Despite declining sales at their first outlet in Woodlands, Cherry Tan and her ex-hotel chef husband opened a second Kiang Kiang Taiwan Teppanyaki stall. However, TikTok may be her secret weapon this time.
cards interface. Give it a try.When former Singapore Airlines flight attendant Cherry Tan, 30, and her husband, Taiwanese ex-hotel chef Duncan Hsu, 37, opened their first hawker stall Kiang Kiang Taiwan Teppanyaki in a Woodlands coffeeshop in May 2024, they knew they wanted to eventually grow the brand.
The couple launched their second stall in a Bedok kopitiam on Oct 28 this year. Kiang Kiang serves Taiwan night market-style Western fare – think steak, chicken chop and pasta cooked on a griddle and served sizzling on a hotplate – as well as street snacks likeBut contrary to what many assume, opening a second branch wasn’t the result of explosive growth. In fact, it was triggered by something more sobering: Declining sales at their Woodlands stall.The timing may raise eyebrows, given the wave of recent F&B closures.“The exact timing came around the one-year-plus mark, when sales started to decline slightly,” she told 8days.sg.Many regulars had been travelling from all corners of Singapore just for their sizzling Taiwanese-style Western plates. “They come once or twice a month 'cos it’s a hassle to travel all the way down to Woodlands. So we decided to bring our brand to somewhere more convenient,” shared Tan.Their lease in Woodlands will be up next May and they “don’t want to be at the landlord’s mercy”.“So I told myself to just push for the second outlet. How much worse can it get? If we can survive in Woodlands, Bedok should be okay.”She was right. Though only open for one and a half months, the outlet, which cost around S$30,000 to start, is already “doing better than Woodlands”.“We were not losing money,” clarified Tan. “It’s just that the first three months after we opened, things were insane because of all the media hype. But after that, things stabilisedThe Woodlands stall broke even within just three months, giving the couple confidence to take the plunge in Bedok. Tan now splits her time across both outlets and has even progressed from cashier to grill cook at Woodlands. Her husband is based at the Bedok outlet and they have two more cooks stationed at each of the outlets.Tan has been documenting her pivot from cabin crew to hawker since day one, and Kiang Kiang’s online presence has become part of its brand identity.“It definitely helps the business. People come down because of the videos,” she said, adding that a viral video can boost sales by about 20 per cent in a week. She also recently started live streaming at work, grilling meat while chatting with her audience. Each session lasts for around two hours. “I just started live streaming last week and surprisingly there were people who came down after watching it,” shared Tan. “There was once I was busy chatting and my sausage got burnt. The whole sausage was black! I showed it to my viewers and the next thing I knew, I received a delivery order and, in the remarks, they asked for theAnd no, her hubby, who is known for having a fiery temper in the kitchen, does not know about it. “Ever since we opened at Bedok, I haven’t been posting as much because things have been overwhelming and I don’t have creative juice,” admitted Tan, “so I’m making it up with live streaming – it’s more straightforward.”“It’s in their job scope. I will ask recruits during the interview if they’re willing to appear on camera. If they’re not keen, they can go home,” she joked. “These days, F&B needs marketing and you can’t do it alone. Thankfully my team is happy to help.”The second outlet features the same menu items as the Woodlands branch with eight mains like chicken chop, rib-eye steak, and grilled salmon, priced between S$8.50 and S$13.50. All mains come with a sunny side up egg, your choice of carb , veg and sauce . from S$3.80, with popular fillings like pork floss with cheese, and basil pork., is currently only available on request at Bedok. “It’s a secret menu item,” said Tan. “It just makes for a fun conversation for me to engage my customers. If they enjoy egg crepes then I'll recommend it to them.”Open daily from 11am to 8.30pm
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