The Singapore bakery that makes memories, not just cakes

Dr Biz • October 13, 2020

Those looking for a special Singapore bakery often call on family owned Olsen Bakehouse in Singapore’s Lavender district, which makes some of the city’s most delicious and inventive chiffon celebration cakes. As part of Dr Biz’s new series celebrating our vibrant, dynamic and diverse client base, we spoke to co-founder of Olsen Bakehouse, 32-year-old Phua Jiamin, who revealed the inspiration behind the cakes she and her husband create for the customers new and old at their beloved bakery.

Why did you start your business?

For the love of “siew dai” (less sweet) and fluffy cakes that I just couldn’t find anywhere else! Most importantly, I wanted freshly made cakes that were made with natural, whole ingredients like fresh pandan, instead of bottled essences. Later, as we grew the brand, our purpose became clearer. The most important thing to us is to spread cheer through our bakes, to bond with our community that is filled with so many families, and to share our stories and listen to theirs. The stories of our customers inspire our cakes, which we bake for them, helping us to celebrate their milestones alongside them. This became our greater purpose, and as we find more like-minded people who enjoy the same bakes and our philosophy in life and parenthood, our lives are made so much richer.

How did you get started?

It all started with a big party that my husband’s best friend had. She had a whole month of celebrations and we baked lots of cakes for her different events. We had so much fun doing it and we got so much positive feedback that we thought: “why not do this all the time?” We haven’t looked back since!

Why did you start working with Dr Biz?

We were one of Dr Biz’s first customers! Founder Sharon is efficient, super helpful and always goes the extra mile to help us with any accounting questions we might have. Sharon was also one of our first supporters and still regularly enjoys our cakes. It is one of our greatest joys to build relationships with our customers and vice versa, which helps to make our community stronger. We work closely with many of our customers, either through collaborations with their businesses or by simply baking for all of their and their loved ones’ special occasions. Because we are often like-minded, there is a lot of trust between us all.

What is the biggest challenge you have overcome as a business?

The biggest challenge is always managing people: from landlords to customers to partners to team members, people are the most important part of our business and so must be handled the most delicately. We spend a lot of time on people and building relationships because it is so important to us. Moving locations is always challenging, too, and we have had to do that a few times due to changing circumstances. Turning those moments around and forging ahead, we have come to see them as blessings eventually. Most often it takes a lot of mind over matter and surrounding ourselves with people that can help to get us through these challenges.

Tell us a funny story about something that happened at work

Oh, wow - there are so many! Work is always filled with laughter. One of the most memorable stories is the time we were selling waffles and a customer wanted to order savoury waffles, but ended up saying “slavery” waffles instead. We were shocked, and when he realised his mistake, we were all trying hard not to giggle!

What is your top tip for any new business owner?

The most important thing is to know your “why”. Like, why are you running this business? When you have a very, very solid reason for why you launched your business, more so than just for the money, you will find this will help you through the hardest times. And there will be tough times: times when you lose money, lose people you thought were your friends and lose things that you thought were important. Knowing your why will help you through even your lowest moments!

At Dr Biz, we provide tailored and comprehensive solutions for our client's business needs. From incorporation to accountancy, tax and payroll, to professional advisory services, we help businesses in Singapore assess potential risks and become more cost effective and efficient.

To find out more, please feel free to contact us.

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