I Ditched Office Work, Started a Food Stall Using My Grandma’s Recipes

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Ernest Ang, the 24-year-old founder of Kokoyo Nyonya Delights, a Peranakan eatery in Singapore. It has been edited for length and clarity.

When I was younger, I wasn’t allowed in the kitchen alone. My family always feared I’d burn it down.

So when I told my grandmother that I wanted to start my own restaurant, she thought it was just another one of my crazy ideas — I’d had many growing up.

I’ve always loved my grandmother’s food. She used to run a hawker stall selling Peranakan food.

Peranakan people like me have mixed Chinese and Malay ancestry, so our food is a fusion of Malay, Chinese, and Indian flavors. It’s very strong in flavor and very fragrant.

Last year, I started my own Peranakan food business, battling high rents, difficulty getting customers, and getting used to sweating in a kitchen for hours. I never looked back.

I never saw myself in an office job

I did an electronics engineering diploma, but realized I hated the idea of being an engineer. I didn’t know what job to pursue, but I knew what I didn’t want to do — engineering.

I tried looking for work in human resources and administrative roles, but I knew that wasn’t what I was cut out for.

My friends recommended I try something different because my grandma is a good cook, and I love to cook.

I decided to take a stab at it.

Pestering grandma to divulge secret recipes

My grandma is very secretive about her recipes. To her, they’re like an asset.

When I told her that I wanted to start my own restaurant, she thought I wasn’t committed to it and that I would give up after a month or two.

For months, I went to her house with ingredients, trying to watch how she cooked and take notes. This was a challenging process because she measured ingredients based on gut feeling.

I finally managed to figure out her recipes and develop a process for cooking for a restaurant.

Launching Kokoyo Nyonya Delights

I launched Kokoyo Nyonya Delights in August, after months of practising recipes and an SG$80,000, or about $62,000, investment. I rented a small open-air eatery in Singapore’s northwestern Serangoon neighborhood for SG$13,500 a month.

Three of my friends helped me out with cooking and operations.

My grandmother contributed some of her savings. I couldn’t have done it without her investment.

I started with 12 items on the menu, which included soups, vegetable dishes, and some meat dishes.

My grandmother told me to focus on the most popular Peranakan dishes, like inchi kabin, a fried chicken dish, and beef rendang, which is beef stewed in coconut milk and spices. Babi pongteh, which is braised pork in soybean sauce, is also one of our favorites.

Everything served at Kokoyo Nyonya has to be vetted by my grandmother. I’m not a certified chef. I don’t have a culinary background — I only have my grandma.

Cooking Peranakan food is a time-consuming and labor-intensive process. I get in at around 9 a.m. every day to make everything from scratch, because grandma doesn’t like me selling leftovers. I leave after 9 p.m. after feeding the dinner crowd.

There’s a lot of prep involved. Based on my grandma’s recipe, just cooking our rice is a 23-step, three-hour-long process.

While the first few weeks of operations were smooth, the real challenge came after we had an article written about us, and we started seeing a wave of customers.

The crowd was overwhelming, and I realized we couldn’t cope with it. That’s when I had to abandon some of the things my grandma told me to do, like ditching a wok in favor of a deep fryer to fry chicken.

Moving after less than a year

But less than a year after I opened in Serangoon, I had to move. My rent was also too high: SG$13,500 monthly. I couldn’t afford it.

And there were a lot of older people in the neighborhood where I opened my restaurant. I found that they weren’t too willing to spend a lot of money on food.

In July, I moved to a smaller stall in a food court near Singapore’s Sixth Avenue, a wealthy neighborhood where people are willing to spend more.

Rent here is much cheaper. I pay exactly half of what I did in my earlier location. I’ve also reduced the number of staff members from four to two.

At first, I wasn’t used to the long days in the kitchen. I was sweaty and grumpy.

But I later accepted that that’s what life as a restaurant owner is like. I work seven days a week, which doesn’t leave time for much else. I haven’t met my friends in a while, unless they come to see me.

But I like that it’s not a repetitive job. Every day comes with a new problem, be it difficult customers or problems with staff.

I don’t have regrets about trying to start something of my own.