SMU Undergrad, 25, Becomes Hawker Selling Shiok Prawn Hotpot Despite Objections From Popular Hawker Parents
Nestled within the somewhat ulu Bedok Industrial Park, the usually “super quiet” 7 Stars Coffee Shop has been given a boost of life in recent weeks thanks to new stall Hae! Prawn Claypot, which opened on June 2.
Run by 25-year-old Singapore Management University business undergrad Ashley Tan, Hae! offers claypot prawn soup, which you cook hotpot-style with your choice of steamboat ingredients over a charcoal stove. It’s hard to miss her stall with its bright orange signboard and charcoal stoves stacked in front.
Ashley started the biz with her brothers Tommy (left in top pic), 27, and Nicholas (right), 24, who are the second-generation owners of popular decade-old yong tau foo chain Bai Nian and Shi Nian, which sells pig leg rice. The brands have a total of 40 outlets (including franchises) across Singapore. The brothers also own Chinatown restaurant Nic & Tom Eatery, which serves “affordable Asian and Western comfort food” like pasta and braised pork trotters.
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Parents initially against Ashley joining hawker trade
Unlike her siblings who have been involved in the family business since they were in school, Ashley, being the only daughter, is doted on and never allowed to help out, much to her dismay.
Furthermore, she’s the only member of the family who has a degree, so her parents wanted her to “climb the corporate ladder”. The closest she came to working in the family business was waitressing at Nic & Tom part-time.
“My parents were strongly against me becoming a hawker, especially my dad ’cos I am a daddy’s girl. He said being a hawker is very tough. The workplace is hot and there’s a lot of manual labour involved, why do you want to go through hardship? But I am passionate about cooking and really wanted to be part of the family business,” Ashley tells 8days.sg.
After convincing her brothers to support her, Ashley, who was previously working in asset management at a bank (she declines to reveal where) for "a few months", focused her efforts on changing her parents’ minds.
Rather than join Bai Nian and Shi Nian, which are self-sustaining, Tommy suggested Ashley start a new concept and he would show her the ropes.
Inspired by the popularity of claypot la la soup, she decided to offer something similar but using prawns. She also wanted a hotpot concept as the communal dining experience is “aligned with their family values” and something they grew up eating together.
She did a formal business pitch to her parents
“I had to pitch the business to my family as they are my investors. I prepared a business proposal detailing the marketing direction, content planning and financial projections, and presented it to them,” laughs Ashley.
It took her parents around six months to warm up to the idea: “I think they saw that I was very serious about starting this hawker venture and that my brothers would support me 100 percent.”
The siblings invested around $80K to open Hae! at Bedok industrial park as they were attracted to the affordable rent and how spacious the 100-table kopitiam is, though Tommy admits he had his initial reservations.
“I’m worried even when I open a stall at a hawker centre with a lot of footfall, but now she wants to open here where there’s totally no walk-in traffic, your marketing must be good enough to draw the crowd,” he reasons.
“One weekend we were here setting up the stall before our opening, the coffee shop was so quiet, there was not a single soul, it was scary.”
His worries were unfounded. Thanks to Ashley’s parody marketing and social media skits, business has been “better than expected”. Hae! sees bustling business during dinner service and can sell “around 80 servings of prawn claypot daily”. Ashley lets her young team of around 10 run the kitchen, while she takes on a more management role.
“I told my brother that the marketing is not bad. Maybe we can get her to help market Bai Nian and Shi Nian too,” quips Tommy.
Second outlet in the works
Now that Ashley has proven that she has the business chops, the siblings are working on opening a second outlet, also situated in an industrial estate. Nicholas let on that they have found a coffee shop space near PLQ Mall in Paya Lebar and target to open at the end of this month.
Hae!’s new branch will feature the “same prawn claypot but with a different soup base”.
“We want to separate ourselves from our competitors by offering a different soup base for each outlet,” he says.
Why not wait till the business stabilises before expanding?
“We feel it is a unique concept and there’s currently a lot of traction for Hae, so we want to capitalise on it. Also, the location is good, it would be a waste if we don’t get it,” says Ashley.
Even her dad is excited about the new outlet.
“He’s the one pushing me and asking when we are opening,” laughs Ashley. “After he saw how well we did in the first week, he became confident in our business.” They hope to break even on their investment in “six months to a year”.
Specialty Prawn Broth, $28.80 (8 DAYS Pick!)
For $28.80, we got a large claypot prawn soup with eight huge tiger prawns the size of our hand. The crustaceans, which are flash-fried before being boiled to bring out their flavour, are succulent and sweet. We particularly enjoy sucking out the briny goodness from the heads. Feeds about two to three pax.
Free soup refills, dips and a sauce station
Customers can help themselves to unlimited refills of prawn or collagen broth, the latter made from brewing pork bones for at least three hours. As the prawn broth can get cloying over time with all the added hotpot ingredients, the collagen broth helps mellow out the flavour.
Sauces and condiments are also free. Besides the usual suspects like chilli padi, sesame sauce and minced garlic, the sauce station, which looks a mini, modest version of Hai Di Lao’s also features four housemade chilli sauces, including Bai Nian’s signature chilli. Our favourites are the fiery Hae! chilli that pairs well with the prawns and tangy Fragrant chilli, which tastes like Thai dipping sauce nam jin.
Hae Mee, $9.80
Hae! also whips up a pretty good fried Hokkien mee. Also served in a claypot, the noodles are on the saucy side, braised in rich, umami gravy. It may lack wok hei, but it makes up for it in flavour and is truly slurp-worthy. It comes with three tiger prawns, and a generous serving of sliced pork belly and crispy pork crackling. Pair it with their housemade sambal for an extra kick.
Hei Zho, $7 (8 DAYS Pick!)
Hae! offers sides a small selection of sides that you can munch on while waiting for your food to cook. One of our favourites is the deep-fried prawn roll, which is also sold at Bai Nian. These crisp orbs boast a generous filling of fish and prawn paste and chunks of shrimp. It’s a tad salty, but succulent and moreish. It could be more generous with the water chestnuts, though.
The fried chicken wings ($1.60 for wing + drumlet) are yummy too. Well-seasoned with a homely taste, it reminds us of the fried chicken our grandma used to make.
DIY Smores Kit, $9.80
For dessert, there’s the slightly localised DIY Smores kit, which comes with marshmallows, butter crackers and chocolate - enough to make around six servings – along with instructions on how to roast the marshmallows over the charcoal stove and assemble the treat. Fun to make and eat, even if it’s a little dry.
Bottom line
We’re fans of hae mee soup so to be able to indulge in a hearty hotpot with unlimited refills of prawn broth is a huge plus for us. The umami soup is indulgent, and we appreciate that there are hotpot offerings made from scratch like prawn paste and fried tofu. The side dishes are pretty yummy, too. If only the stall was in a more convenient location.
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