It’s not every day that you get to inherit a 100-year-old family business, but that’s exactly what Fong Wai Kheng has done.

Fong is the fourth generation of his family to run Tong Heng - Singapore’s top confectionary shop most known for its trademark 💎 diamond-shaped egg tarts.

Ask pretty much any Singaporean (I did), and it feels like 99% of them will have heard, eaten and love those egg tarts!

So of course, I got curious.

And asked Fong if he’d be up for a STIMY interview!

After all, family businesses are tricky.

There is:
🍿 The legacy you’ve inherited & must now maintain
🍿 The relationships you need to navigate (you can’t split family/work)
🍿 The challenge of keeping your brand relevant (a huge issue for Tong Heng at one point until they went through a massive rebranding exercise)
🍿 All the ups and downs of keeping a business alive.

A business that first came about because of Fong’s great-grandfather who fled China in 1901 (end of Qing Dynasty) to work as a coolie in Singapore.

His great-grandfather eventually earned enough to start his own pushcart coffee business but… the local “gangs” came around for protection money.

The great-grandfather had none, but promised to have the money ready next time.

Unfortunately, the gangsters won’t hear of it.

And proceeded to beat him up.

Or at least, they tried too.

Because what they didn’t know was that Fong’s great-grandfather had been trained in martial arts by the soldiers in the Qing Court (+ he was also 1.87m tall!).

So Fong’s great-grandfather beat up those gangsters instead. 🤣

News spread.

The community gathered and gifted him with a pistol before appointing him as its protector!!

Want to know what happened thereafter? 😏

You’ll just have to listen to this STIMY episode with Fong to find out.

Highlights:
0:00 Introduction
2:05 Growing up with the family business
5:42 Have you had enough fun?
7:47 Old staff sabotaged me!
9:36 The Qing dynasty legacy
11:35 Starting a coffee shop in the 1900s
13:33 Beating up the gangsters!
15:42 World War II
16:11 The next generation taking over - and one upping the grandfather?!
21:24 Being chased away by the Singaporean government
23:03 I'm not afraid of being robbed!
24:22 Cracking 1000s of eggs
35:44 Rebranding for Gen Zs & Gen Alphas
29:34 Tension in the family?
30:58 The secret to going viral is...
32:26 The grandma in the taxi - loyal customers
33:46 Customer outreach tactics
35:07 How Fong's role is evolving
36:15 What should you buy from Tong Heng?!

🎙️Show notes/transcript for this episode: https://www.sothisismywhy.com/141

Special Thanks: Limpeh Studios ( @hepmilcreatorsnetwork5697 ) for the studio in Singapore for this recording!

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WHO AM I:
I'm Ling Yah, a Malaysian lawyer & host/producer of the So This Is My Why, where I interview inspiring people about how they found their why, and their blueprint for turning that why into a reality. I’ve interviewed Olympians, Michelin-starred chefs, top entrepreneurs, VC founders, Hollywood actresses, and more.

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⌨️ I’d love to hear from you! Just leave a comment below or email me at sothisismywhy(at)gmail.com