The COVID-19 pandemic hobbled F&B players, with Singapore Department of Statistics reporting a 26 per cent year-on-year decline in sales in 2020. Tay, on the other hand, noted a bonanza. After implementing initial pay cuts at the start of the pandemic, he shored up the business by pivoting — he churned butter out of surfeit cream from other proprietors, and flogged products such as mushroom soup packs on Facebook Live.
A session co-hosted by local food blogger Maureen Ow, who goes by the moniker of Miss Tam Chiak, drew brickbats from netizens who claimed they were flouting safe distancing restrictions. So, he hammed it up for audiences solo, and claims to have raked in five-figure sales nonetheless. Notably, he managed to maintain Old Seng Choong’s tenancy at Marina Bay Sands, in part by fulfilling corporate orders.
“The worst thing to do in a crisis is stay still and wait to die. At the bottom of the valley, you just have to keep walking, and you’ll find your footing and way out eventually,” he mused.
It’s easy to fathom why the father of three young adults didn’t have much time for his kids in their formative years, given the vicissitudes he’s faced. Beyond work, he’s a shutterbug — having trained his staff to do all their photography inhouse — and tea connoisseur. His most expensive tea purchase is a Pu Er from Banzhang, Yunnan, priced at approximately S$10,000 (US$7,354) per cake.
For now, Tay is licking his lips on plans to evolve his businesses — the first Cat & the Fiddle outlet equipped with an in-store oven is in the pipeline for the first quarter of 2025.
So what’s the secret to longevity in Singapore’s saturated F&B landscape?
“Keep evolving. The life of an F&B entrepreneur is very tough with rising costs, so we have to find ways to work differently,” he concluded.
