“We got our fingers burnt”: 80+ Y/O F&B brands share hard lessons & survival secrets

Legacy brands Tong Heng and Lim Chee Guan have spent decades in F&B and are still learning

In Singapore’s fiercely competitive F&B landscape, most new eateries barely make it past a few years. Thin margins, soaring rents, labour shortages, and fickle consumer trends make closures a near-daily headline.

Yet, scattered across the city are rare exceptions: family-run brands that have thrived for decades, some spanning three or four generations. These businesses have weathered epidemics, economic downturns, and changing tastes—learning hard lessons along the way. 

We spoke to two such businesses, Lim Chee Guan and Tong Heng, to find out how they survived when so many others faltered, the mistakes they made along the way, and the strategies that allowed them to turn tradition into a lasting legacy.

1. Recognising when to pivot

For many heritage F&B businesses, longevity can become a double-edged sword. Strategies that brought success for decades can quickly turn into a liability if consumer preferences shift and the business doesn’t respond in time.

At Tong Heng, the warning signs became clear in the 2010s. While the brand remained well-known for traditional pastries—particularly its egg tarts—among older customers, Ana Fong, the fourth-generation owner of the business, noticed something worrying: younger diners were almost absent from the shop.

“Most of our walk-in customers were in their 40s and above,” she recalled, adding that it was rare to see anyone under 20. The brand had become familiar, but no longer relevant to the next generation.

The design of Tong Heng stopped at the 70s or 80s. It did not evolve.

Years of unchanged branding and retail design meant the shop felt frozen in time. Left unaddressed, that gap risked breaking the chain of continuity every heritage business depends on.

Recognising the urgency, Tong Heng embarked on its first major revamp in decades to modernise the brand and attract younger customers, while preserving the heritage and familiarity that long-time patrons cherished. Ana spent over eight months evaluating multiple creative agencies before selecting one to lead the redesign.

Today, its stores at Chinatown and Jurong Point are bright and inviting, with sleek glass display counters, refreshed packaging, and a contemporary interior.

2. Balancing between tradition & innovation

Keeping up with trends and evolving consumer preferences doesn’t have to mean compromising what makes a brand unique. For 87-year-old bak kwa brand Lim Chee Guan, the challenge became apparent when third-generation owners Benny Lim and Jerre Lim joined the business in the 2000s.

They recognised the need to introduce mechanisation, faster production lines, and modern packaging to scale operations and meet growing demand.

But change met resistance. Older family members feared that speeding up processes or using machines would dilute the brand’s signature charcoal-grilled flavour and hand-finished texture.

Balancing efficiency with tradition is a core tension for heritage F&B brands, but Benny and Jerre eventually arrived at a compromise: “selective modernisation.”

Machines are used for repeatable, non-flavour-critical tasks, such as cutting, weighing, and some packaging. But the crucial steps—the marination, the charcoal roasting, and the final hand inspection—remain under the careful supervision of experienced staff or family members.

“That way, we protect the taste and texture that built our reputation while making the business more sustainable,” said Benny.

It took “patience and proof” to get there, though. The third-generation owners didn’t push for wholesale change from the start—instead, they piloted small process upgrades, showed measurable gains and left the final quality taste checks unchanged, which eventually persuaded most sceptics. 

“There were frustrating moments, but rather than give up we doubled down on small wins and transparent taste tests until trust grew.”

3. Expansion isn’t always the answer

About two decades ago, Tong Heng did what many successful F&B brands are usually tempted to do: it expanded. An investor came on board, and soon the bakery had outlets sprouting in prime locations, including Takashimaya and Changi Airport.

But the rapid expansion did not end well for the business. “That’s where we got our fingers burnt,” Ana shared in an interview with the Business Times. “It was too much to handle, then I realised we paid a high price.”

With too many outlets to manage, the business found itself spread too thin. Quality slipped, operations became harder to control, and, critically, the brand began to suffer in the eyes of consumers. This is why Tong Heng deliberately maintains just two stores today.

The experience also reshaped how the business thinks about succession. Ana and her family became convinced that Tong Heng should only be handed down within the family. Work has already begun to groom the fifth generation—Fong’s niece, a recent graduate working in consulting—who also happens to fall squarely within the younger demographic Tong Heng hopes to win over.

That said, the business isn’t ruling out growth entirely, though franchising is firmly off the table. Exporting products is a possibility, but only if the bakery can find a way to do so without compromising quality—particularly for its signature diamond-shaped egg tarts, which are best enjoyed fresh from the oven.

Opening an outlet overseas could be an option, but still, Ana remains cautious as differences in ingredients, water, and local conditions could make it difficult to replicate the same taste and texture abroad.

4. Understanding the market and demand

For Lim Chee Guan, understanding the market has always been as critical as perfecting the product.

Being in the bak kwa business means dealing with highly seasonal demand—peaking around Chinese New Year—and volatile raw material costs that put constant pressure on both operations and cash flow.

These instances have pushed the business to invest in better forecasting, improved staffing plans, and clearer order management to maintain the customer experience even during peak periods.

Another key area of focus has been digital infrastructure. During the COVID-19 pandemic, when in-store sales dropped by more than 70%, Lim Chee Guan turned to online orders to sustain revenue. Their online ordering system was launched in time for the 2021 Chinese New Year season, but overwhelming traffic caused the website to crash within just two hours.

Even in subsequent years, the platforms have occasionally struggled, with customers reporting login or checkout issues during peak CNY periods.

The third-generation owners took a hard lesson from these experiences. “Digital demand surges can expose operational weak points,” shared Benny.

“That taught us to treat digital infrastructure and order management as core operations, not optional add-ons, and to build redundancy and clearer customer communications around peak periods.”

F&B is still a tough industry

It’s not easy to operate in the F&B industry, let alone survive for decades. These heritage brands show that careful planning, adaptability, and a strong focus on quality are key to longevity.

That said, with the recent wave of F&B closures, even established names face ongoing challenges.

For Lim Chee Guan, the biggest hurdles today are rising ingredient and labour costs, fierce competition from both new entrants and premium alternatives, and customers’ growing expectations for convenience and reliable online ordering.

Beyond maintaining its high-quality standards and improving digital and delivery systems, the brand is also emphasising its heritage and craftsmanship to navigate these challenges, making sure customers understand the story—and the care—behind every product.

Similarly, Tong Heng remains cautious in navigating a shifting landscape. Business has been “sluggish” in recent months, but Ana views this as an opportunity to focus on product innovation and enhance the retail experience, using the downtime to strengthen the fundamentals.

• Find out more about Lim Chee Guan here.
• Find out more about Tong Heng here.
• Read other articles we’ve written on Singaporean businesses here.

Also Read: Traditional kopitiams in Singapore are dying a slow death, as cookie-cutter chains take over

Featured Image Credit: Lim Chee Guan/ Design Singapore Council