This 90+ Y/O mooncake biz once drew long queues—now its 3rd-gen owner isn’t sure it’ll survive

Traditional bakery Tai Chong Kok has been open in Singapore since 1935

For nearly a century, Tai Chong Kok has been a fixture in Singapore’s bakery scene, known for its handcrafted Cantonese pastries and traditional mooncakes.

Opened in 1935, the bakery once drew long queues at its Chinatown stall on Sago Street, with eager customers lining up for its freshly baked goods.

But behind the legacy lies a far tougher story: one of family tensions, outdated practices, financial risks, and an F&B landscape that spares no one.

Taking over the family business

Today, Tai Chong Kok is helmed by Ham Weng Seng, the third-generation owner of the business.

But if you asked Weng Seng’s older relatives, few would have guessed he’d one day take over the family business. It was founded by his grandfather, Tham Kai Chee, and after his passing, control of the bakery fell to his four sons.

Growing up, Weng Seng didn’t know much about the business. “My dad was just one of the directors. My mom is not involved in the business. So they never talked about business at home. There were other brothers and sisters that were involved in the business back then,” he shared.

He did eventually end up helping out in the business, though. After completing his national service, Weng Seng’s father roped him in, assigning him to sell cakes and pastries, handle general duties, and even make deliveries.

“Since you carry the same surname, you are expected to do everything,” he recalled. There was no special treatment, just long hours and minimal pay.

After working within the family business for 12 years, Weng Seng decided to step away and venture into other passions, including running two music shops as well as art galleries in Singapore and China.

But after learning that one of his uncles had planned to sell his share in the business, Weng Seng decided to seize the opportunity and become the de facto owner of Tai Chong Kok.

At the time, his uncles were pessimistic about the business’s future, seeing risks and challenges at every turn. “To my uncles, the cup [was] half empty. To me, it [was] half full. Difference in perception, I guess.”

“Change is difficult”

To buy out his uncle’s shares, Weng Seng re-mortgaged his house, taking on significant personal risk. His vision was ambitious: modernise and elevate Tai Chong Kok while preserving its traditions. But achieving that was far from easy, as he faced pushback from his family.

“The previous generations have been doing things their way for decades. Change is difficult—no one wants to entertain new thoughts and new ways of doing things,” he shared.

“All the partners must sleep on the same bed and have the same dream. It’s difficult to run a business otherwise.” While he didn’t go into detail, this tension was part of why he had to buy out his uncle’s shares to take control.

On top of this, taking over came with massive costs, from meeting compliance requirements to setting up a central kitchen to scale operations. There was no “proper accounting,” licenses, or employment passes. Weng Seng had to establish SOPs from scratch.

Industrial kitchen equipment is also very expensive. He shared that a rotary oven could cost around S$50,000. “No one will lend you one to try out. Obviously, my competitors will not share with me the type of equipment that they are using. So, no trial and error.”

“If I misread the market, I would lose the shirt off my back. I can lose the shirt off my back, but not my children,” he added, underscoring the stakes of taking over a decades-old business.

Growth has stalled

Weng Seng’s efforts paid off. By 2023, Tai Chong Kok had nine outlets, all featuring modern store fronts designed to appeal to today’s consumers.

“Singaporeans are well-travelled these days,” he noted. “Beautiful shopping malls and stores in Bangkok, Hong Kong, Seoul, Tokyo, and Shanghai set expectations. If my stores aren’t attractive, no one will go in.”

However, much of the growth has stalled since then. Singapore’s F&B market is “ultra-competitive,” and the pandemic took much of the wind out of its sails.

“We’ve yet to recover our losses, and then everything went up. Rents, utilities, payroll, logistics, and compliance costs went up significantly. I think that it derails every business’s plan by five years here.”

On top of that, global uncertainties like supply chain disruptions, wars, and the US tariffs continue to put pressure on operations. As such, Tai Chong Kok’s focus right now is on rebuilding finances before considering any further expansion, especially as competition in Singapore’s F&B scene continues to intensify.

The only people selling mooncakes back in the days were the bakeries in Chinatown. Nowadays we have restaurants, cafes, airlines, newspaper companies, hoteliers, ice-cream sellers and durian sellers selling mooncakes. 

The “hard truth”

When asked about the future of Tai Chong Kok, Weng Seng remained realistically bleak, acknowledging the uncertainties and challenges that lie ahead.

“Everyone thinks F&B is an easy business. I don’t know where they got that misconception from,” he said. “Just look at the companies listed on the SGX and their bottom lines—how many of them are actually in F&B?”

Running a bakery, he explained, is capital-intensive, labour-intensive, and difficult to scale. It’s not a viable business model if the “boss has to be physically present every day.”

Hiring is another challenge: few people want to work for an SME in today’s market, and as such, planning a succession for the company has proven to be extremely difficult.

Weng Seng shared that it requires someone with both domain knowledge of the F&B industry and hands-on experience within Tai Chong Kok. Even with the right person, not everything will go according to plan, and navigating the future of a family business is rarely straightforward.

That’s why Weng Seng is blunt about the future: “The company might not be around in 20 years’ time. That’s the hard truth.”

Also Read: “I’m a baker, not businessman”: Tai Chong Kok’s 3rd-gen owner preserves family’s 88-year legacy

Featured Image Credit: American Express/ Tai Chong Kok