Singapore Success Stories: Dr George Quek

Singapore Success Stories: Dr George Quek (1957-)
Breadtalk Group Ltd, founded in 2000

“Youth is an advantage.” — Dr George Quek

A classic rags to riches tale, George Quek who came from a humble background ventured to Taiwan in his early twenties with only $5,000 in his pocket. Twenty years on, he started BreadTalk and totally transformed the bland and banal task of bread-buying into the most charming and delightful gourmet experience for consumers. To date, he is the proud owner of 24 designer-bread boutique outlets in Singapore and God knows how many more overseas.

Born 1957 to a humble vegetable farmer father and housewife mum, Quek learnt quickly about poverty, thrift and hardwork as he shared the small wooden attap house with his three brothers in Hougang.

As a boy, Quek showed little interest in studies but preferred to dabble with pencil and drawing board. In fact, he won numerous art awards with his talents. Decided that he was not cut out for books, he left Xinmin Secondary School with only an “O” level qualification to enrol at the now-defunct Singapore Art Academy, and worked as a cable technician to pay his fees. He hoped to pursue a career as an artist.

However, things did not turn out as he hoped. Being “Chinese-education” and armed with only an “O” level certification, he had few options in life. Weighing the alternatives, he decided to sign on as a regular with the Army. Unwittingly, the life in the army was the training ground that prepared him for the challenges ahead in his life.

The five years as a company’s sergeant-major, he learnt to overcome his “soft, weak and introverted” character through leading and encouraging his men through treacherous jungle terrains, gruelling road marches, nerve-racking military exercises. Out of the “jungle”, he emerged an assertive man. “Life in the army trained my endurance and determination,” he recalled. “You need lots of them if you want to succeed in anything.

Not wanting to leave his dreams unfulfilled, in 1982, Quek left for Taiwan to further his art education at a well-known institute there. Destiny had other plans for him when he realised he could not offer the $6,000 enrollment fee.

With the remaining money he had, Quek set up a single pushcart stall selling dragon beard candy in a Taipei department store. Dragon-beard candy《龙须糖》is a snack handmade by stretching flour and melted sugar or Chinese version of cotton candy.

The snack failed to bite. At that point, he was gripped with the sheer horror that he might not have money for a return-ticket home. Without alternatives, he persevered.

If necessity is the mother of all invention, perhaps, in Quek’s case, it should be that desperation is the mother of all creativity. Slowly, he began to have a “feel” on the tastebuds and preference of Taiwanese consumers. Through trials and errors, he modified his sales pitch, marketing, flavours and presentation accordingly. Business flourished. Two years on, the single cart outlet expanded into four more with sales over $240,000 a month.

Emboldened by his initial success, he decided to offer Singapore hawker food to the ever-adventurous Taiwanese’ tastebuds. Quek threw in $100,000 of his hard-earned money into a few snack stalls selling Bak Chor Mee and fishball noodle. Again, the venture did not bite and he lost a huge portion of his investment.

Refused to throw in the towel, Quek introduced more variety to the menu, including Satay, Hainanese chicken rice and prawn noodle, as well as adapting the flavours to suit Taiwanese’ tastebuds.

The venture paid off. In 1992, the business had since grown into a 21 outlets chain. Quek sold off his business and started a chain of ice-cream parlours in China.

The business was immensely successful but Quek and his wife was homesick after many years and decided to pack up and head home.

Back Singapore, the years of experience in the Food & Beverages industry allowed Quek to smell out the potential market of serving hawker-priced food at a restaurant environment.

Hot on the scent, he engaged a few Taiwanese partners to set up the first Singapore-style modern foodcourt in Bishan. Opened in 1994, the ventured was a sweet success, earning rave reviews on its innovation and had since set the standard for all future foodcourts in Singapore. Within a few years, over 15 such foodcourts sprung up all over Singapore and more in overseas.

By any standard, Quek’s achievement so far had been an astounding success and he could jolly well retire comfortably. Yet, he was never contended. His insatiable curiosity and ambitious embarked him on another gastronomical revolution with the seemingly humble bread.

While in Taiwan and Japan, he noticed the popularity of designer-bread boutique outlets among the people. However, there was no such followings in Singapore. He decided to alter the dietary habits of Singaporeans towards bread with his elegant, space-age bakery serving out freshly baked, creative recipes, with funky names.

 One could not but admire Quek’s boundless energy, endless creativity, amazing foresight. You can never know what new plans he’s hatching soon.

The result was Breadtalk, the first bread boutique, had also become the talk the town since its inception in 2001. To date, Quek is the proud owner of 24 outlets in Singapore and Breadtalk Group Ltd was listed on SGX in 2003. As early as 2000, Mr Quek stepped down as managing director of his foodcourt business to focus on his bakery chain, BreadTalk.

Ever restless and ambitious, Quek took on another food-related business, launching the renowned Din Tai Fung《鼎泰丰》restaurant at Paragon in 2003.

Quek was infatuated with the xiao long bao《小笼包》(Chinese buns with minced meat and vegetables as fillings) at the original Taiwanese branch, of the same name.

In fact, the restaurant – which prides itself on exquisite Chinese cuisine – has only two outlets in Taiwan despite having in operation for more than 30 years, he added.

After months of negotiations, Quek secured the rights to set up Din Tai Fung through BreadTalk subsidiary Taster Food.

Recently, Quek, through his personal investment, had launched Megabite《大食代》in China, a modern foodcourt, noted for its variety of cuisine, modest price, convenient location and comfortable environment. Today, Megabite has thirteen branches in major Chinese cities.

One could not but admire Quek’s boundless energy, endless creativity, amazing foresight. You can never know what new plans he’s hatching soon.

Dr George Quek? How did that come about? Well, Mr George Quek, was conferred an honorary business doctorate by the Wisconsin International University in 2004. “I did not do it to boast how clever I am, or because of a lack of education in the past which I’m hoping to make up for,” the O-level holder explained. “I took it as a personal boost to encourage myself after all my hard work over the years.”

Notable Quotes from Dr George Quek

“Youth is an advantage.”

“Circumstances create a man.”

“I’d rather be taken advantage of than take advantage of others. If you focus only on small things, you won’t get far.”

“I try to be magnanimous. If you don’t let people come up with suggestions and you condemn mistakes, you’ll never get them to toss up new ideas.”

‘The Taiwanese are very daring. They make snappy decisions. If they want to do something, they just go out and do it.”

“When McDonalds entered Singapore, they had no idea that today they can open 130 stores here, as the population is so small. But now you will see McDonalds in almost every good shopping centre. How did they do it? I feel that it is how you develop your brand. It is not just about opening more shops.”

“When you read the newspapers, you will often see their McDonalds advertisements. The advertisements are not there to tell you that the food is nice, but to remind customers of the existence of McDonalds. If we don’t promote BreadTalk, you may also forget BreadTalk one day.”

Leo Kee Chye

Wednesday, March 16, 2005