For The Love Of Food, Vintage Trinkets, And People
Gina Lau From Brunches Cafe on making a career switch and taking challenges in her stride.
“I hope customers can see the difficult side of running a F&B business and appreciate it more.”
After graduating from university, Gina started her career working at her family’s marine hardware supply business.
But deep down, she still harboured dreams of starting her own F&B business.
It was only six years later when Gina finally decided it was time to pursue her real passion and take up a culinary course at SHATEC.
Thereafter, she worked in a variety of places — from hotels to bakeries — to diversify her culinary skills before starting Brunches Cafe.
The all-day Western breakfast cafe was opened by Gina three years ago with her aunt and business partner, Irene, a vintage collector who brought her 16 year old collection to the table.
The pair had always been good travel buddies, and as it turned out, they also shared an interest in F&B. Together, they found the perfect place and came up with the cafe’s bright and youthful yet vintage decor.
Gina shares her experiences on transiting from office to kitchen, and the challenges of sustaining a cafe business in Singapore.
When parental support is paramount
“Most importantly, I needed them to support my decision [to leave the family company]. If they needed me, I wouldn’t have left.
Everything was stable at the company then, so I decided to pursue my passion while I still could.
When you’re doing something you are interested in, you’re happy coming to work every day. Overall, this has been a good experience so I’ve never regretted taking this risk and trying out a different path.”
On being a female chef:
“We are definitely a minority in all hot kitchens. But the chef tends to teach you more and give you more opportunities. Of course, you need to be willing to take the hardship and learn.
Most of the experienced chefs are male, and when they see that you are female and that you are keen to learn, they feel more willing to help you out. They will also be more caring towards us [females] as compared to the other male chefs.
Most of the time, female chefs who go into the hot kitchen will eventually opt to go to cold kitchens or pastries where the environment is not so hard on you.
I personally don’t mind working in the hot kitchen. For me, the heat and the hardship is not a problem.”
Challenge #1: Manpower shortage
“In F&B, everyone is facing a manpower challenge.
Turnover is high generally.
It’s hard to get locals to work in F&B, so you end up relying on foreigners like Malaysians. But the government quota is very strict.
We try to employ locals but its really not easy. This industry means long hours, low pay, not glamorous. Sometimes you will meet with nasty customers and you have to bear with it.
For the same salary, many would prefer to do an admin job where you get to sit for eight hours rather than stand.
The person must also be interested in this industry to survive.”
Challenge #2: Pleasing picky palettes
“Matching Brunches’ menu to customers’ palette was a challenge as well. When we first started out, our menu was completely different from what we offer now.
We initially thought our customers would love sandwiches, something different. But we found that they loved the traditional western food, all-day breakfast, etc.
So we tweaked our menu on a quarterly basis, removing unpopular items and introducing new dishes.
We tried different things, explored, got feedback from our customers and made changes to our menu for almost a year before we got it right.
It was a very tedious journey as it took some time to work out. Now our menu is pretty set and we introduce new dishes every quarter based on the season.”
Lean and (not so) mean
“My management style is quite straightforward. I keep my team lean so there’s no hierarchy, and I make sure that the team works together like a family.
Many of our customers even mistake us for sisters, because we work very closely together. I emphasise on the team building synergy and a bond.
It’s not so much about being a female boss, but how you manage your team.
I try to talk to them often and go out for meals together, and I make it a point to remind them to not be demoralised by the negative moments in their daily work and to not take it to heart.
I always tell my staff that we need to give customers a good holistic experience.
It’s a dining experience, not just about eating.
You can go to other places and find a similar chicken steak, but it’s the whole experience we provide that we hope will keep loyal customers coming back. To achieve this is actually really challenging in the current industry.
Customer service is a two-way street.
“Food is very subjective and you really can’t satisfy everyone. There are bound to be days when you experience setbacks and get negative feedback.
But ultimately, it’s really about motivating yourself again and again. It’s part and parcel of surviving in this industry.
If we let every negative experience demoralise us, we wouldn’t be able to carry on.
One customer can ruin everyone’s day. Even then, we still have to be professional about it, move on and keep doing your best for the rest of the customers.
In Singapore, the market is small and everyone’s competing for the same pool of customers. So some customers end up feeling like they are king, because they have decided to come to this particular place and they are paying.
I hope customers can see the difficult side of running a F&B business and appreciate it more.”
Ready to get retrospective over brunch? A train ride down to Farrer Park MRT topped off with a 5 minute walk down Rangoon Road — that’s all it takes to get fluffy pancakes over funky furniture at Brunches Cafe.
