From educating students to selling cakes: Teacher quits job to help with family's hawker business

For seven years, Sim Weijie's mornings revolved around teaching students geography. 

And now, he spends his time at his parents' stall in Sims Vista Market and Food Centre. 

In order to do that, though, the 32-year-old did something not many would dare to do — quit his job as a teacher to help with his family's hawker business, Hung Huat Cakes and Pastries. 

But why do this?

In a Shin Min Daily News article on Sunday (Jan 7), he shared that his parents, who were in their 60s, wanted to retire. 

But if they did so with no successor, it would be the end of their family business, which has been around for four decades. 

"At that time, my parents were thinking about retiring, and someone suggested buying over our family business," Weijie recounted. 

"But I felt that this stall was already a part of our family life. Without it, my heart would feel empty."

Unwilling to let go of the business just like that, Weijie took a leap of faith and resigned from his teaching job to become a hawker. 

A completely different job scope

For Weijie, a day in his life revolves around baking, ordering ingredients, handling orders and deliveries, as well as marketing. 

This is a stark difference from his previous teaching role.

The irony was that when Weijie was younger, his parents had told him to study hard and find a comfortable "air-conditioned job", which he eventually did as a teacher. 

And now, he's working in the sweltering heat at a hawker centre with no air-conditioner in sight. 

His mother had mixed feelings about this.

Speaking to Shin Min, she admitted that while she was happy that Weijie wanted to continue the family's legacy, she felt that it was a pity for him to give up his teaching job. 

She revealed that before Weijie resigned as a teacher, he would already take unpaid leave to help her and his father at the stall.

Nevertheless, she was supportive of her son's decision. 

"I think the business can be left to him. I believe he will do better than us," she said. 

A family business with decades of history 

Hung Huat Cakes and Pastries actually did not start out selling cakes and bakes. 

It had humble beginnings as a push cart stall along Geylang, selling min jiang kueh (folded pancakes), reported Shin Min. 

In 1976, Weijie's grandfather moved the business to a hawker centre and eventually his parents took up the reins. 

Weijie's mother had a background in baking traditional pastries for many years, while his father was originally a carpenter. 

Eventually, the couple transitioned from selling min jiang kueh to selling homemade pastries such as Teochew mooncakes and pineapple tarts. 

When Weijie and his sister were young, they would even help out with the business, especially during busy periods like Lunar New Year and Mid-Autumn Festival. 

"The stall space is small, so my home used to be like a small factory, and seven or eight relatives and friends would come over to help make New Year cakes," he recalled to the Chinese daily.

"Now we have a small central kitchen, which is managed by my wife and aunt, and the finished products will be delivered there."

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melissateo@asiaone.com