Ben Yeo Lost More Than $100K From His Past Business Ventures

It’s probably not a stretch to say that Mediacorp actor-host Ben Yeo, 45, is one of the most successful celeb F&B entrepreneurs in Singapore.

The towkay currently has five F&B concepts to his name.

There's mod Chinese restaurant Tan Xiang Yuan and online biz Singapore Chee Cheong Fun, He also has roast meat and fish soup hawker stalls, as well as zi char joint Charcoal Fish Head Steamboat Restaurant. All of these were started in the last four years. He recently opened his second fish head steamboat outlet in Woodlands.

Oh, and there’s his National Day collab with McDonald's too.

Before Ben found success in F&B, he went through more than his fair share of business failures and financial setbacks. He shared his entrepreneurial journey on a recent episode of #JustSwipeLah.

The culinary-trained star started his first venture, a streetwear store at Far East Plaza, when he was just 20.

Then bright-eyed and full of ambition, he decided to quit his job as an assistant manager at a cafe to pursue his dream.

He borrowed $20K from his mum to start the business with a friend, who also invested the same amount.

“I was still ignorant... I felt I shouldn’t squander my youth, so I gave it a try. I only found out later that running a business is very tough,” admitted Ben.

On a good month, he would bring home $400, and on bad months, his income would be zero. To make ends meet, he had to get a part-time job as a pest control technician.

As luck would have it, he was talent scouted a few months later.

He decided to give up the business when he joined showbiz and sold his shares to his partner.

His loss? “At least $20K to $30K” in one year.

But that didn’t put him off dabbling in fashion.

When one of Ben’s clothing sponsors approached him to start a sneaker store a few years later, he jumped at the chance.

“I still felt unfulfilled and had a passion [to start a business]. I like sneakers very much,” he said.

Together with his sister, he invested around $100K to open Entrepôt at The Cathay in 2007.

Unfortunately, his timing could not be worse. The global financial crisis hit and the business struggled in its early years.

He decided to leave after three years due to differences in running the business. That experience cost him “around $70K to $80K”.

When 8days.sg reached out to Ben, he shared that luck also plays a part when it comes to running a business.

“Though I made a loss when I left the business, it is still around and doing very well,” he said.

“Having a celebrity brand attached to a business doesn’t guarantee success. A lot of factors come into play.”

One of the benefits is there is less to worry about when it comes to marketing the business.

“But on the flipside, everything you do will be magnified,” said Ben.

He recalled an incident where he was reprimanded by a customer who had waited more than two hours for his food at the fish head steamboat joint when it first opened in 2022.

“There were so many customers, but we didn't have enough kitchen staff then, so we couldn’t keep up with orders. The customer came up to me and said, ‘Just because you’re an artiste, you can do a business like that?’ I had a lot of questions marks in my mind. What has this to do with me being an artiste?” said Ben.

“I said to him, ‘Sorry for keeping you waiting.’ But he told me, ‘You don’t need to apologise to me, because you are already in the wrong.’”

For his third venture, instead of “pursuing [his] dreams just for the sake of it”, Ben decided to go back to his roots: F&B.

He started fusion pasta foodcourt stall Play Kitchen, which caught the eye of fried chicken chain Tenderfresh. It bought into Play Kitchen and Ben joined Tenderfresh as a partner.

Despite its success, he eventually left the biz in 2019 to start his own brand.

“I believe that I am fated to do F&B. Not only did all my F&B ventures make money, they also boosted my showbiz career. I got to host food programmes and the exposure opened doors to opportunities and collaborations like the one with McDonald’s,” he said.

Having dipped his toes in so many ventures, what advice does Ben have for aspiring entrepreneurs looking to start their own businesses?

“Don’t do it,” he said with a straight face. “I think that I should tell you how tough it is to run a business first [and] how small the chance of success is. And if you still feel that you want to do it, then go ahead.”