Last year, local actor-host and entrepreneur Ben Yeo had to relocate his fish soup stall Tan Xiang Fish Soup due to manpower issues.
Then in January, he shuttered his Chinese restaurant Tan Xiang Yuan after two years of operations.
But these setbacks have not deterred him as he has just opened a new Tan Xiang Fish Soup outlet at the newly renovated food court in Orchard Towers.
It’s also his first air-conditioned venture.
Speaking to AsiaOne, the 46-year-old shared that the stall has been in operations for a week and opened on July 27.
“Why Orchard Towers? Because we wanted to try somewhere with footfall. Previously, all our outlets were located in industrial areas, so now, we are trying to go into prime areas,” he said.
Ben also shared that there are plans to open more Tan Xiang Fish Soup outlets.
The brand, which specialises in Cantonese-style fish soup, has a small but substantial menu.
Similar to its other outlets at Kallang and Chai Chee, the Orchard Tower branch will sell Fried Fish Soup and Batang Soup and Mixed Seafood Soup.
There will also be an outlet-exclusive dish — Fried Red Grouper Bee Hoon.
Just in time for SG60, from Aug 1 onwards, there is a promotion where bowls of their Batang Bee Hoon, Fried Tom Yum Bee Hoon and Batang Soup will be priced at just $5.
Manpower struggles
Back when Tan Xiang Fish Soup was still located at Toa Payoh, the business’ biggest concern was manpower.
Ben attributed this to the staff not living in Singapore and being new to the brand.
“They stayed in JB so there were always a lot of issues of them not turning up and being late,” he shared.
“We learned from there and hired staff from our [other Tan Xiang outlets]. They’re more well trained, stay in Singapore, and they’ve been with us for quite a while. So, this time round we should be quite okay with manpower.”
So far, after a week of operations, footfall for the new stall has been decent, he told us.
“[The business] is growing every day but hopefully, we will have a better weekend crowd,” said Ben.
Address: #B1-28, Brew Kopi, Orchard Towers, 400 Orchard Road, Singapore 238875
Opening hours: Daily, 10am to 8pm
[[nid:714932]]
melissateo@asiaone.com
Top In Asia
