feel it has a bit of herbal taste, like bak kut teh?” he asks. It does indeed.
“He loves, loves, loves cooking,” reports his daughter. “He’s our hawker centre.”
The meal isn’t complete without Chicha San Chen bubble tea and we all get something different.
First came duck
Mr Seah’s father, Mr Seah Teck Yew, was born in Singapore and started selling Teochew braised duck rice from a pushcart in the Sembawang area in the 1950s.
The business was later called Yu Kee, combining the “Yew” in his name and the word “ji”, which is typically used to indicate a food business in Chinese. Yu Kee is the Teochew form of the name.
The family was originally from Anxi in Fujian province. “We are Hokkien but we do Teochew braised duck,” says Mr Seah.
The patriarch had five sons and four daughters. Mr Seah, the youngest boy, started helping his father with chores even before he entered Sembawang Primary School.
He quit his studies before Primary 6. “Even if I took the PSLE, I wouldn’t pass. I preferred to move around and help out, get a bit of money,” he says.
His father retired in 1980, when Mr Seah was 19.
“My father was smart. When he retired, he asked the five of us brothers not to work together but to expand Yu Kee individually instead. He thought that while the siblings may not have an issue working together, their wives might, so it was better we handled the business separately,” he recalls.
The brothers ran their own hawker stalls selling duck rice. For a while, Mr Seah rented a stall from a brother, operating at night while his sibling took the morning slot.
When he was 26, he opened his own stall at a coffee shop at Block 744 in Yishun.
He introduced boneless duck meat to his offerings which attracted younger customers. But older ones complained. “They wanted to be able to suck on the bones.”
The elder Mr Seah died of a stroke in 1991 at the age of 68.
By the 1990s, there were about eight Yu Kee duck rice stalls run by the brothers.
By then, Mr Seah had got married. “My wife said one stall was not enough to sustain the family, so we decided we needed more outlets.”
But they met with misfortune in 2003 when Singapore was hit by an outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome, or Sars, followed by bird flu in 2004 and 2006. Those were dark days.
“I lost a lot of money and decided that I cannot just rely on selling duck rice alone. I needed to diversify,” he says.
He created other brands to sell bak chor mee and halal versions of dishes like char kway teow. Later, he added Penang-style food and went into the foodcourt business.
“When we encounter a crisis, staying optimistic and positive helps us to come up with ideas to expand the business,” he says.
By 2019, he had just under 40 food stalls and foodcourts.
The children chipped in to help. Qin Quan worked in the central kitchen and his sister tended to cash registers. They have fond memories of how, as children, they would accompany their mother as she drove from stall to stall to collect takings. “When she got out to collect the money, I would lock the car. When she came back, I would unlock the car. So that was my role,” says Kun Miao.
Qin Quan studied aviation at Republic Polytechnic and joined his father after he graduated, starting as operations manager in 2015. He became chief executive in January this year.
There was no pressure from his parents. “It was my decision,” he says simply.
Did you negotiate a salary, I ask.
“Not really. I mean, if you want to help out, probably it’s not about the pay already. It’s about how to carry on the family business.”
The company then was very traditional, and he had to look into getting it on social media and delivery platforms.
Kun Miao, who studied marketing at Nanyang Polytechnic, went to Switzerland to get a degree in hotel and hospitality management, then worked in various jobs including in influencer marketing.
“I told her that I couldn’t manage the whole marketing department because I had to run operations, and asked her to help us,” Qin Quan says.
She joined the business in 2018 as marketing director. She feared there would be no separation between work and family life but now values how she has more flexibility to do what she wants, and likes that there is trust between them.
Then came bubble tea
The siblings went in search of a bubble tea brand after Mr Seah threw them the challenge.
Kun Miao first came across Chicha San Chen in 2018 at a franchising and licensing fair held in Singapore.
The stall wasn’t particularly attractive, although the tea was good. They spoke to the Taiwanese team there but weren’t convinced this was the brand for them.
Later that year, while the family were on holiday in Taiwan, they stumbled on Chicha San Chen’s three-storey store in Taichung.
“The attention to detail and precision blew our mind,” she says. “We later realised it was the same brand that we had encountered at the fair.”
The brand’s parent company, Fang Yuan F&B International, founded the Tea Shop bubble tea chain in Taichung in 1998, targeting the mass market.
It created Chicha San Chen in 2015 as an upmarket brand to promote Taiwanese tea culture and heritage. By the time the Seah siblings came knocking, it had one outlet in Taichung and two in Xiamen in China.
The siblings contacted the company to say it was interested in a franchise, and started working on their proposal when they returned to Singapore.
They flew back to Taiwan to present it in person, then Xiamen to check out how Chicha San Chen did business there. Interested, a team from Taiwan came to Singapore to evaluate the Seahs as partners. An agreement was inked during that trip.
Mr Seah says: “The Taiwanese boss wanted to make sure that their brand would survive.”
Sourcing a location for their first store proved a challenge, however. Many popular Taiwanese bubble tea brands were entering the Singapore market in 2019, and most landlords would offer units only to popular names.
Chicha San Chen was a new brand that no one had heard of and had only one store in Taiwan. Landlords were also sceptical of the brand’s unusual “teapresso” machine. Kun Miao says: “Many told us to our faces that ‘you are just another bubble tea brand’. What did not help too was that we were a braised duck seller.”
The siblings, on their part, had demands that landlords found hard to meet.
They wanted their first store to be their flagship. This meant a large space to duplicate the retail experience in Taichung, such as a layout where customers could see their tea being made with “full transparency”.
In summary, their proposal was viewed as “little chance of success plus lots of requests”, she says.
They finally found a landlord in 313@Somerset and set up their store in May 2019. They pumped $500,000 into that venture.
Privately, the siblings were worried as the company had no experience in bubble tea, even though it had been selling hawker fare for decades.
“Bubble tea was a different game altogether. It was a big bet. The set-up capital was a lot higher than what we were used to, with the franchise fee, the down payment and deposit for the store, equipment fee, rentals, store renovation and marketing fee,” says Kun Miao.
“We had to solve a lot of operational issues and technical problems. Every day was trial and error.”
Then came Covid-19, when bubble tea shops had to close for a period in 2020. But the brand has expanded rapidly since.
While it has rights only for Singapore, the company has the exclusive franchise and licence to operate Chicha San Chen here for 10 years from January 2019.
YKGI was incorporated in 2022 to prepare for its Catalist listing. That year, Yu Kee was rebranded to Yew Kee to better reflect patriarch Seah Teck Yew’s name. There are Yu Kee stalls run by relatives, but these are not related to YKGI.
The company posted an audited net profit of $1 million and $4.9 million for financial years 2019 and 2020 respectively, and $8.9 million for financial year 2021. It recorded an unaudited net profit of $2.4 million for the first half of 2022. Chicha San Chen contributed nearly 40 per cent to the group’s total revenue in financial year 2021.
Bubble tea might be the more trendy brand, but the siblings – who are single – remain loyal to the dish that started it all.
Qin Quan points out that during the Covid-19 circuit breaker when bubble tea shops had to close, they had Yew Kee duck rice to bundle bubble tea with.
Kun Miao says her dream is for braised duck rice to be regarded as an iconic Singapore dish that visitors must try. Why must it only be chicken rice and chilli crab, she wonders.
What we ate
Yew Kee Specialities
#02-12 Kallang Wave Mall, 1 Stadium Place
Dishes of braised duck, egg, tau pok, peanuts, soup and rice, and Chicha San Chen tea: On the house
As we wrap up lunch, Mr Seah tells me he’s thankful his children have joined him in the business. Many hawkers serve good food but have no successors, he points out.
The future of his company is in the hands of the younger generation, he says generously.
“You need to give them the freedom to explore. If you don’t give them a stage, they won’t go up and sing,” he says.
“I’m not too worried about them making mistakes because everybody makes mistakes. It’s about learning from your mistakes.”
Then, to chuckles from the two, he laughs: “Of course, not too many mistakes, because I’m still observing them from behind. I just don’t let them know.”
- Translation help from Elaine Lee
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