He’s also launching a new soybean drink chain.
He’s also launching a new soybean drink chain.
Singapore’s F&B industry has been left reeling from the impact of Covid-19, with popular eateries scrambling to cover rent and well-loved hawkers like Empress Teochew Beef Kway Teow shuttering. But not all is gloom and doom; amidst the sad news of closures , there are also businesses which managed to thrive. Like bubble tea stall Beautea at Bukit Merah’s ABC Brickworks Market & Food Centre, which is run by ‘Song Joong Ki-lookalike’ young hawker Zhou Zhen Yang. 8days.sg first reported on the 26-year-old last September. The Singapore PR, who moved to Singapore with his parents from Chongqing when he was nine, started working on opening a BBT business while serving NS. After our story went viral, Zhen Yang gained lines of thirsty fans who’d queue at his stall for up to an hour for bubble tea — veteran filmmaker Jack Neo loves his brown sugar pearl milk . Despite his newly-minted heartthrob status, Zhen Yang tells us he’s still currently single (well, expect an even longer queue of eager ‘Song Joong Ki’ stans after this). Due to fortuitous timing, Beautea is unaffected by the government’s latest “circuit breaker” measures , as ABC Market was already scheduled earlier to close from March 16 to May 15 for renovation works.
His bubble tea stall is now so popular that Zhen Yang is opening a second Beautea outlet. We learn exclusively that it will be located in Toa Payoh Hub, next to Tiong Bahru Pau’s kiosk and a few doors down from a Gong Cha joint (pictured). “The menu is largely the same [as my ABC Market stall] with some new items,” Zhen Yang tells us. “But it’s like an upgraded version of Beautea.” Other than bubble tea, the takeaway unit will be split in half to offer an additional new concept: a snack stall called Cup Cup Noodles. It sells liang mian (Chinese cold noodle salad) and suan la fen (spicy and sour sweet potato noodles). “These noodles are very popular in my hometown of Chongqing,” he explains. “But we’ll be making it in a more atas and Singaporean way. It’s like cart noodles mixed and shaken with different ingredients.” The noodle recipes came from Zhen Yang’s aunt and mum (who also owns a beverage stall selling coffee and tea right opposite her son’s stall at ABC Market). He shares, “My mum and aunt used to run a hotpot restaurant in Chongqing, so they are experienced [in cooking]. I’m not so well-versed in cooking, but my mum has been teaching me how to cook the noodles. I’ve largely gotten the hang of it. It’s not very hard to learn; we don’t want to serve anything too complicated.” Once the stall opens, Zhen Yang and his mum will be temporarily doing the cooking at the noodle stall. “My mum will help out for a few days, but we’ll be hiring full-timers. She will still work at her coffee stall, but she wants to help me ’cos she’s concerned (laughs).” Plans to open the new outlet sometime this month were scuppered by Covid-19. “I’ve put a deposit for the shop, but the renovation works will only start in June, and finish around August,” says Zhen Yang, who partnered his friend (who runs local pasar malam and event BBT stall MilkPapa) to set up the outlet. While prices for his bubble tea at ABC Market average at a very wallet-friendly $2, expect to pay a bit more at the Toa Payoh outlet. “The pricing will be similar to [fellow bubble tea brands] Koi or LiHo, around $2 to $5. The rent in Toa Payoh is very high, so I can’t charge the same prices as my ABC stall,” he says.
Other than the new Beautea outlet, Zhen Yang is also opening another new business, an upcoming chain of heartland soybean beverage shops called Soy Appetit (its Chinese name is a punny 豆你开心, which means ‘make you happy’). Besides soybean drinks, the chain will also offer gelato made with soy milk in interesting flavours. Zhen Yang declines to elaborate on the flavours citing trade confidentiality, but says that “prices start from $2 to $3 per item, and we will have some pricier items made with premium fruits”. Soy Appetit will be opening three outlets consecutively. The first outlet, a dine-in one, is located at Ubi Avenue, followed by two takeaway branches at Bedok Reservoir Road and St George’s Road in Bendemeer. Zhen Yang says, “We had planned to open on April 5, but we are pushing the opening to May due to the Covid-19 situation. I will be at the shops to train the staff during the initial opening period, but most of the time I’ll be based at my ABC Market stall.” He is working with “investors” for the chain, though he also declines to reveal more details about them. “I supplied recipes and procured the equipment,” he says of his role. “There were a few people who approached me to work with them to make Singaporean desserts, but I felt soy milk was the best. It goes well with ingredients like brown sugar.”
Beautea, #01-43 ABC Brickworks Hawker Centre, 6 Jln Bukit Merah, S150006. Open daily except Sun, 11am-3pm; 5pm-9pm. Second outlet at #01-552, 190 Toa Payoh Central, S310190. www.instagram.com/beauteasg . Soy Appetit’s first Ubi Ave outlet opens circa in May at #01-931, Blk 342 Ubi Ave 1, S400342. Subsequent two outlets at #01-113, Blk 3 St George’s Rd, S320003 and #01-3027, Blk 744 Bedok Reservoir Rd, S470744. PHOTOS: ZHOU ZHEN YANG
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