Working with family can be tricky, especially when it involves clashing opinions.
Raymond Foo, 68, and his son Shaun Foo, 33, experienced this first-hand while managing their new family restaurant, 5 Senses, which specialises in Hainanese fare.
In fact, their differences occasionally led to disagreements.
“I’m very stubborn. Sometimes, I refuse to listen to his advice and it strains the relationship. I wasn’t as open-minded and I always tend to be more defensive,” Shaun told AsiaOne when we interviewed him at the eatery, which is located in Odeon 333 along North Bridge Road.
Raymond and Shaun opened the restaurant together back in August 2024 and while it was a hectic experience, the father-son duo managed to bond during this period.
“The past seven months really shaped me to be the kind of person I am today and made me more mature, especially when I speak to my dad,” Shaun admitted.
A dream birthed during the pandemic
Prior to opening 5 Senses with Shaun, Raymond had worked in the local F&B industry for 42 years.
He founded Brewer’s Coffee, which helped five-star hotels, Michelin-starred restaurants and fast-food chains curate coffee blends and roast profiles and was its managing director for 22 years. He sold the business and retired in May 2019.
Despite specialising in coffee, Raymond also enjoyed cooking, especially Hainanese food.
During the weekends, he would often invite his friends over and prepare a feast for them.
When the Covid-19 pandemic struck in 2020, his friends expressed disappointment over not being able to enjoy his homecooked food.
“They would tell him they miss his mutton soup and lamb biryani,” Shaun recounted.
After a while, they began encouraging him to start his own eatery and Raymond began toying with the idea some time in 2022.
It helped that Shaun had some prior F&B experience and at one point of time even worked under Raymond for a few years.
After graduating from Curtin University in 2016 with a degree in journalism, Shaun was a sales executive for Brewer’s Coffee, under his dad.
When Raymond retired, Shaun moved on to work at reputable brands such as Old Chang Kee, Jewel Coffee, Bakehouse, Gloria Jean and Tiong Hoe Speciality Coffee.
Therefore, it made sense that out of Raymond’s three children, Shaun was the right person to discuss this idea with.
“Shaun was trained in hospitality, showed passion and interest in F&B, and worked with me as a sales operations manager before. I thought that he has very good people relation skills,” Raymond shared.
“I have never pressured my children to be in the F&B trade. But I thought it is good to teach them the right sets of skills so that they can cook for their family too.”
Despite his dad’s guidance and support, Shaun did have some doubts about taking on such a huge project.
“I already knew that F&B is a very tough business so honestly, I didn’t think that I would want to follow my father in his footsteps, especially when he told me that when he was doing the coffee business, it was, in his exact words, ‘tough as hell’.
“He has faced even more difficult financial situations in comparison,” said Shaun.
But his passion for people, culture and food made him take that leap of faith.
A steep learning curve
Raymond secured the restaurant unit in early 2024.
“My dad had very fond memories of this place because my grandfather would actually cycle with my dad all the way from Jalan Kayu just to watch 1970s Bruce Lee movies which my father loves,” Shaun shared.
When Shaun and his siblings were kids, Raymond would also bring them to the area to eat.
“I think it brought back a lot of fond memories for him.”
So when Raymond saw that there was a shop space for rent, he seized the opportunity.
After that was confirmed, Shaun quit his job as a barista at Tiong Hoe Specialty Coffee and together, he and Raymond started work on the business from May to July 2024. Shaun’s uncle also agreed to help them run 5 Senses.
Despite enjoying cooking and having past experiences in the F&B industry, working at 5 Senses was a little daunting at the start, especially since it was the first time Shaun and Raymond were managing a business with a shop front.
“We were not very well-versed [in the operations],” Shaun admitted.
Running a full-fledged kitchen meant having a series of standard operating procedures (SOPs).
“For every single recipe that comes out of the kitchen, we need to understand how we are going to create that SOP workflow,” elaborated Shaun.
Another issue they grappled with was manpower.
The restaurant crew initially just consisted of three people — Shaun, his uncle, and another employee — so each person’s workload was heavy.
“A lot of the stress was actually on my uncle’s shoulders, because I was alone at the front and he was here in the kitchen with our other hire. The manpower strain was pretty unreal.”
Shaun and his uncle also had get their employees to adapt to the work culture, when they too were not fully used to the environment.
“It was a lot of tweaking, getting used to the fire, getting used to the ingredients, and also handling the people,” he said.
Overall, it was a very different and eye-opening experience for Shaun.
“It was my first role as a chef. It was my first role as… everything. Because I wear multiple hats,” he said.
“It hasn’t been easy. It’s an extremely exponential learning curve. But I appreciate the experience that I went through because it taught me a lot.“
Bickering and bonding
On how their different working styles often led to friction, Shaun shared that despite his stubbornness, he often gives way to Raymond because of the latter’s experience in the F&B industry.
“We defer to his professional opinion most of the time because he owned a business before,” Shaun shared.
“He will definitely know the numbers better, he’ll definitely know what’s better for the customer. So I learned how to listen to him.”
And over time, instead of putting a wedge between them, working together has helped the two bond.
“This restaurant actually helped me to get closer to my dad. As a child, I probably didn’t understand where he used to come from, but now, when I speak to him from a professional standpoint, it has actually improved our relationship as father and son. That’s one of my favorite takeaways [from this experience] actually,” Shaun admitted.
What’s on the menu?
At 5 Senses, diners can look forward to classic Hainanese dishes such as the mutton soup, kaya toast, chicken rice and beef noodle soup.
Many of these dishes are prepared using their family’s recipes.
“The menu is very strongly influenced by my father. The beef noodles and mutton soup are based off his recipes,” said Shaun.
As a coffee specialist, Raymond also helps to roast the beans off-site and he delivers it to the restaurant daily.
“So rest assured, the coffee you’re tasting is properly curated and is a blend of five different beans, all 100 per cent Arabica, and is only priced at $3.20 for a black coffee.”
When asked for recommendations, Shaun had a hard time picking one out.
“The beef noodles, the mutton soup, the Hainanese chicken rice, mee goreng — everything here is good,” he told us with a chuckle.
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melissateo@asiaone.com
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