Gen Z Brothers Work As Wagyu Beef Butchers At Chinatown Wet Market, Nicknamed ‘Little Fresh Meat’

Butcher brothers

The BeefFellas are brothers Marcus Tay, 28, and Max Tay, 23, who soft-launched their pasar stall on Nov 9. They specialise in Japan-imported A3 wagyu beef, a mid-range grade that’s not as premium as A4 and A5 grade wagyu (the term means ‘Japanese cow’), but still boasts decent filigree marbling despite being sold at more wallet-friendly prices.

An A5 grade, regarded as the best and the priciest, indicates beef from a cow which yielded over 72 per cent of meat relative to its carcass (the ‘A’ in the grade), while the number grade, based on a marbling score system, is derived from the beef’s meat-to-fat ratio, colour and texture.

“We get our beef from an agent in Japan,” Max tells 8days.sg. In June this year, the brothers flew there to look for a supplier at a food import-export exhibition. They quickly discovered their first business hard truth: although there were many big players in attendance there, these companies only dealt with huge volumes for export. “They told us the order quantity has to be half a tonne or one tonne, which we can’t do for a retail shop,” Max points out.But they managed to find an exporter for beef and seafood, who agreed to sell them a smaller quantity for them to kickstart their wet market biz. The brothers decisively ordered 200kg of wagyu beef to “test the market”.

“We took a risk to trust the supplier lah,” Max says. “They ended up sending us 169.9kg. I don’t know why it’s this specific number! (Laughs) It depends on what they can get, ’cos wagyu beef is sold via auction in Japan. So they gave us back the balance [for our 200kg payment].”The beef they currently sell is imported from areas likeOkayama and the Hyogo prefecture, though Kobe is not included. The meat provenance changes depending on supply. “Our agent gets the beef from all over Japan to keep prices affordable,” Marcus shares.

The BeefFellas’ wagyu beef supply

As they were so new to the trade, the brothers ordered prudently. But in the two weeks since they have started their business, the response was better than expected. “We have a few return customers so far. There was a lady and one uncle who came here thrice. We opened only two weeks ago, so it’s very good,” Max shares happily.

Out of the 169.9kg of wagyu beef they received, they have already sold around 100kg of it, more than half of their stock. We get a new shipment every three to four weeks,” Max says.

According to his supplier, the next shipment might reach Singapore only “at the end of this year”, as the siblings made the rookie mistake of placing their next shipment order too late. “Lesson learnt,” notes Max, who is currently working hard to procure his next batch of beef.So here’s a PSA for those who are planning to buy beef from the fellas after reading this article: WhatsApp the brothers at 8479-0388 to check stock availability before rushing down to Chinatown to avoid a wasted trip.

For 24/7 ordering, they have also launched a retail website at www.thebeeffellassg.com/store, where customers can buy fresh and frozen beef for delivery from the comfort of their own homes. The stall’s WhatsApp account also has a catalogue for people to choose their beef and order from the brothers cirectly. Delivery is free for orders above $100.

Or better yet, support these young new butchers by preordering their beef for the coming months, like for your Chinese New Year reunion dinner next year. “We don’t make much if we rely solely on wet market sales. And being from the same generation as our friends, we know they won’t want to come down to a wet market to buy meat. So we try to push our delivery and online sales,” points out Max.

The A3 wagyu beef menu

The boys currently offer different cuts of A3 wagyu beef for various cooking methods. There’s Ribeye Steak ($16.50/100g), the stall’s bestselling Sirloin Steak ($16/100g), Loin Shabu Shabu ($16/100g) and various options for a DIY yakiniku meal, like Jo Karubi ($14.50/100g), a fattier, richer cut from the short rib of a cow.

For a rough price comparison, a 100g portion of Kata (chuck roll) Shabu Shabu wagyu beef from Iwate at Meidi-ya supermarket costs around $18.90.

As the brothers process the meat themselves, you can also request for ground beef chuck hamburger patties, while there’s also pre-cut beef chunks for Stir-Fry ($6.90/100g), another bestseller, and Marinated Mix Cuts ($8.50/100g).

Marcus has observed interesting buying patterns since he opened his stall. “The middle-priced options don’t move much. It’s always the highest or lowest-priced beef that sells the best. But the sirloin cut always moves, ’cos Singaporeans are more familiar with it,” he says.

Butchery experience

All that said, Marcus works the industrial meat slicer and grinder with an ease that we didn’t expect from a newbie. As it turns out, he already has almost five years of experience working at a Japanese butchery in Singapore, which he declines to name. It was there that he learnt how to cut and sell beef.

“I started working there fresh out of NS till the assistant manager level. I studied marine science, but I always had a passion for food and love wagyu beef. At first I was part-timing [at the butchery] and was going to further my studies, but decided to become a full-time butcher instead ’cos I fell in love with the job. I also learnt the Japanese language on the side and can speak conversationally. That’s why the beef labels at my stall are also written in Japanese,” he shares.

Meanwhile, Max has just finished serving his NS and was working at a local French bakery chain as an ingredient buyer for three months before he left to open BeefFellas with his brother. Prior to that, he had studied at a culinary and catering course at Temasek Polytechnic, and interned at a one-Michelin-starred restaurant, where he “did a lot of food prep work”.

Parental advice

F&B runs in this family, as the brothers’ father is a well-known local veteran chef. “Can we not mention his name? We want to do this ourselves and not rely [on his name],” Max says. The beef fellas don’t give themselves inflated job titles either; the designation on their name cards simply read “co-owner”.

But they did get practical advice from Dad on big and small things, like covering an unsightly-looking wall at their shop. Max adds: “We were thinking of closing our stall once we sell out all our beef till the new stock comes in, and put a sign there to inform people of the next shipment date. But our dad told us if we close, we will lose a lot of potential customers right when we’re just starting.”

In between waiting for the next shipment from Japan, Marcus and Max plan to sell imported Australian wagyu beef to ensure they have a steady supply of beef for customers.

The brothers currently open their stall from 7am-2pm on weekdays, and 7am-6pm on weekends. Although the wet market is quiet after 2pm, they occupy their time there by catching up on admin work. “We are opening longer hours to determine when the peak periods are, so we can adjust later,” Max says.

Nicknamed “little fresh meat” by stall neighbours

The young butchers were warmly welcomed by their elderly stall neighbours. “Our neighbours said, ‘Oh, you’re such young business owners.’ One auntie said we are ‘xiao xian rou’ (a popular Chinese phrase that means ‘little fresh meat’ and refers to cute young guys) and must be protected,” Marcus laughs.

Max and Marcus readily admit that they “never expected themselves to be selling beef in a wet market”. In fact, the brothers — who do not have other siblings — were not even very close till lately. “We became closer after opening this stall,” Max says.

They took the plunge to open a wagyu beef stall due to Marcus’s experience working in a Japanese butchery. Max points out: “We thought we could set up something and earn money together.”

On being the next gen of wet market vendors

But the brothers also spotted a (literal) market gap they could fill. Their current stall at a corner of Chinatown Complex had been vacant for over two years, after the previous pork butcher retired and gave up his three shop units.

Marcus explains: “Many people retired and nobody wants to take over the stalls. We wanted to do something to revive the wet market scene. We hope to bring more of the younger crowd here or maybe even inspire other people to open their own stalls. Like bringing in sashimi (laughs). Wet market stalls are small-scale so vendors are able to maintain higher quality.”

We also notice a number of empty stalls in the wet market vacated by longtime vendors who have retired with no successors. Some of the vendors were once roadside itinerant hawkers plying their trade along nearby Sago, Banda and Trengganu Street, before being relocated by the government to Chinatown Complex.

The BeefFellas’ stall neighbour, who has been selling fruits there since the complex opened in 1983, filled us in on the gradual changes. “The meat section here used to sell mainly pork. But after the pork butchers started retiring, you have poultry and beef stalls here,” she shares.

“Our margin is very thin”

The second business hard truth the brothers had to deal with was that 2kg of beef doesn’t translate to exactly 2kg of sellable meat.

Max shares: “When we process a 2kg block, only around 1.6kg can be used for shabu shabu and steak. The rest are tendon, fat and unusable parts.”

Marcus adds: “We realised we’re not making as much as we expected to make. Our margin is very thin. The trimmings from the beef were more than what we expected, and we don’t earn money from selling the trimmings. In order to earn money, we have to be selling at a higher volume.”

From their two weeks in business, the brothers also noticed that certain cuts, like the chuck shabu shabu, are somehow not that popular with customers. “If we can’t sell the beef, we have to count it as wastage. We have brought our beef home to eat ourselves; the chuck shabu shabu is very good with Maggi mee! But we will adjust our [product offerings] based on demand,” Max chuckles.

Running a business is more stressful than working in a wet market

To set up shop, the brothers pooled together $38,000 from their own savings and a small loan from “the bank of papa mama”, which went to buying equipment like commercial meat refrigerators and beef.

Despite slogging in a wet market, the boys didn’t find the gritty work environment a struggle. “We don’t mind it so much lah. We’re pretty easygoing, and we’re at the drier part of the market!” Max says, while Marcus points out: “I’m used to working long hours. Even though it’s hotter now, it’s not that big of a deal. Our main stressors come from the business aspects like costing, branding and sales.”

They control their overhead costs by “saving money wherever we can”. For instance, to make their hipster signboard, Max bought a wooden plank off Carousell for $30. “Then I used a black marker to write our shop name,” says Marcus.

Do they have beef with each other? 

When we ask if the brothers ever had beef with each other, Max deadpans: “My brother said we have beef, but no beef with each other.”

But he concedes that “arguments are bound to happen at work, as we care about our business and want the best for it”. Some issues they disagree about include deciding on which tasks to prioritise. “But we put our opinions together and work out the best outcome,” Max says.

We also wonder if these English-speaking Gen Zers can hold their own with old-school Mandarin-speaking customers. “My [command of] Chinese is very limited. Conversational can lah. I know how to say ‘vacuum pack’ in Mandarin though,” Max grins, as his brother pipes up: “You only learnt that recently!”

The BeefFellas is at #B1-43 Chinatown Complex, 335 Smith St, S050335. Open Tue-Fri 7am-2pm, Sat & Sun 7am-6pm. Closed on Mon.

WhatsApp 8479-0388 to preorder beef. Do not head down to stall without checking in advance as supply is currently limited till Dec 2024, or order online via www.thebeeffellassg.com/store. Islandwide delivery available, free for orders above $100.