00:00There's so much more than just earning money, to be honest.
00:03But it's greater joy in seeing
00:05someone's life and family being uplifted.
00:11Hi, I'm Elizabeth. I'm from Kuih Ho Jia.
00:14We've been around for seven years.
00:22Kuih Ho Jia started by my mum.
00:24That was 13 years ago.
00:26She started Homebase
00:28and out of curiosity, as I was helping her
00:30just through word of mouth, without marketing
00:33there were just orders flowing in.
00:37Back then, my mum, in the kampong days
00:39because she had 11 siblings
00:41she was the last daughter, right?
00:43So she had to fight for everything that she wanted.
00:46She became very driven.
00:47So she started making her own ondeh-ondeh.
00:50Then she would go to different doors
00:53to house knocking, selling ondeh-ondeh.
00:55So it created that desire and passion in her.
00:59After trying different types of things
01:01she still loved making kuihs.
01:02She would be sitting down for hours, for many hours.
01:05You know, she'd just sit there and press the kuihs.
01:07It's something just very meaningful to her.
01:11You know, when I saw that her eyes were filled with passion
01:14and purpose of whatever she was doing
01:16so I wanted to, you know, let everybody know about it
01:19and to reach out to more people.
01:23Kuih Ho Jia means festive, means joy, means occasion.
01:27Our purpose and motto was to create kuihs that young people want to eat
01:31and to preserve the heritage and culture
01:33to really provide a healthier choice of kuih-kuihs with no colouring.
01:38I actually realised that a lot of young people, especially teenagers
01:42they don't eat kuih.
01:43They'll say, hi, you don't want to try free kuihs?
01:45They'll tell me things like, oh sorry, I don't eat kuihs.
01:48I started gathering a lot of feedbacks
01:51from the younger generation, why they don't eat kuih.
01:53A lot of people will tell me that
01:55because the ang ku kuih will stick on their teeth
01:58you know, or they will tell me things like, oh the kuihs are very sweet
02:01very jelak, you know.
02:02After taking one, I'm so full.
02:04But the more I did the research for Kuih Ho Jia
02:07the more I saw how passionate my mum was.
02:09Instead of being so rigid in our own mindset that
02:12okay, kuihs are supposed to be like that
02:14no, I started changing to things that they want
02:16yet sticking to its roots.
02:18She decided to make everything less sweet, less salty
02:22trying to play around with the designs, with the fillings
02:25trying to make it more modernised
02:27making a traditionally fusion kuih.
02:40So we hand-made the dough
02:42we hand-made the filling also.
02:44So sweet potatoes are the natural ingredients that we use to replace colouring.
02:52So before this, I was actually running my own curtain business.
02:55Back then, you know, I would dress up for work
02:58I would be meeting agents, interior designers.
03:01I mean, I liked art since young
03:02so I would mix and match fabrics, you know, to create something different.
03:06So it became the same when I came to Kuih Ho Jia.
03:09I made every kuih like a piece of art.
03:11Initially, when I joined the hawker industry
03:14I felt that I wanted to do something that was not just about making kuihs
03:18Initially, when I joined the hawker industry
03:22I found it very challenging.
03:24Starting everything from scratch again
03:26you know, it can be very intimidating.
03:27We have no experience in doing F&B at all.
03:30It has to be realistic, you know
03:32and I told myself that I'm not going to employ any staff
03:34I'm just going to be stationed at the hawker centre
03:36at least a good nine months to a year
03:38so I really know, like, how to run it
03:40and what are the things to look out for, you know
03:43and to really be close to the customers.
03:45You know, it's either all-in or all-out.
03:47You know, if I decided to go all-in
03:48you know, just really make the best out of it.
03:55There'll be people thinking, like, you know
03:57Oh, you're so young, why are you working in a hawker?
03:59You know, it doesn't mean that
04:00that place is like that, I have to conform to that place.
04:03So I make changes.
04:04It doesn't mean that I'm in a hawker, then I cannot beautify.
04:06So we actually, back then, in 2017
04:09we used Peranakan coloured glass.
04:11You know, we actually decorated our stall.
04:14So I don't believe so much about
04:17where the place is and the environment
04:19but more about, like, you know, making a change to
04:22create your own identity.
04:26At the start, when I worked with my mum
04:28it was very challenging
04:31because both of us are very strong in character, like
04:35when we feel that this is a decision that's really good for the business
04:38we'll go all out as well.
04:40When we first started, she was in charge of the production
04:43and I took charge of the marketing, the business development and everything.
04:47We constantly quarrelled badly
04:50because there are things that she probably doesn't see eye to eye
04:54and we don't know how to communicate.
04:56So it was like constantly struggling and
04:59and getting upset with each other, you know
05:02but it's very real, you know.
05:04It's very hard to segregate between, like, family and work
05:06because after work, you still see each other.
05:08This is the real truth of a family business.
05:10You know, I need to respect her.
05:12You know, that she's my boss and
05:13I need to respect that she definitely has more experience than me.
05:18You know, that was the turning point.
05:19And when I was willing to listen to her
05:21she was also willing to listen to me, yeah.
05:25Without this business, I don't think we would be where we are today.
05:29You know, today we are no longer like the past.
05:32You know, we know where our threshold is.
05:34But you know, I'm really thankful for this
05:37because it actually revived the whole family
05:40and it brought us so much closer.
05:42It makes us closer with our customers as well.
05:47I think it's really important to preserve the heritage and culture of kueh-kuehs
05:51because it's like, it started from back then
05:54our ancestors actually created all these delicacies, right?
05:56You know, every piece of kueh, the profit margin is really low
05:59but every piece of kueh has a lot of hard work in it.
06:03If we don't make a stand to preserve this heritage and culture
06:08these recipes, these kuehs, these delicacies, you know, will just die off.
06:14Then we'll play around with the colours.
06:21Can you all guess what I'm doing?
06:22No!
06:29It's our pineapple ang ku kueh.
06:32Every other business, not just kueh
06:34if you do not want to make a change
06:36if you do not want to reach out to more people
06:39using social media or so forth, right?
06:42You know, somehow, you know
06:44you will just be taken off from the list.
06:47So constantly, we have to be creators.
06:51You know, we have to be creators to attract people.
06:54I think the goal is to try to be different
06:57try to be as creative as we can
06:59and really to think out of the box.
07:01We played around with the designs, we played around with the colours
07:04and are yet sticking to our promise of making it no artificial colouring.
07:10It did come a point, you know, when I asked myself
07:12if I keep innovating, if I keep playing around with the colours
07:17the shapes, as well as the designs and the feelings
07:21will it come to a point where it's no longer authentic?
07:23Then I decided, hey, but if I do not improvise
07:27if I do not create and make it different
07:30the young people will not be willing to try.
07:33The designs are not traditional
07:35but what we do is we still sell the traditional kuehs
07:38at our store and our retails and online
07:40so that people can still know the actual beauty of kuehs.
07:45You know, the very origin of kuehs.
07:47So there has to be a balance there still.
07:51Like I say, because kueh hosiah is like a business of love
07:53to give out love, because we receive a lot of love also.
07:56I had a lot of customers who became our friends
07:59so when they see the queue very long
08:00they will even step forward to help me to sell.
08:03I still remember there was once a year I did like halal dumplings.
08:06We didn't speak for literally almost like close to two days.
08:09You know, I was so tired until I can hear like bees buzzing in my ear.
08:13Then I asked my mum, I was like, what are we doing?
08:16You know, like after that, you know, when my corporate clients
08:18write in to see how much their staff likes it and so forth
08:21somehow I will forget everything I said.
08:24And it's like a brand new start again.
08:26It's all these small little things that gives us drives to carry on.
08:31I think as Singaporeans, we all love food.
08:33You know, it's something very close to our heart.
08:36You know, like we are always on the go looking for what food is nice.
08:41You know, bring our friends to new places to try new food, right?
08:45I was thinking, what about let's do something different?
08:49Like let's do a farm to table concept workshop.
08:52You know, I believe there's no one like in the kueh making industry doing this.
08:56Everyone seems so strict.
08:59Everyone seems so stressed out after COVID and it became worse.
09:03You know, people being retrenched.
09:05I see that, you know, there's a lot of people like going into depression, even children.
09:09These are things that's very real that's going around.
09:13So I was thinking, you know, what can I do with what I have on hand?
09:18So I decided to come up with programs that actually works with more on the mental health.
09:24We have a new studio coming up in Chai Chee.
09:27So I wanted to do special series whereby, you know, we will bring you to tour around our little farm, our little garden.
09:34You know, you'll see the ingredients that we use mainly, which is sweet potatoes, pandan leaves, you know.
09:39Then after that, you know, if there's harvest, we'll use our harvest to make the kuehs in the workshop, the studio directly.
09:46Yeah, so it's supposed to be a therapeutic kueh making workshop whereby you slowly knead the dough,
09:51you listen to the music, you hear yourself, you know, you just be still, be slow and just enjoy the process.
10:00So this studio actually means a lot to me as well because it wasn't as of what I had planned back then.
10:09But I found a greater purpose and meaning to running this studio now because, you know, I mean, I'm a single parent myself.
10:15Of course, there are times that I can get very busy.
10:18So this workshop is really to, like, just be away from your phone for two hours to just give them this time and attention.
10:25I think that's what they really want.
10:26You know, if possible, I would want their, like, whole family to do it together, not just their mum.
10:35You know, we have been very blessed with very good colleagues and staff throughout this whole journey.
10:40They really fought hard together with us in the business.
10:43It's not easy doing an F&B business, but, you know, they held on to the vision and dreams we had together.
10:48I think that's the beautiful part about it.
10:52I think the other thing that I'm very grateful in this whole journey is that we have a lot of customers who takes care of us,
10:59who supports us in our business, who always spread, you know, spread about us to other people, to their friends and so forth.
11:06You know, they really didn't have to, but they are always there to share about us.
11:11Honestly, I've never, like, thought ahead, like, five to ten years.
11:15Of course, we have our vision and motto of where do we want to reach out in future for Kueh Ho Chia,
11:20what kind of community work do we want to do?
11:22Of course, I have had hard times whereby, you know, I was so stressed out at work.
11:27I got into, like, hormonal imbalance.
11:29I put on, like, 15 to 18 kg.
11:31I had a lot of distress in my body.
11:34And it's a journey that I'm thankful for because probably if I didn't reach there, I wouldn't know what I want today.
11:40So, I really believe now is, like, living in the moment because there's so much we can do only.
11:46You know, sometimes we plan ahead so much, but it just doesn't walk towards what we have planned.
11:53You know, instead, why not let's value the times we have our family, the quality times that we have.
11:59But I do hold on to something, like, always reminding myself, it's a constant reminder.
12:04If tomorrow I'm going to pass on, you know, what will I regret?
12:08Yeah, so constantly I will ask myself that to ensure that, you know, today I live myself to the fullest.
12:14Like, at least I know there's no regrets of what I'm doing today.
12:17Yeah.
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