Mediacorp Baking Show Contestant Opens Rojak & Popiah Stall That Also Sells Cakes & Cookies
It’s not often you see a baker also selling rojak and popiah alongside cookies and cakes, but 35-year-old Michelle Goh is offering them all. The mum-of-two, who owns small standalone shop 2112 Bakery at a HDB unit in Toa Payoh, recently opened a rojak stall at Yew Tee Square’s Kopitiam, where she now sells her bakes as well.
Michelle first opened 2112 Bakery as a home-based biz back in 2019, shortly after quitting her job as a nail technician. At the time, she had been diagnosed with depression, and found herself only reaching out for one snack - Nutella tarts. This motivated her to delve into baking as a hobby, and soon enough, she’d perfected a Nutella tart recipe she deemed good enough to sell online. Michelle opened her first physical bakery at Toa Payoh in 2020.
Fast forward to today, and the baker spends her time split between making desserts at her bakery, and whipping up rojak at her hawker stall. Why sell rojak and cakes? She tells 8days.sg that it’s a last-ditch effort to save her baking biz, which hasn’t been doing well lately.
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Opened rojak stall after making $19K loss at her bakery
Though 212 Bakery got off to a decent start with Michelle successfully marketing her bakes online, her business started declining due to low footfall in the Toa Payoh neighbourhood.
In fact, the baker shares that she has made roughly $19K losses over the past six months. “It’s quite bad for a small business like mine, but I’m the longest tenant at the shop I’m renting, and everyone tells us they don’t want us to move,” Michelle says. She adds that she invested around $30K to open the bakery, but hasn’t recouped her investment yet.
To gain more exposure, Michelle starred in season two of Mediacorp baking show Creme De La Creme last August, and ended up placing sixth out of eight contestants on the show. While her onscreen appearance did generate some publicity for her, she says her sales didn’t really increase much.
Now, the baker plans to relocate once she finds an ideal location. However, she tells 8days.sg she can’t bear to shut down her Toa Payoh bakery yet, hence her decision to open a rojak stall at Yew Tee instead to hopefully cushion her finances.
Though Yew Tee is far from Toa Payoh, Michelle explains that she didn’t mind the location as it’s located inside an outlet of the Kopitiam chain: “I want to expand my business, so the easiest way is to open in a coffee shop. Once Kopitiam approves us, we can [open in] many Kopitiam locations if we bring them sales. They also have the crowd for us,” she explains.
Trying to keep biz afloat affects her mental health
She adds: “Opening the rojak stall is a gamble. I got very depressed [due to the poor business in Toa Payoh], so my husband asked me whether I wanted to just shut it down, but I didn’t want to waste my efforts. I know I can do it, I just need time. So he said okay, let’s do something else alongside your cakes and cookies, so we decided to do rojak”.
Why rojak? “We want to go towards selling local food that people will eat daily. Rojak and popiah are snacks, so people can have it even after dinner, at any time,” Michelle says.
Michelle invested another $20K to open her kopitiam shop. She admits that it’s a risk, but doesn’t regret it: “Of course it’s a bit of a concern, but I believe I can do it, I just need some time [to make more sales]”.
Thankfully, she says business here has been more promising, especially after a food blogger posted videos of her new stall online.
She says struggling to keep her business afloat affects her mental health, but Michelle tells us that she’s able to manage it: “I am taking medication that controls my anxiety and depression. So when things get bad, I’ll just ‘hide’ and bake. There are times that I’ll shut down [the shop] to think of what’s the next step I should take to preserve this business,” she shares.
Shuttles between Toa Payoh bakery and rojak stall
These days, Michelle shuttles between her Toa Payoh bakery and rojak stall, depending on which location needs more manpower. She has two staff at her kopitiam stall, and one staff helping her at the bakery.
Though baking was her first passion, Michelle is serious about her rojak as well. She proudly tells us she created a special rojak sauce - on top of the basic ingredients of prawn paste, sugar and assam, she also adds plum sauce to make her sauce sweeter and more robust. Her Rojak starts at $5 for a small plate, while her Popiah goes for $2.40 a piece. Michelle also sells a limited selection of bakes at the Kopitiam stall, including Swiss Rolls ($4.50), Oreo Cheesecake ($6.50 per slice) and MSW Durian Puffs ($5).
Meanwhile at her Toa Payoh bakery, Michelle’s most popular bakes include her Nutella Tarts ($26 a jar) and Banana Cake ($4.80 per slice; $36 a loaf).
Made-to-order cakes are also available, starting at $38 for a six-inch cake.
2112 Bakery (with rojak & popiah) is at #02-222/224 Yew Tee Square Kopitiam, 624 Choa Chu Kang St, S681624. Tel: 9688 2112. 2112 Bakery (Toa Payoh) is at #01-68 51 Lor 6 Toa Payoh, S310051. Open Tue - Sun 10.30am - 9pm, Mon 11am - 9pm.More info via website and Instagram.
Photos: 2112 Bakery
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