When former Singapore Airlines flight attendant Cherry Tan, 30, and her husband, Taiwanese ex-hotel chef Duncan Hsu, 37, opened their first hawker stall Kiang Kiang Taiwan Teppanyaki in a Woodlands coffeeshop in May 2024, they knew they wanted to eventually grow the brand.
What they did not expect was to do it so soon.
The couple launched their second stall in a Bedok kopitiam on October 28 this year.
Kiang Kiang serves Taiwan night market-style Western fare, think steak, chicken chop and pasta cooked on a griddle and served sizzling on a hotplate, as well as street snacks like dan bing (Taiwanese egg crepe) and sweet potato fries.
But contrary to what many assume, opening a second branch wasn’t the result of explosive growth. In fact, it was triggered by something more sobering: declining sales at their Woodlands stall.
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Why expand when sales are dipping?
The timing may raise eyebrows, given the wave of recent F&B closures.
Cherry acknowledges this but says the move was strategic — even necessary.
“The exact timing [to expand] came around the one-year-plus mark, when sales started to decline slightly,” she tells 8days.sg.
A key reason? Location.
Many regulars had been travelling from all corners of Singapore just for their sizzling Taiwanese-style Western plates.
“They come once or twice a month ‘cos it’s a hassle to travel all the way down to Woodlands. So we decided to bring our brand to somewhere more convenient,” shares Cherry.
She had another motivator: rent.
Their lease in Woodlands will be up next May and they “don’t want to be at the landlord’s mercy.”
“If we only have one outlet, then no matter what, we have to stay there,” Cherry reasons.
“So I told myself to just push for the second outlet. How much worse can it get? If we can survive in Woodlands, Bedok should be okay.”
Bedok outlet already outperforming Woodlands one
She was right. Though only open for one and a half months, the outlet, which cost around $30K to start, is already “doing better than Woodlands”.
Not that the Woodlands was struggling.
“We were not losing money,” clarifies Cherry. “It’s just that the first three months after we opened, things were insane because of all the media hype. But after that, things stabilised — in a good way. We could focus more on maintaining food quality.”
The Woodlands stall broke even within just three months, giving the couple confidence (and capital) to take the plunge in Bedok.
Cherry now splits her time across both outlets and has even progressed from cashier to grill cook at Woodlands. Her husband is based at the Bedok outlet and they have two more cooks stationed at each of the outlets.
“The Bedok crowd is too much for me, especially on weekends,” she laughs.
The secret ingredient behind their growth: TikTok
Cherry has been documenting her pivot from cabin crew to hawker since day one, and Kiang Kiang’s online presence has become part of its brand identity.
Her content has evolved from simple day-in-the-life videos to comedic skits.
“It definitely helps the business. People come down because of the videos,” she says, adding that a viral video can boost sales by about 20 per cent in a week.
She also recently started live streaming at work, grilling meat while chatting with her audience. Each session lasts for around two hours.
“I just started live streaming last week and surprisingly there were people who came down after watching it,” shares Cherry.
“There was once I was busy chatting and my sausage got burnt. The whole sausage was black! I showed it to my viewers and the next thing I knew, I received a delivery order and, in the remarks, they asked for the chao tar sausage,” she laughs.
And no, her hubby, who is known for having a fiery temper in the kitchen, does not know about it.
The pressure to constantly create content is real.
“Ever since we opened at Bedok, I haven’t been posting as much because things have been overwhelming and I don’t have creative juice,” admits Cherry, “so I’m making it up with live streaming — it’s more straightforward.”
Even her husband and staff have to appear on camera — literally part of the job.
“It’s in their job scope. I will ask recruits during the interview if they’re willing to appear on camera. If they’re not keen, they can go home,” she jokes. “These days, F&B needs marketing and you can’t do it alone. Thankfully my team is happy to help.”
(Almost) Same menu, same prices
The second outlet features the same menu items as the Woodlands branch with eight mains like Chicken Chop, Rib-eye Steak, and Grilled Salmon, priced between $8.50 to $13.50.
All mains come with a sunny side up egg, your choice of carb (pasta or short-grain rice), veg (teppanyaki beansprouts or corn) and sauce (black pepper, mushroom or a mix of both).
Snacks include Taiwanese popcorn chicken and dan bing (egg crepe) from $3.80, with popular fillings like pork floss with cheese, and basil pork.
Taiwanese sausage with garlic dan bing, which is inspired by da chang bao xiao chang (which literally translates to “big sausage wraps small sausage”), is currently only available on request at Bedok.
“It’s a secret menu item,” says Cherry. “It just makes for a fun conversation for me to engage my customers. If they enjoy egg crepes then I’ll recommend it to them.”
The chicken chop ($8.50) is their bestseller.
Kiang Kiang Taiwan Teppanyaki is at 412 Bedok North Ave 2, S460412. Open daily from 11am to 8.30pm.
325 Woodlands St 32, S730325. Open daily from 10.30am to 8.30pm. More info via Instagram and TikTok.
Photos: Aik Chen, Kiang Kiang Taiwan Teppanyaki, henbaohen.bao/Instagram, Mr Yang/Google
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