SINGAPORE – At a time when rising costs and closures are weighing on the food and beverage industry, the three co-owners behind Jofa, a chain of coffee-shop stalls, are preparing to make their biggest move yet.
Come July, co-owners Joel Tan, 30, Fabian Lim, 30, and Liang Jun Hao, 31, are opening a coffee shop at 531 Bedok North Street 3, with set-up costs of around $400,000.
It is a major leap for a brand that began five years ago as a mee pok stall in a Tampines coffee shop, funded by $30,000 from Mr Tan and Mr Lim’s savings.
They started Jofa Meepok to sell a version of bak chor mee that suited their taste buds, with noodles that have a firm bite and less alkaline taste.
The pair wiped out their savings back then. “We refused to borrow any money from our parents as we did not know how it was going to turn out, and we wanted to be liable for our actions,” says Mr Tan.
Today, the business has grown into three concepts: Jofa Meepok in Woodlands, and Jofa Grill and Jofa-Oji Donburi, which are run as dual-concept stalls in Tampines and Punggol.
Mr Tan says: “I think every business owner’s dream is to constantly grow and expand. It is fine as long as we don’t bite off more than we can chew.”
The partners learnt that lesson the hard way.
Jofa began at a coffee shop at Block 824 Tampines Street 81. Mr Tan and Mr Lim became friends when studying at Temasek Polytechnic in Tampines, and so are familiar with the area.
Mr Tan graduated with a diploma in culinary and catering management, while Mr Lim obtained his diploma in marketing, both in 2016.
Mr Tan went on to the Singapore Institute of Technology, where he graduated in 2020 with a degree in business administration in food business management and culinary arts, under a joint programme with the Culinary Institute of America.
He had been chasing business ideas long before Jofa. At 15, he sold macarons online. While in school, he worked part-time as a server and kitchen crew. Between 2019 and 2021, he ran a home-based online artisanal kombucha business.
When Mr Lim suggested starting a stall in 2021, Mr Tan agreed without hesitation. He was then working as a chef de partie at now-closed grill restaurant Panamericana, which served farm-to-fire cuisine.
In line with his original goal to be a chef, he joined the restaurant in October 2020, but left after six months.
Upon turning 25, he wanted to hit six figures in investment assets before age 30 and felt that staying a chef would not get him there. He switched to selling insurance, while keeping an eye out for business opportunities.
The name Jofa came from combining Joel and Fabian.
Their first stall did better than expected, breaking even after four months. It opened during the Covid-19 period, when people were not travelling and spent more on food. Support came from family, friends and customers.
Mr Lim, who had worked as an executive at a company selling automated gates before starting Jofa, handled operations. Mr Tan took care of the backend work, marketing and future planning.
Clocking 14 hours a day, six days a week, they returned to the stall to cook chilli and lard for the mee pok even on their days off.
An enduring bestseller is the Jofa Signature Minced Meat Noodle ($6.90), a bowl of al dente noodles served with seafood, including scallop, prawn paste and mock abalone.
