Neither Allan Tan, 35, nor his sister Vivian, 49, had envisioned themselves taking over the herbal soup business that their grandfather founded. As children, they had helped out at the stall and watched their parents get up at 2am daily to begin the laborious process of boiling the soups, taking a break only once every Chinese New Year.
“I had always told myself that I had to do very well in my studies because I didn’t want to take over the business,” Vivian recalled.
But, when it came down to the wire, “there are bonds that cannot be broken”.
That’s how it came to be that 80-year-old brand Tan Ser Seng, known for its traditionally brewed soups, is now in the hands of the family’s third generation. And, on the occasion of the milestone anniversary, Allan has spearheaded the opening of their first ever outlet, apart from their original restaurant – and it’s located in a mall, no less.
At Great World, their new restaurant has brightly lit interiors, ceramic crockery and electronic display screens – a far cry from the old-school vibe of their Geylang eatery.
The brand is beloved by generational diners and Chinese tourists, but, they hope to also reach a younger crowd of locals.
Allan, who oversees the business, has the task of not only driving a heritage brand forward into the future, but also convincing unadventurous eaters that Tan Ser Seng’s famous turtle soup, a dish originally found only on the banquet tables of Chinese emperors, has a cultural legacy that deserves to survive. Much of the resistance stems from misconceptions about the dish, he shared – for instance, that it is made with wild sea turtles, when in reality, only specific freshwater turtle breeds farmed according to accredited standards are used for food.
Perhaps the siblings’ greatest challenge, though, is making sure the dishes served live up to the exacting standards of their father, 75-year-old Tan Khar Seng.
“My father thinks he’s a Michelin-starred chef,” quipped Vivian, who heads up kitchen operations and R&D. “The way you cook the dish, how much of each ingredient you add, must be very specific. He’s particular about presentation and checks every piece of meat.”
That may well be one important reason why the family-run business has made it to its 80th year and counting.
FROM STREETSIDE STALL TO FULL-FLEDGED EATERY
It all began with founder Tan Ah Sai, who, in 1927, emigrated from China’s Chaoshan region with his parents as a child and settled in Singapore. He started out as a fishmonger in a market before landing a job preparing meals at a corporate canteen. Here, he met a co-worker who would become his wife, Khar Seng told us.
Ah Sai loved to cook and would even create his own dishes, learning from his own failures along the way. His Teochew-style cooking was so well received that he even became the go-to caterer for neighbourhood weddings.
1946 was the year he first started hawking turtle soup with herbs as a street vendor. Balancing two large pots of soup on a bamboo pole hoisted onto his shoulder, he and his wife would make the 2km trek from their home to Lorong Tai Seng, where there were labourers who craved a hot bowl of nourishment. The business did well enough for them to eventually purchase a pushcart, around which they were able to set up four wooden stools for streetside customers.
Back then, a bowl of soup cost 20 or 30 cents, Khar Seng recalled.
The family had to pitch in and help out. Ten-year-old Khar Seng’s days started at 2am, doing everything from preparing the soup to manning the pushcart, which was “several times bigger than I was”.
After Ah Sai’s death in 1973, it fell on 22-year-old Khar Seng to spearhead the family business. “Before my father died, he told me, ‘You must do a good job with it.’ It was stressful, because the whole family was depending on me.”
Their first physical shop opened at MacPherson. If you’re confused because there is a longstanding turtle soup eatery called Ser Seng there, that’s run by Khar Seng’s younger brother.
Khar Seng decided to go it alone in 1986 and moved to a few different locations over the years including Mattar Road and Old Airport Road, eventually settling into the Geylang eatery in 1992, where Tan Ser Seng has since served generations of customers.
While staying true to the essence of his father’s recipe, Khar Seng made innovations along the way that proved popular with guests. While other turtle soup vendors served fried vermicelli along with their soup, for instance, he decided to serve Teochew-style yam rice, a dish the family always made for their own gatherings and celebrations.
In the 80s, while watching a variety programme about hotpot dining in Japan, he was inspired to serve his soups in a bubbling claypot. Back then, the shop was popular with customers from Japan and Korea, who came here as building consultants in Singapore’s burgeoning construction industry, he explained.
Khar Seng’s dedication to the business was such that he would have his own soup every single day. “I ate nothing else, three meals a day,” he said. “Firstly, I didn’t have the time to go anywhere else to eat, so it was difficult for others to earn my money! On top of that, I asked a lot of myself, and my standards were very high. My children now have a lot of pressure! But, I didn’t need to earn a lot. I just wanted Tan Ser Seng to thrive.”
He made sure to study what customers wanted, adding more herbs to what was originally a very clean and clear broth, to keep up with changing tastes. Other soups were added to the menu, like ginseng black chicken soup and cordyceps chicken soup, to appeal to a wider range of customers and as a buffer against supply chain issues.
Back then, “In Singapore, there were around 30 turtle soup eateries. Because they weren’t able to innovate, many closed down. If I hadn’t kept improving on my father’s recipe, I don’t think we would have lasted this long,” Khar Seng mused.
ALL IN THE FAMILY
The journey wasn’t without its challenges. In 2000, at the peak of Tan Ser Seng’s success, Khar Seng found himself facing the prospect of having to wind up the business.
His knees, pushed to their limits for decades, began to give out. “I called up my older sister and asked if her son wanted to take over, as the doctor had told me I needed rest.”
But, his wife overheard the conversation.
Vivian recalled: “My mum called me, crying. She said, ‘Your dad wants to retire and sell the business’. I was 24 or 25; Allan was about 10.”
At the time, Vivian was two years into a fledgling career as a regional sales engineer, hoping to forge her own path away from the family business. “I had been helping out since I was young.” As a student, “I even had to take showers at the hawker centre before school, using my own pail.” She worked hard and graduated with a degree in mechanical engineering.
But when she heard her mother crying on the phone, “I said, ‘I think I have no choice but to help out’.”
After all, “My parents made sacrifices for us. So, we want to pay in kind. I’m trying to make sure that they can retire well,” she said, her eyes moistening.
She and her husband, Derrick Lee, both joined the business. It wasn’t easy. “There were no recipes,” she recalled, and the task fell to her to replicate the dishes and document the steps from watching her father cook.
A decade or so later, Allan graduated from school and saw that his sister and brother-in-law needed his support.
With his perspective as a millennial, he has been able to improve customer service, introduce AI processes to help with standard operating procedures and administrative tasks, and get the business onto social media and delivery platforms.
Still, it wasn’t without some resistance from his father. “We would all quarrel often” over issues like how they should improve the dishes, Khar Seng chuckled.
“All three of us belong to different generations and have different tastes,” Allan explained. “We had to find common ground.”
“I told Allan, since you’ve joined, you have to follow my way, which is, no slacking off or taking the easy route,” Khar Seng said.
But, communication was sometimes an issue. One thing that would frustrate Allan was that when he asked his father for instructions, his father "would say, ‘Just use your heart’. For example, if he gave feedback on a dish, we would ask what he wanted us to change, and he’d say, ‘Use your heart’. Vivian and I are engineers. Just give us the steps, from one to 10!
“But I’ve grown and I now understand what he meant. I really believe that if you put your heart to it, you’ll figure out the steps and processes on your own.”
TO BE CONTINUED
Allan’s hope is to make a significant contribution to the business. “My grandparents and parents have already fulfilled goals for Tan Ser Seng. I didn’t want to take over for the sake of taking over. I want my own story to continue on, maybe even to the next generation,” he said.
An outlet is a way of exploring how potential for the business might be fulfilled, while fighting for his family’s legacy by challenging associations around a traditional dish like turtle soup and “what is right to eat, what is normal to eat”.
A new range of dishes, inspired by his mother’s homestyle cooking, aims to entice first-time diners to the restaurant while paying tribute to their family’s heritage. These include Teochew-style steamed fish with black olive and preserved mustard greens, and sweet and sour pork made with persimmon as an homage to their grandfather, who was named for the persimmon fruit. Vivian has also taken a course in Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), so future dishes could reflect TCM wellness principles.
Before Allan joined the business, “I had told myself that there would be no progression,” Vivian said. “He pushes us out of our comfort zone. He brings new ideas and gives us the confidence to do things differently.”
Vivian has a 13-year-old daughter, and “I’ve already told her that next year, she has to come and work here part time during her holidays. I think she’s proud of us.” And, “I also hope that Allan gets married soon and has children. He said he would get married after opening a second outlet!”
For now, it hasn’t escaped her that “it is a blessing” to be “working together as a family, and also as partners”.
“Can you put it out there that I want to tell my dad that I’m very grateful for his guidance?” she asked.
“What’s there to thank me for?” her father replied. “We’re all one family. Let’s just do it well.”
Tan Ser Seng is at Great World, #B1-106/107, 1 Kim Seng Promenade, Singapore 237994 and 29 Lorong Bachok, Singapore 387791.
Source: CNA/my