NUS grad, 27, is canteen towkay

Customers mistake her for helper, ask her what she?s doing in canteen.

Sun, Jan 01, 2012
The New Paper

By Annabelle Liang

SHE is often mistaken for a helper who cleans the tables at Wei Wei Canteen. What the customers don't realise is that 27-year-old Su Weiying is the boss of the canteen located at Bedok North Street 5.

Said Miss Su with a laugh: "They often think the uncle who makes coffee is the boss, and I'm a helper he hired to serve coffee."

The National University of Singapore's real estate graduate started her venture into the business just five months ago. She hedged a little when asked about the monthly rent for the canteen - which sells drinks, mixed rice and Malay food - but conceded it's between $4,000 and $5,000.

As its sole owner, she also paid a five-figure sum to the previous owner to take over the canteen and everything in it, including the fixtures and furniture.

She paid everything out of her savings.

After she landed the tenancy of the canteen, Miss Su hired the man in his 50s to make coffee and another man in his 30s to take charge of the mixed rice stall.

She is currently looking to rent out the two other stalls in the canteen at $500 a month each. She made the news last week when she offered to waive the first month's rent - to encourage entrepreneurship. The stalls are still available.

Most customers were baffled when they found out that the university graduate is the canteen's boss.

Said Miss Su: "When customers found out that I'm a graduate, they looked at me and asked what I'm doing here. I told them I was serving them coffee. The uncles thought I was silly."

When asked if she was known as the new chick on the block, Miss Su laughed and said customers were just surprised.

She added: "It doesn't matter whether you are a degree holder or not in this business. And I don't think my degree in real estate helps very much."

Even with a degree, there was a need to learn how to make coffee - an art she is still trying to master, she said.

Miss Su felt that interacting with the customers - who mostly complain about their bosses or give feedback - is one of the things she really enjoys when working at the canteen.

That, and wearing slippers and shorts to work, which was impossible at her previous job in hotel valuations.

The canteen opens from 7am to 6pm on weekdays. It closes at 4pm on Saturdays and is closed on Sundays.

Miss Su admitted that some people mistook her age and inexperience as vulnerability and tried to exploit it.

For example, a couple of her previous stallholders raved about their cooking - convincing her to rent out the stalls to them - but customers complained about the food that was served to them.

The stallholders quit after she relayed the customers' feedback to them.

When asked why she chose to invest in a canteen, she said that since young, she had always wanted to be her own boss.

She added: "I thought about opening a theme cafe, a restaurant, or even an online shopping site. "I can't cook well, so I thought running a canteen was the next best thing.

"I'm earning almost nothing for now, but I guess that's what happens when you start a business on your own."

Family support

But Miss Su is not alone. She has strong support from her family.

Her mum, 53-year-old cabby Wendy Goh, dropped by and cleaned the tables while The New Paper interviewed Miss Su.

She later dropped off a car for Miss Su to drive home to a flat in Hougang, which is 15 minutes' away from the canteen.

For a month after the canteen's opening, her mother dropped by for a few hours daily before heading to work.

Her brother, 30-year-old Jerry, who works in the civil service, would help her out at the canteen on weekends.

Her parents had reservations about her venture.

Miss Su said: "They were very concerned because they felt it was a huge risk to take."

But now they seem to be more at ease as Miss Su is doing just fine.

In less than a year, she has expanded her venture.

She invested more than $5,000 in a fishball noodle stall in Toa Payoh, partnering an elderly couple who will set up and operate the stall that is due to open on Monday.

She said: "I will have to run around and manage both the canteen and this new noodle stall. It's going to be difficult, but this was all part of the plan to expand my business."

This article was first published in The New Paper.