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Every so often, a budding entrepreneur senses the gentle shifting of tectonic plates, those early tremors of a burgeoning cultural trend that can reap a windfall if they move early and fast. In 2014, that seismologist of the times was Kevin Chee, a then 27-year-old corporate rat who spotted an adjacent opportunity in the booming speciality coffee market. As we sat down to a fancy brew at his flagship Matchaya cafe in Tiong Bahru on a quiet weekday morning, Chee recalled looking into the mixed beverage market and zeroing in on matcha.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cAt that time, people mainly bought matcha from Starbucks,\u201d he said in his low, rapid-fire tone. \u201cPeople thought of it more as a flavour. Like, matcha ice cream is Haagen-Dazs, and matcha chocolates are from Royce.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Matcha as a category was still nascent in Singapore, but Chee got brewing anyway, preparing bottled matcha lattes after work to sell at weekend markets.\u00a0<\/span>His side gig blew up on social media, garnering 50 to 60 posts each day from happy customers.\u00a0<\/span>That was enough to persuade him to quit his job as a management trainee at DBS Bank and open Matchaya\u2019s first outlet at Icon Village six months later \u2013 a 100-sq-ft space that ticked all the right boxes: a central location, good visibility and affordable rent<\/span>.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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