She ditched her auditing job to work at her family’s restaurant. 7 years later, she opened a second spot — and turned a profit.

• Chloe Tan, 30, quit her first job out of college as an auditor.
• She decided to help out at her parent’s eatery, which serves Chinese home-style dishes.
• Seven years later, she expanded the business and opened New Station Rice Bar.

As a young adult, Chloe Tan followed the same path as many other Singaporeans in her generation: Go to college, get a degree, and then work a stable 9-to-5 job.

But three months into her first job as an auditor, Tan quit.

“I just remember not really liking it and not being excited,” Tan, who has a degree in accounting, told Business Insider.

At the same time, she wanted to help her aging parents retire. They had spent the past three decades running a food store selling zi char, or Chinese home-style dishes.

So, upon quitting, Tan decided to help out at their shop, New Station Snack Bar. It didn’t bother her that, at first, she had to take a pay cut of around 30%. “That was where our childhood was,” she said, recalling how, as kids, she and her siblings would help with menial tasks like bringing napkins to customers or recommending dishes to eat.

This time around, however, her contributions to the eatery were different. For the next three years, Tan worked as a cashier, managed accounts, and did marketing. She was comfortable but felt like she wasn’t doing anything fruitful.

Things changed during the COVID-19 pandemic. During lockdown, Singapore’s offices and schools were closed, and dining at restaurants was not allowed.

In three days, Tan, with the help of her friends, launched a website and arranged island-wide food delivery. Singapore’s land area is 284 square miles, about the same size as Austin, Texas. 

The struggles she faced during the pandemic showed her what she was capable of. “It kind of ignited a passion and a fire in me like, hey, you know what? Maybe I can do more things with my life,” she said.

It was at this point in her career that she knew she could expand her family’s business.

Her accounting skills came in handy

Putting her accounting skills to use, Tan started to work backward to figure out how much she could afford to lose.

She invested around 40,000 Singapore dollars, or $30,000, in her business. She kept costs low by opting for secondhand goods and was lucky to receive free equipment from some retiring chefs.

After almost two years of planning and renovation, Tan opened her restaurant in February this year. Located in Fortune Centre, an old mall in central Singapore, her shop is a 10-minute drive from her parent’s restaurant. As a sister outlet, Tan named her new business after her parents’ eatery: New Station Rice Bar.

Initially, her parents didn’t take her seriously

Tan recalled her dad asking why she made her life difficult by expanding their family business.

“My father referred to his own business and said, ‘Hey, my business is now OK. It’s not like it’s not making money. Are you not happy with that?”” she recalled.

But it wasn’t about the money. “I didn’t want to waste my 20s just being too comfortable where I was,” Tan said.

When she worked at their eatery, her parents discouraged her from setting foot in the kitchen.

“They felt like it was not where a lady should be around. There’s fire, there’s smoke, and to be honest, it’s not a very nice environment,” Tan said. If she wanted to be in the food and beverage business, she should manage accounts or do marketing — not cook, they said.

Her parents were also hesitant about teaching her how to cook. But Tan was determined. She harnessed the help of a zi char chef from Hong Kong, whom she only knows as Chef Wing.

Over three years, she consulted Chef Wing in person to learn how to develop recipes, cook dishes, and craft menus.

She had two main takeaways as his apprentice: respect for your customers and respect for the ingredients.

“I learned that the thing about F&B is that as long as you put effort into it, people will be able to taste the value,” she said.

The lessons she learned were proven right

Almost 10 months since she opened the 500-square-foot restaurant, New Station Rice Bar has seen a steady flow of customers. Students from a nearby art college pop in for an after-school snack, while office workers visit the store for lunch.

Like her parents, Tan sells zi char dishes. However, unlike traditional zi char eateries, Tan keeps her menu lean, with only six main dishes ranging from SG$8.50 to SG$9.50.

She’s also modernized her dishes by deviating from traditional recipes. The chicken in her signature curry chicken rice, for example, is made with Japanese-style breadcrumbs, and the curry has a thicker consistency.

But the most popular dish is salted egg chicken rice — also a bestseller at her parents’ restaurant. For this, she fries small pieces of chopped chicken and slathers it in a creamy, sweet, and savory sauce. It’s served alongside rice and a fried egg.

Tan Jun Hong, a public servant, learned about the restaurant on Instagram and now visits it regularly.

He said the real draw is the nostalgia it invokes in him. “I grew up visiting old-school zi char stores that served simple, affordable home-cooked-style dishes that you see here,” he told BI. “It brings good food and good memories together.”

The challenges of being a boss

“Running my own business made me realize that sometimes you just got to stop being so obsessed over certain things,” Tan said. She’s learned to live — not under — but alongside anxiety, she added.

“Business is like this. Every day, you’re putting out different fires,” she said, whether that is not having enough manpower or having a freezer break down during service.

When BI visited the store on a Friday afternoon, a water pipe had burst. Tan simply sighed. This is what she means, she said.

Being a boss is worlds apart from being an employee, she added. “It’s really about grit and perseverance. Even if I’m sick and don’t want to wake up and come to work, I still have to come down because I represent my team,” said Tan, whose team has grown from two to five.

Sometimes, Tan worries about whether her lifestyle is sustainable. She works 12 hours, six days a week, and on her days off, she returns to the kitchen to do prep work.

Her struggles are consistent with other Singaporeans trying to make their mark in the challenging F&B industry.

Cherry Tan, 29, left her job as a flight attendant to open a hawker stall with her husband. Her parents were uncomfortable with her career change. “Even until today, they asked me why I had to give up a comfortable job,” she told BI.

She estimates that she took a 50% pay cut when she stopped working for Singapore Airlines and has had to get used to the long hours and challenging working conditions.

Similarly, Iszahar Tambunan, 45, left his job as a ship broker to take over his family business. Like Tan, he experienced the unpredictability of running a business. “Business is not always the same every day. It’s a different challenge,” he said.

Despite the unpredictability of being a business owner, Tan’s dream of retiring her parents is still her end goal.

Her parents have also come to support her.

Her mom, Oon Seok Sim, said she’s not worried. “At worst, she loses some money. At least she tried. If she never tried, she’ll never know,” she said. “And anyway, she’s doing pretty great now.”

Tan, who spends around SG$5,400 a month on rent, said her business recently became profitable.

Her favorite part of running a business is seeing results. “Right now, it’s about seeing the business grow. You can see customers returning,” she said.

“That makes me want to wake up every day and still do it.”