The founder’s wife, who declined to give her name and age, told 8days.sg that her husband’s leg had been hurting, and he was already planning to retire and go for leg surgery.
On the sixth day of Chinese New Year last year, he resumed his operations after closing for the festive season, and drove to the market to buy ingredients. “But he had a heart attack at the market entrance. He wanted to schedule a leg operation, but he left before that,” shared his wife.
Prior to his unexpected passing, Uncle had been in talks in 2022 to sell his business and prepare for retirement. His wife explained: “Our son has his own career and didn’t want to take over the business, and I cannot cope with running the stall by myself. So we said okay when a new owner expressed interest in taking over.”
RESTAURANT UPGRADE
8days.sg understands that the new owner of Sam Leong St Chicken Rice is the parent company of popular Henghwa cuisine chain Putien, who has transformed the stall’s old-school coffeeshop into a mod restaurant with comfy air-con.
