ACCIDENTAL PARTNERSHIP AND STALL EXPANSION
Enter Teo’s business partner , the advertising savvy Josiah Tan, 33. ” I was having kway guy at Bedok Food Centre when I saw an aunt take a sip test from Kenneth’s barn. Within 10 hours, without even checking the rate, the aunt said ,’gei did pi bei’ [give me one glass in Mandarin],” recalled Tan. Intrigued, he tried a test himself and was won over.
The SMU company management and marketing student launched a business consulting company focused on helping SMEs increase in his second season of college and ran it for nearly a century. He has since stepped up from that company, which his spouse continues to run.
Why the hinge to owning a stall company? Tan said his parents used to run a poultry corn barn, working gruelling days in sweltering temperature.
” My mother would move to neighbouring booths for a glass of Coke to seek relief from the extreme temperature,” Tan recalled. ” By 38, she developed diabetes. Back then, people didn’t understand the long-term repercussions of these seemingly innocent daily routines. “
Her condition gradually worsened, leading to two deformities. ” Her heart and passion for life were sucked out because of hyperglycemia,” he said quietly.
” What if, 40 or 50 years ago, the barn behind hers wasn’t selling sweetened beverages, but a healthier substitute like our drink where you can handle sugar levels? That’s one of the biggest factors I’m doing this,” Tan emphasised. ” Beyond merely making money, we want to give coffee that can help to people’s well-being. “