Viral Ex-School Canteen Hawker Launches New Matcha Latte Pop-Up At Katong
Rayner Tan, who became Internet-famous for his heartwarming videos on serving vegetarian food to young schoolkids, has pivoted to running a home cafe and a two-month pop-up in Katong selling Gen Z-trendy matcha drinks.
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Just weeks after pivoting from a canteen at Mee Toh School to a home-based cafe, viral school canteen vegetarian hawker Rayner Tan is back behind a counter again. This time, the 27-year-old is running a pop-up at Katong Shopping Centre till next February.
The pop-up is not a brand new concept, but an extension of his home-based cafe, Corner Pane. For now, Rayner is treating it as a trial rather than a commitment, especially after his rollercoaster year in 2025. “It’s a two-month thing,” Rayner Tan tells 8days.sg. “Whether I continue after that will depend on the demand.”
No part of this story or photos can be reproduced without permission from 8days.sg.
The pop-up is not a brand new concept, but an extension of his home-based cafe, Corner Pane. For now, Rayner is treating it as a trial rather than a commitment, especially after his rollercoaster year in 2025. “It’s a two-month thing,” Rayner Tan tells 8days.sg. “Whether I continue after that will depend on the demand.”
No part of this story or photos can be reproduced without permission from 8days.sg.
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Subletted space from veteran hawker
Rayner’s pop-up sits within an existing coffeeshop stall run by a veteran hawker selling economical bee hoon. It is located near the famous Katong Mei Wei Chicken Rice.
“I’m sharing the stall with this uncle who has been here for over 10 years,” the Gen-Zer explains. “He also ‘mentors’ other people running different concepts. I’m the latest one.”The arrangement came about after Rayner chanced upon a subletting listing online and decided to reach out to the older hawker on a whim. He now pays the veteran stallowner, whom Rayner refers to as Uncle Johnny, to use the space. Beyond this business arrangement, Uncle Johnny has generously shared his own recipes with Rayner.
“He has been helping me here and there,” Rayner says. ”He recently taught me how to make lu rou fan, which I’ve adapted to my liking and started selling too.”
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Expanded menu, but still a one-man show
Running the pop-up means longer hours and more juggling for Rayner. But this hardworking young lad isn’t exactly fazed.
“I’m at Katong from Tuesday to Saturday, and will operate longer on Saturdays,” he says. “On Mondays and Fridays, I run [my home cafe] Corner Pane in Punggol.”The Katong outlet has allowed him to expand his menu to offer more items, compared to his modest home-based setup. “I’m exploring more fun options,” he says.
New, funkier items at his Katong pop-up include flavoured matcha drinks that go beyond his original Corner Pane cafe menu. There is a Blueberry Matcha ($6.50), which features a base layer of sweet blueberry purée that cuts through the earthiness of the tea.
Another crowd-pleaser is the Banana Bread Matcha ($6.50), finished with a fruity banana bread–inspired cream and a light dash of cinnamon for warmth.
Rayner has also introduced a Sea Salt Cold Foam Macchiato ($5.50), which leans into the sweet-savoury contrast popular with Gen Z customers.
For something more local, there is the Roselle Cloud Matcha ($6.50), which he cheekily describes as an “atas bandung”, combining floral roselle notes with matcha topped with creamy foam.
Still, Rayner is upfront about the limits of what he can handle alone. “It’s a one-man show,” he explains, adding that he might continue adjusting his operating hours. “It’s so dependent on what timings people want [my shop to be open].”
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Challenges abound
Unlike his earlier ventures, Rayner is not rushing to talk about sales. “I haven’t really tracked it yet,” he admits when we ask how many cups he had sold within the first few days of his pop-up.
For him, his Katong stint is less about immediate results, and more about learning how to operate outside of a home or school canteen setting. “It’s my first time running a business ‘outside’ and I’m still gauging how things are running,” he says.Rayner says he is also learning how to navigate supplier relationships. “I’m trying to do a bigger variety of things, such as wedding pop-ups and pre-packed food, so I’m meeting up with more suppliers,” he shares.
With everything happening back to back, he says there has not been much time to slow down. “One of the reasons is that this is all very rushed,” he adds.
Earlier in November, Rayner went viral after posting a TikTok video of him gently correcting a student who tossed money at him at his school canteen stall, earning praise from netizens for teaching schoolkids basic manners. The video was later taken down after parents allegedly complained to the school.
While the incident played a small part in his eventual decision to close his stall, Rayner tells 8days.sg that he was not asked to leave the school, and the main reason he stepped away was due to the financial strain of not earning enough income from running his canteen stall.
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Finding a corporate job
After a year that has taken him from a school canteen to a home-based café and now, a Katong pop-up, Rayner is candid about not having everything figured out yet.
“What would convince me to stay longer?” he laughs. “Everything depends on the demand.”The two-month run is, for now, a way to steady himself after what he described as a “back-to-back” period of change. While the pop-up gives him a chance to learn more about running a business, Rayner says he is also keeping his career options open.
The former engineer shares that finding a corporate job is still not out of the question for him, given how unpredictable the past year has been for his finances.
Where he once earned between $4,000 to $6,000 a month as an engineer, his current income from his various ventures, including his home-based cafe Corner Pane and pop-up stints, now averages between $1,000 and $3,000. He has since stopped giving his parents a regular allowance, though he says they understand and remain supportive of his decision to pursue F&B full-time.
“From being an engineer to selling food as a canteen vendor, I took a huge pay cut, and it is eating into my savings,” he confesses.
According to Rayner, his customers at the pop-up include netizens who had followed and supported his businesses, friends and teachers he had met at his time in Mee Toh School, as well as students and their parents.
“I feel encouraged whenever I see the support, and it really makes me want to continue doing what I’m doing,” says Rayner, adding that 2025 has been “interesting and exciting” so far. For now, the Gen Z entrepreneur is taking things as they come till next February.
Corner Pane @ Katong is at Katong Shopping Centre, B1-132, 865 Mountbatten Road, S437844. Open Mon to Fri 8am - 3pm, Sat 8am - 5pm
Corner Pane (home cafe) is at the ground floor of Blk 645 Punggol Central, S820645. Open Mon & Fri 5pm to 8pm.
Visit Instagram or TikTok for more info.
Photos: Sng Ler Jun and Rayner Tan
No part of this story or photos can be reproduced without permission from 8days.sg.
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