Sisters Sell Cheaper Smoothies Inspired By Famous LA Grocery Shop Erewhon At Siglap Home, Draw Queues

Run by Lew Su Ling, 32, and her sister-in-law Lydia Batricia Azman, 23, Two Sisters' Smoothie opened in December last year and has been stirring up quite the buzz on social media lately. The smoothie bar is set up at the front of their parents' detached house and includes a sitting area with about eight to 10 chairs. Customers order from the pair’s makeshift counter and wait for their drink to be served to them. 

Inspired by star-studded Erewhon smoothies

Inspired by upmarket American grocery chain store Erewhon’s smoothies that became viral in 2023, this home-based smoothie bar offers 10 different options with cheaper prices ranging from S$5.90 to S$7.90 vs the American version made with organic, health-centric ingredients starting from US$8 (S$10.66).

The organic grocer and cafe Erewhon, is a California-based high-end, health-focused brand with 11 locations in Los Angeles. Known for its pricey products and being a fave with celebs, the brand gained a lot of attention on social media in 2022 after they released a smoothie in collaboration with Hailey Bieber. Erewhon claims the Hailey Bieber's Strawberry Glaze Skin smoothie made with almond milk, strawberries, vanilla collagen⁠, hyaluronic acid⁠, coconut cream, sea moss gel, avocado, maple syrup and dates, and which costs a whopping US$20 (S$26.55) per cup, will make your skin glow if drunk consistently. 

Erewhon has since collaborated with other celebrities like Sabrina Carpenter (adorably named Short n’ Sweet) and internet personality Nara Smith (the Wellness From Scratch) to create other smoothies, each costing between US$21 to $23 (S$27.99 to $30.65). 

The Erewhon smoothies are concocted with organic, ethically-sourced ingredients, similar to the rest of the groceries found at the market, plus skin-boosting ingredients – which explains the steep prices.

Flavours available at Two Sisters’ Smoothies

But back to Two Sisters’ in Singapore. Here, customers are given a choice of three bases for their drinks: Almond milk, coconut water or apple juice, which are also ingredients found in Erewhon’s smoothies. Given the lower prices here, don’t expect organic ingredients or special stuff like hyaluronic acid⁠. It’s mostly similar in base ingredients and aesthetics. 

Their most popular drinks are the Strawberry Glaze ($5.90 for medium, $6.90 for large) comprising fresh strawberries, bananas, yogurt, homemade strawberry jam and a choice of base liquid; and The Islander ($5.90 for medium, $6.90 for large), a blend of fresh mangos, pineapples, bananas, charcoal powder, yogurt, homemade mango jam and a choice of base.

Currently, they also offer two seasonal drinks: Strawberry Matcha ($7.50) , containing strawberry, matcha, bananas and a choice of base, as well as Please Tachio Date Me ($6.90 for medium, $7.90 for large), a blend of pistachio nuts, dates, banana, yoghurt, cornflakes and a choice of base. 

“All our drinks can be healthy, refreshing or creamy depending on what base you choose. We don’t really want to limit our customers,” said Lew, who works as a recruiter in HR.

“Almond milk would generally be creamier, coconut water would be healthy and more refreshing and apple juice may be slightly sweeter but still refreshing,” she added. 

Lew said that their idea to start the business stemmed from their love for smoothies. 

“On such a hot day, just walking to an MRT station will make you perspire, and we always want a cold drink when we sweat,” explained Lew. “A smoothie is perfect for the weather, something fun that we can create and is pleasing to look at aesthetically.”

It’s no wonder the pair’s modest business has seen lines of cars parked outside their house and streams of customers longing to try their smoothie creations. Attracting residents even outside of the Siglap neighbourhood, many are flocking to the east side’s newest hot spot.

Desire for a healthy post-workout treat 

The pair said that their love for smoothies blossomed after they attended many exercise classes and found themselves craving a post-workout drink. 

“I do a lot of spin classes while Su Ling goes for a lot of BFT (Body Fit Training). We always want a healthy drink after and tend to gravitate towards smoothies,” said Azman, who's currently an undergraduate at the Singapore University of Social Sciences.

Two Sisters Smoothies thus offers fruit blends with healthier substitutes like their homemade mango and strawberry jams and yoghurt.

“Even just walking home from work, smoothies were always the go to option instead of other drinks like bubble tea,” she added.

R&D for six months 

For six months prior to opening, the two tried and tested many different combinations of fruits to see which blends hit the sweet spot. 

“We realised there was a gap in the market for smoothies catered towards local taste buds,” Azman said, citing it as one of the reasons the pair decided to start Two Sisters’ Smoothies.

“We started off with very common flavour palates that everyone enjoys like strawberry and mango,” she said. “Afterwards we decided to incorporate fruits like pineapple and mandarin orange which are more citrusy and pack a bit of a punch that Singaporeans really like.”

Lew added that at first, the two were not familiar with the proportions needed for “good smoothies” which they identify to have a “perfect thick consistency” that is not too diluted or icy.

But with the help of the tastebuds of their friends and family, they managed to perfect their recipes.

“They have been our guinea pigs for the longest time,” Lew said. “They gave us a lot of good feedback like what they are looking out for in a drink, what they like or dislike about the drink – it has been very helpful."

“We even asked them to fill up a survey form. It’s quite serious,” Lew added, with a laugh. The pair said that they would review the forms and identify key areas of improvement and tweak their drinks accordingly. 

Before setting up the shop, Lew and Azman had also obtained food handling certifications each but said that they did not require any other licence to run Two Sisters’ Smoothie. 

Biz slow at first

When Two Sisters’ Smoothie first opened in December 2024, business was rather slow. 

“I think the challenging part was getting the word out at the start because both of us are pretty shy in terms of putting our face and house out there,” Lew said. 

“You need a kind of personality to make videos, to relate to the crowd, so that was really challenging for both of us at the start, but we are kind of getting the hang of it; making videos and being comfortable on the screen.”

Lew added that when the pair first started, a lot of their customers were their neighbours and people living in the Siglap area.

“Before we opened, we went door to door to each household and around the park connector to distribute flyers,” Azman said. 

Lew noted since the shop had a largely younger customer base, it was quieter in December due to the holiday season and the frequent rain.

But since then, the business has taken off on social media and have even seen customers making their own videos to document their experience at their store. 

“We are very lucky that a lot of customers have found us on TikTok and Instagram – those platforms really helped us shed some light on our little shop,” Lew said. “We’re so thankful for all the regulars and brands that reach out to us for collaborations.”

But with more customers showing up and still being only a two-man show, Lew said that ensuring the shortest turnaround time possible started to pose a challenge. 

“For instance, today (Sunday), there were a lot of people, and we were running out of a lot of things like ice, so we really had to make sure that we still gave customers their orders without taking too long.” 

Future plans

But for now, it’s still early days for Two Sisters’ Smoothies. The pair still wishes to build the brand first before thinking of expanding. 

“For now, our focus is still our home-based shop because we are pretty new and are still growing our customer base,” Lew said. 

“It will depend on the crowd and if there is something we might need to improve on, before we come up with an official shop,” she added.

“Right now, it’s rent-free also so we can afford not to be too stressed about this project of ours. If we want to set up a shop, it would be somewhere in the future.”

Two Sisters’ Smoothie is at 5 Frankel Cl, S458119. Open Sat-Sun at 9.30am to 5pm (closed noon to 1pm). www.instagram.com/twosisterssmoothie/

Photos: Two Sisters' Smoothie

Source: CNA/cg

The original version of this story first appeared in CNA.

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