Nam Kee Chicken Rice

What does it take to keep one of Singapore's oldest chicken rice brands alive? For its third-generation owners, large pay cheques aren't the only sacrifice.

But to Mr Chew, it’s a mere blip in the timeline. While the second and third generations are aligned on their “probationary” duties, they didn’t see eye to eye on plans to digitise. “We’re in a tech era, but my father doesn’t see it until we sit down and talk to him logically. “They were making good money and there was no reason to enter the F&B industry. “It seems straightforward, but if we didn’t do it, we wouldn’t be able to tell when the chilis are soggy. Were they ready to leave their cushy offices to rough it out in the kitchen? “All the risks were on the table, but we came up with a plan. They’re practically one and the same today, but we hold on to tradition by making our sauces and pastes from scratch,” he said. But succeeding their father was never in the cards. You had to arrive early to get the cream of the crop,” he recounted. In fact, a final meal at Nam Kee was the dying wish of one such elderly customer. “It was a traditional business, so every one of us had to know it inside out.