Five months after trading finance careers for the hawker life, the duo behind Hakka yong tau foo stall New Horse Noodles are shuttering for good.
In an Instagram post on Sept 28, brothers Scott Lee, 29, and Troy Lee, 31, announced that the stall will close on Oct 25.
“We have met many wonderful people, and people came from all over Singapore to try our food,” Troy said, thanking customers for their support for the past few months.
“We are very happy. Thank you so much.”
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But why call it quits after such a short time?
In a series of videos posted on Saturday (Oct 3), Scott and Troy unpacked the reasons behind the decision to close New Horse Noodles.
“The lifestyle doesn’t really suit me,” Troy shared candidly.
According to the older sibling, the pair had already realised by early August that hawker life was not for them.
Even so, they chose to press on out of respect for those who believed in them — giving themselves a “deadline” until the end of October.
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“We can’t stay here forever but we wanted to slog it out to the end of October and try to stay as long as possible, just to be responsible to our customers who have become friends and like our food,” he explained.
“I know some people will be sad, but we try our best to make everyone happy.”
Stall was doing well
Scott also stressed that the decision to close was not because the stall was not doing well.
Revealing that others had told him that the business “has some potential”, he shared that while he did agree with them, he still felt that pulling the plug was the right call.
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“It’s not because we don’t make much money. It’s also not because we don’t see potential in the business,” the 29-year-old said, adding that he sees “plenty of room for growth”.
“But after experiencing this whole hawker lifestyle, we feel this is not really the kind of lifestyle that we want,” he reiterated.
And while he acknowledged that some may argue the brothers could eventually hire staff and take a more hands-off approach to running the business, Scott felt that it would still require a significant amount of time, effort and commitment to get there — something he would have to “sacrifice his youth” for.
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“Now I’m in my late 20s already. I just want to spend those few more years doing something and exploring more stuff that I like,” he said.
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Giving it a shot
As for why they decided to start a hawker business in the first place if the lifestyle was not for them, Troy said it was something the brothers simply could not have known without trying for themselves.
That said, the 31-year-old admitted that he had the “delusional optimism” needed to venture into the industry without prior experience.
What they have, however, was experience in finance — something the brothers put to use when weighing the financial risks of the venture.
“It was a calculated risk which we decided to take on to experience the hawker life for ourselves,” he said.
Ultimately, the brothers decided that they did not want to be put off “because of hearsay”, Troy shared, revealing that their mother had also advised against their decision to pivot to hawking.
“That’s fair,” he concurred, saying that no parent “in their right mind” would approve of their child becoming a hawker without any F&B background.
But for the brothers, that was precisely why experiencing hawker life for themselves mattered.
“In life, it is only through trying and experiencing things that we could fit another jigsaw puzzle, a small piece, into this gigantic jigsaw that we have called life,” the 31-year-old said.
Had they not taken the plunge, he added, they would not have had the chance to meet the many “warm, positive [and] encouraging Singaporeans” who supported them along the way.
And while Troy admitted that they often complained about how tiring the work was, he still felt that the experience was worth it.
“I guess this is the price to pay for the rewards that we get, and I can say for sure that the rewards that we got far outweighed the price that we paid.”
Future plans
Looking ahead, Troy plans on venturing into technology and building something of his own, adding that he never had and never will get a corporate job.
“All I hear every day is that the economy is bad. But all I can see is that there are opportunities everywhere,” he said.
Scott, meanwhile, shared that he will continue documenting their experiences and lessons on New Horse Noodles’ Instagram page, as well as on his own.
Looking back on their five-month stint as hawkers, Troy said one of his most valuable takeaways was the trust they received from complete strangers.
Despite being “nobodies” in the F&B industry, he said customers were still willing to give them a chance by supporting them — with some even becoming regular customers.
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“Their first try was through blind faith, but their subsequent tries were because they really loved it,” he said.
“And that is priceless.”
First opened in June, New Horse Noodles is a hawker stall in Chinatown Complex Food Centre serving handmade Hakka yong tau foo and Malaysian-style dry noodles.
The business was born out of the brothers’ shared love for food.
Scott had previously left corporate life in search of more fulfilling work and to become a food blogger alongside Troy, reported 8Days.
The siblings’ hunt for food later took them to Malacca, where they met an 85-year-old Hakka hawker, who took them under her wing as she had no one to pass her recipe on to.
They trained under her for 10 days before bringing her yong tau foo recipe to Singapore by opening their own stall.
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A Handmade Hakka Yong Tau Foo Set at New Horse Noodles cost $6.50 and comes with a bowl of noodles accompanied by an assortment of ingredients including stuffed bittergourd, tau pok, tau kee and beancurd, as well as a bowl of soup.
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carol.ong@asiaone.com
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