Brothers quit $10,000-a-month jobs, take 70% paycut to take over Nam Kee chicken rice family business

After decades of running his chicken rice business, Chew Tee Heang, second-generation owner of 55-year-old Nam Kee Chicken Rice Restaurant, thought it was time to throw in the towel and finally enjoy his retirement.

This was during the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, where food and beverage (F&B) businesses like Chew's were badly hit.

Chew was ready to hand over the reins to a willing buyer and even accepted a cheque deposit from the interested party. But his sons had other ideas.

After finding out their father's plans to sell the restaurant, located at Upper Thomson Road, the three brothers quit their lucrative banking jobs in January 2021 to take over the family business.

They were ready to do so, even if it meant earning only 30 per cent of what they used to.

Youngest brother Ken, 28, told Shin Min Daily News: "My father made the decision to sell the shophouse and restaurant without warning and had even even accepted the deposit on an offer, it shocked all of us when we found out."

They realised that it was because the elder Chew, 62, was feeling tired and did not wish for his sons to quit their well-paying jobs to take over the business. At the same time, an opportunity to sell the restaurant had arisen. 

Chew had taken over the restaurant in the 1980s from his father, who had started his business on Hainan Island before moving to Singapore, according to Channel NewsAsia (CNA). Chew himself started working at the shop, alongside his three elder brothers, when he was still in primary school.

They started out as tenants at coffeeshop stalls selling Hainanese chicken rice and zi char, before the family took a bank loan to set up the restaurant at Upper Thomson Road, Chew told CNA.

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Being one of the few restaurants then to offer both chicken rice and zi char meant it was a popular venue for large gatherings.

In the interview with the Chinese daily on Friday (April 7), the three brothers — Lincoln, 34, Dave, 32, and Ken — shared how they had previously worked in the sales department of the same bank for five years, earning a monthly salary of about $10,000. 

It's no wonder that when they told their boss collectively that they were going to quit to "sell chicken rice", he thought they were joking.

"Our boss thought we were being poached by another bank but didn't want to admit it so we had to use that as an excuse," they shared in the interview with Shin Min.

It's a decision, however, that they wholeheartedly believed in and have absolutely no regrets, despite having to take a hefty 70 per cent pay cut. "It's very simple, we had to do it," they said.

"This restaurant harbours all the memories of our childhood," Dave added.

And despite Chew's initial reservations about his sons quitting their cushy jobs to enter the notoriously tough F&B industry, he told CNA that "they should be given a chance" as it was time for the older generation to "take a backseat".

Paying $10,000 in rent

Despite suffering 70 per cent losses during the pandemic after taking over the business in 2021, the brothers have insisted on paying their father $10,000 in rent monthly for the restaurant space.

They also began operating the restaurant seven days a week throughout the year and would each work 14-hour days, reported Shin Min Daily News.

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The brothers shared that with the cost of chicken and chilli doubling last year, they had no choice but to increase the price of their chicken rice by a dollar. A plate of chicken rice at Nam Kee now costs $5.

Dave shared that it remains to be seen how prices will fluctuate within the next few years, noting that with stiff competition among many zi char restaurants along the stretch of Upper Thomson Road, prices will have to remain competitive.

The heritage brand, however, definitely has earned its fans.

One customer told Shin Min Daily News that she makes it a point to travel from Jurong - where she lives - to Upper Thomson every week to enjoy Nam Kee's Hainanese chicken rice. "It is very difficult to find such delicious poached chicken in Singapore now," she shared.

Another patron in his late 60s shared that he's been a loyal customer for more than 50 years, since it was helmed by Chew's father, and that he still eats there two or three times a week.

Nam Kee Chicken Rice Restaurant
Address: 201 Upper Thomson Road, S574343
Opening hours: Daily from 10.45am to 8.30pm

candicecai@asiaone.com

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