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[Singapore] - 27 year old Singaporean Marcus Leong shares his tragic life story about a Cai Png Stall

UltimaOnline

Alfrescian (InfP)
Generous Asset
Updated, see bottom of post : turns out the reason why this mid-20s Singaporean guy is feeling so fucked up is becoz he lost all his $5mil inheritance assets (from selling off parents' landed property, after his father died, mother died, girlfriend abandoned him) on failed business investments, scams, pumping $$$ into Hyflux and cryptocurrencies, until now left $100k only. Although that's still a lot of money for a 27 year old guy, but the trauma of having lost $5mil all the way down to just $100k is unbearable to him.


https://forums.fuckwarezone.com.sg/eat-drink-man-woman-16/[my-story]-once-cai-png-store-owner-i-f**ked-all-6175431.html


My parents used to own a cai png store. But I kind of destroyed everything and I’ve been reprimanding myself ever since.

Not sure where to begin…

When I was still in primary and secondary school, I would sit and study at the coffeeshop as my parents would run their cai png store. My mom, a brilliant cook, does all the cooking; my dad, on the other hand, does the cashiering, and serving to customers. He also does the accounting and all to file the tax returns.

To those who are wondering, cai png stores can be lucrative but it depends on the amount of customers and what they order. The typical 2+1 meals will fetch about $0.30-0.50 or so. Vegetables are usually cheap, but so is their cost so the profits isn’t much. However, different vegetables can have different profit margins. Like the cost of procuring sweet potato leaves is cheaper than kangkong. The big profits are on the meats, and, of course, the fishes. Most of the fishes that’s served in cai png stores are dory fish. Fishes prices are reasonable, but it is the preparation that takes a lot of time – imagine having to debone them, slice them, and cook them. So most of the time my parents will get those deboned fishes from wholesalers. It is a little more expensive but saves a hell lot of time.

One of the reason why fishes are more expensive is because it takes more time to cook them. I mean, just look at chicken. You can just throw a chunk of them in a wok and just stir fry them without worries. But for fish, any rough handling can 'break' them. And you can't just stack fish fillets over another as that would make the top ones uncooked. Compare this to cooking chicken meat where you just stir fry.

Anyway, my family's cai png business was pretty profitable since it is near work and residential areas. Blue-collar workers will usually order 2+1 meal set; white-collar workers would order 3+1 meal set.

The reason why our cai png business was profitable back then is because, as mentioned, my mom is a great cook – her food quality is always top notch, tasty, and consistent. Whereas my father is an excellent orator and have brilliant social skills. Introduce a stranger to him and they will be best friends talking endlessly for hours. He is a people person. And because he can talk well, he can persuade customers to take expensive dishes or order more. He is THAT good.

My family was well-to-do from the family business that we lived in landed at Tanah Merah area. My father drives a Mercedes and we have a van too to get the groceries. In case if you’re wondering, yes, we purchase the groceries by ourselves from Pasir Panjang centre. It is a lot cheaper than having to buy directly from one or few suppliers which include delivery fees and there’s usually a contract involved. My parents don’t like such commitments and would prefer buying directly from Pasir Panjang. My parents would take the van to Pasir Panjang every morning at 7-8AM, then drive directly to the stall to start cooking and operating. Sometimes, for fishes, sometimes at Changi Village (the area before the walking bridge to Changi Beach) where fishermen would sell their catches of the day. We would only go there if we get news that fishermen have a huge yield selling them at good prices.

The stall would be closed on Fridays. Now you may ask, “What? Why Friday? Why not Sunday or Monday?” Because families would usually eat out on weekends; and on weekdays (Mon-Thurs) business would be normal as there are blue or white collar workers looking to get their lunch, or dinner for families. But on Friday, most people would ‘pig out’ or eat something heavier like western. It is my parent’s years of observance to change their operating schedule to this. Most public holidays the store would still be opened (e.g: Hari Raya, Deepavali, Labour Day, and so on). The definite PH that we would be closed is Chinese New Year until the Chinese 8th day, and New Year's eve.

Life was awesome back then. We were well-off. Me, being the only child in the family, would get all the love from my parents. I felt very spoilt. They want the best for me so they let me buy whatever I want, especially since they have a thriving cai png store. When I was in poly, they gave me a debit and credit card to use. So I was spending on branded stuffs and spoiling my JC gf (we met at the library while I was doing research in my laptop there). We have crazy sex too, she’s a nymph and with a hot, petite sexy body (I mean, JC girl duh) it was awesome. During her school holidays, I secretly treated her and we both went to France for vacation. That’s how rich my family was then.

By then, I graduated from poly. I was in a dilemma whether to further my studies by getting a degree. I don't feel the need then as I could just learn the ropes of handling the cai png store. I even thought of helping my parents to expand it like a franchise. I got big plans for it. Then again, I was still contemplating on that. But regardless of what option I take there's always NS. So I decide to just serve and FO first.

Fast forward one day, when I was in the army, my officer gave me the bad news… My father passed away. I was later told by my mom that my father had a heart-attack when he went to the stall early to do the monthly accounting (tallying the income and expense for the month). He had a heart-attack and no one was around until an owner from another stall came and saw my dad on the floor. He didn’t make it… I was just 1 month from ORD. I used up my compassionate leave and normal leave until I ORD-ed… I was with my mom caring for her. She was so distraught by my father’s death she was bedridden for weeks. I would drive all the way to Pasir Panjang area to buy her favourite food hoping she will at least have a bite. The stall was closed for about 2 months.

And yes, if you ever see a shop close for months then opened again all of a sudden, you know why now. It is likely a family business and something bad happened in the family.

She finally got the strength to open the store again. I would be the one driving the van every morning to get the supplies from Pasir Panjang area and deliver to the store. Many times I would see my mom crying in the store as she is preparing the food. I would hug and console her… I really love my mom. She’s a very strong woman. By then, I was so busy helping my mom and all I chose not to further my studies.

We later decided to hire a helper at the store to do the cashiering and serving. Business did dip by about 30% as our family business has lost its left arm – my father – whose oratory and persuasion skills were the one to lure and get loyal customers to keep coming back.

By then, I have little time for my girlfriend. She was in NUS by then and we met lesser and lesser. She would always complain and say I’ve changed and all. But I’m just too busy helping my mom and caring for her. By then we had trouble with our helper as we caught him stealing from the cashbox. Sometimes he would serve the customer, collect the money, but put inside his pocket. All these were known after my mom and I noticed a huge drop in our cash flow, and immediately we suspected it is the helper. So we secretly installed a hidden IP cam and caught his act. He confessed and said he had stolen about 20K over the months. He promised to return it and asked if he could take leave for tomorrow so he can have his family from overseas transfer the money back and he would withdraw it from the bank. We agreed because my mom trusted him as he’s like a friend. My mom also said she won’t file any police report if he returned the money. He agreed. However, he never returned. Police report was filed and we found out that he has fled Singapore the very next day. By then, the IO said they couldn't do much since he has left the country. But if he ever returns (which we doubt) they will apprehend him.

So my mom and I would take turns doing the cashiering. She was very exhausted at every end of the day.

Then one day… I received the other horrifying news. My mom passed. Perhaps it was due to all the grief and exhausting work… She collapsed in the kitchen. Like my father, it was early morning. This time, however, she was found by the beverage-serving uncle, but her injury was too severe that even the doctors couldn't save her. Autopsy was done and found her brain to have hemorrhage. The mortician’s report said she has likely slip and fell, knocking the side of her head against the stove. This led to a blood clot, thus, a stroke.

I remember crying from morning to night for a week. Not just because I miss my mom (and dad) but I felt clueless on what to do with my family’s cai png store now. Not only do I not have the oratory and social skills like my father, but I don’t even know how to cook.

Worst of all? My girlfriend broke up with me. She claims that I neglected her, but somehow I suspect she broke up with me because I told her my family’s business is in trouble. I realize she’s just a gold-digger. What’s more crazy is she later got a new boyfriend barely 2 months later. Some NUS classmate of hers who’s buff, good-looking and rich. I don't even want to know if I was wearing 'green hat' then because before we broke up there were a lot of photos of them together.

I fell into depression and the store was closed for 3 months. It was so bad that my uncle (father’s brother) had to step in to settle some of the paperwork for me. Like telling the landlord the tenant of the stall will be under my name; my parent’s assets, and such. And yes, that also means I was still paying the store’s rental for that 4 months (3 months + that 1 month my mom’s unfortunate event happened).

When I felt better I decide to try whatever I can to salvage my family’s cai png store. I hired a Malaysian chef. You can hire a Chinese National chef at a cheaper rate but I don’t want to take the risk as I was looking for a GOOD chef. In fact, if you see most cai png and zi ca stores, the chefs are usually Malaysian. So I was willing to pay about 25% more for a Malaysian chef. Then a rather chio Malaysian helper too who is bilingual – English and Chinese – to do the serving and cashiering. All this in the hopes of reviving the business. I was still pretty depress so there wasn’t much of my presence nor contribution physically.

Unfortunately, from that 4 months of inactivity, many loyal customers are gone. Probably because they assumed the cai png store has closed down. Or maybe because the food standard isn’t as great as it was before. It’s so bad that all the food that was cooked would still have 80% remaining at the end of the day. As I didn’t want to waste food I instructed the workers to give out to people for free at the final hour before closing everyday. And guess what? Singapore kiasu-ness kicked-in… Many people would NOT order from my store until near the final hour to collect free food. Ironically, that’s when our shop have the most ‘customers’.

To counter this, I simply asked the chef to cook lesser portions and also, we ceased giving out free food.

I then came up with a new idea to salvage my business: any 3 ingredients + rice at a fixed price of $2.50. The main intention was to draw more new customers to patronize our store.

And, sigh, guess what again? Singapore kiasu-ness and stinginess retuned. Customers would queue up and pick all the expensive ingredients like fish, and meat. In the end, all the vegetables were untaken. This is mainly my fault for not foreseeing this.

So I changed my strategy again. Any meal set (2+1 or 3+1 or 4+1) will be entitled to a free drink at the drinks stall. At the end of every week, I would reimburse the drink stalls for the amount of drinks redeemed.

And, yeap, as you expect it, I got outsmarted again. This time customers would only get the 2+1 meal set. I was making a loss for every 2+1 meal set. Because every 2+1’s profit is about $0.30-$0.50. Now imagine a cup of kopi or can drink back then… about $0.80.

That’s not the worst part… To be entitled for the drink, the customer have to simply show the receipt to the drinks stall to redeem their drink. Some people would show the receipt, then pass the receipt to their family member or friends to go redeem too. So at the end of the week when I was tallying the amount of drinks redeemed and the customers who purchased our food… It would be a 2-fold difference. For example, 100 customers, but 200 redemption. It is nuts.

Remember the durian charity incident? Yeap, reading that news reminded me of the above. Pure recollection.

The whole situation was so bad that my stall was making a loss of 20K every month. And the losses are increasing every month. Gradual increments but enough to make me lose sleep.

I decided to close the stall down. I practically killed my parent’s business and I still regret it until today.

Later, over the years, I had several other business ventures and investments. But they all failed. This resulted me to sell my parent’s landed and all. And that was my biggest mistake because I have problems getting a home after that. I was only 25 then and I can’t even get a HDB as I’m not 35, nor married. So I have to live in a rented room (not house, ROOM) for $800 a month.

I hated myself. I felt like a real “char siew”. All the decades of my parents’ hardwork were destroyed by me.

I’m now 27 with barely 100K in my bank now. And that is why I am always in the HWZ “Money Matters” section reading financial tips and advice.

I can’t find a job since my business ventures failed.

No one wants to hire a 27 year old with ZERO work experience, and with just a diploma. The only option? Be a grab driver. But I can't fathom the thought of it... Having to pay a room rental, then car rental and all.

The unfortunate story of a son of cai png store owners. The downfall of well-to-do individuals are more unfortunate than you think. I can’t imagine how much more dire it is for once rich individuals having to declare bankruptcy. And being the only child is worst as I have no one to turn to in such dire circumstances.



https://forums.fuckwarezone.com.sg/eat-drink-man-woman-16/[my-story]-once-cai-png-store-owner-i-f**ked-all-6175431.html



Updated :


https://www.fuckwarezone.com.sg/img/forums/hwz/buttons/viewpost.gif fat*******xwrote:
Tanah merah landed, freehold, smelly smelly also $5m for semi detached

How much did you farking lose, bro?!?!


I be honest with you... When I sold the unit, it was around that $5m as you estimated.

Besides paying off outstanding debts, I was left with 4M then.

I ventured in a few projects. Some with friends.

One of the venture is a restaurant, and also a shop. It is near Simpang Bedok area. It failed terribly. And worst still I signed a lease term with the landlord. So I had to work out with him to prematurely terminate it... This resulted in a lot of compensation.

I became desperate as I lost a huge chunk by then.

And another is a business idea from a friend. Turns out it is a scam and I lost about 750K. That 'friend' ran off to Thailand... Turns out his 'investment opportunity' of starting a business in China is all fake. He also took a few of our friends' money.

By then I remember I left about 1.5M. Then when my friend told me to invest in cryptocurrencies like bitcoin. He kept saying it will 'go to the moon'. So I pumped nearly 1 million inside.

At first it grew tremendously. From that 1M it grew to nearly 3M because I also diversified in other 'alt coins' like XRP, Cardano, and don't know what... I was so happy that I even went to my parent's tomb and cried... I remember I still said I am making a comeback and I will make them proud.

I pump some cash into "Hyflux" around this time, as advised by friends saying it is a sure-win... Yes, what are the odds. Then the bad news happened.

Then the crypto crash happened... That 3M became 1M... I panicked and asked my friend how, he kept saying "just hold on, it will come back". At first it did, then it crashed again. I remember bitcoin crashed to 3,000+? I couldn't take it I sold all... Only to have it rally again. That 1M then became 200K...

I invested in some websites but all failed. Some of them were bought at flippa, and the seller claims it was making thousands per month. I was looking into passive income so I bought quite a number of websites. But I have no technical knowledge and hired a IT specialist to help me.

Turns out it was a scam again. None of the sites were making much money. Then the traffic kept falling until it 'died'.

By then, few months ago I was already left with 150K.



https://forums.fuckwarezone.com.sg/eat-drink-man-woman-16/[my-story]-once-cai-png-store-owner-i-f**ked-all-6175431-4.html
 
Last edited:

UltimaOnline

Alfrescian (InfP)
Generous Asset
Hmmm... he later shared that upon his parents' deaths, he inherited their Sg$5mil landed property, sold it off, invested in businesses, failed, repeat repeat repeat. Now left $150k.


https://www.fuckwarezone.com.sg/img/forums/hwz/buttons/viewpost.gif theMKRwrote:

I am surprised ur parents are biz man but u didnt learn.

Here is my take, i think the best solution for u right now is.

Setup a small coy, pay yourself a basic salary.

Go and find hdb, discuss how u can purchase a resale flat or sobf. Get a 3rm or something. Then rent out 1 roon.

This should cover your hdb installments and expenses for a while.

Next, since u already a director of a coy, might as well go find deals.


Thanks bro, you're very intelligent. I can see you're a business owner or some successful individual. Many thanks for the advice, I will research more about this.



https://www.fuckwarezone.com.sg/img/forums/hwz/buttons/viewpost.gif fat*******xwrote:

Tanah merah landed, freehold, smelly smelly also $5m for semi detached

How much did you farking lose, bro?!?!


I be honest with you... When I sold the unit, it was around that $5m as you estimated.

Besides paying off outstanding debts, I was left with 4M then.

I ventured in a few projects. Some with friends.

One of the venture is a restaurant, and also a shop. It is near Simpang Bedok area. It failed terribly. And worst still I signed a lease term with the landlord. So I had to work out with him to prematurely terminate it... This resulted in a lot of compensation.

I became desperate as I lost a huge chunk by then.

And another is a business idea from a friend. Turns out it is a scam and I lost about 750K. That 'friend' ran off to Thailand... Turns out his 'investment opportunity' of starting a business in China is all fake. He also took a few of our friends' money.

By then I remember I left about 1.5M. Then when my friend told me to invest in cryptocurrencies like bitcoin. He kept saying it will 'go to the moon'. So I pumped nearly 1 million inside.

At first it grew tremendously. From that 1M it grew to nearly 3M because I also diversified in other 'alt coins' like XRP, Cardano, and don't know what... I was so happy that I even went to my parent's tomb and cried... I remember I still said I am making a comeback and I will make them proud.

I pump some cash into "Hyflux" around this time, as advised by friends saying it is a sure-win... Yes, what are the odds. Then the bad news happened.

Then the crypto crash happened... That 3M became 1M... I panicked and asked my friend how, he kept saying "just hold on, it will come back". At first it did, then it crashed again. I remember bitcoin crashed to 3,000+? I couldn't take it I sold all... Only to have it rally again. That 1M then became 200K...

I invested in some websites but all failed. Some of them were bought at flippa, and the seller claims it was making thousands per month. I was looking into passive income so I bought quite a number of websites. But I have no technical knowledge and hired a IT specialist to help me.

Turns out it was a scam again. None of the sites were making much money. Then the traffic kept falling until it 'died'.

By then, few months ago I was already left with 150K.



https://forums.fuckwarezone.com.sg/...i-png-store-owner-i-f**ked-all-6175431-4.html
 

no_faith

Alfrescian (Inf)
Asset
Seems like he has gambled most of the money.
When you have too much cash on hands, sometimes it is might not be good news.
No one wants to employ you because you enjoyed being a boss son.
Now you are not a boss son, your sub con cannot get over it to work for ppl.
End of day you still want be boss
 

Hypocrite-The

Alfrescian
Loyal
https://forums.fuckwarezone.com.sg/eat-drink-man-woman-16/[my-story]-once-cai-png-store-owner-i-f**ked-all-6175431.html


My parents used to own a cai png store. But I kind of destroyed everything and I’ve been reprimanding myself ever since.

Not sure where to begin…

When I was still in primary and secondary school, I would sit and study at the coffeeshop as my parents would run their cai png store. My mom, a brilliant cook, does all the cooking; my dad, on the other hand, does the cashiering, and serving to customers. He also does the accounting and all to file the tax returns.

To those who are wondering, cai png stores can be lucrative but it depends on the amount of customers and what they order. The typical 2+1 meals will fetch about $0.30-0.50 or so. Vegetables are usually cheap, but so is their cost so the profits isn’t much. However, different vegetables can have different profit margins. Like the cost of procuring sweet potato leaves is cheaper than kangkong. The big profits are on the meats, and, of course, the fishes. Most of the fishes that’s served in cai png stores are dory fish. Fishes prices are reasonable, but it is the preparation that takes a lot of time – imagine having to debone them, slice them, and cook them. So most of the time my parents will get those deboned fishes from wholesalers. It is a little more expensive but saves a hell lot of time.

One of the reason why fishes are more expensive is because it takes more time to cook them. I mean, just look at chicken. You can just throw a chunk of them in a wok and just stir fry them without worries. But for fish, any rough handling can 'break' them. And you can't just stack fish fillets over another as that would make the top ones uncooked. Compare this to cooking chicken meat where you just stir fry.

Anyway, my family's cai png business was pretty profitable since it is near work and residential areas. Blue-collar workers will usually order 2+1 meal set; white-collar workers would order 3+1 meal set.

The reason why our cai png business was profitable back then is because, as mentioned, my mom is a great cook – her food quality is always top notch, tasty, and consistent. Whereas my father is an excellent orator and have brilliant social skills. Introduce a stranger to him and they will be best friends talking endlessly for hours. He is a people person. And because he can talk well, he can persuade customers to take expensive dishes or order more. He is THAT good.

My family was well-to-do from the family business that we lived in landed at Tanah Merah area. My father drives a Mercedes and we have a van too to get the groceries. In case if you’re wondering, yes, we purchase the groceries by ourselves from Pasir Panjang centre. It is a lot cheaper than having to buy directly from one or few suppliers which include delivery fees and there’s usually a contract involved. My parents don’t like such commitments and would prefer buying directly from Pasir Panjang. My parents would take the van to Pasir Panjang every morning at 7-8AM, then drive directly to the stall to start cooking and operating. Sometimes, for fishes, sometimes at Changi Village (the area before the walking bridge to Changi Beach) where fishermen would sell their catches of the day. We would only go there if we get news that fishermen have a huge yield selling them at good prices.

The stall would be closed on Fridays. Now you may ask, “What? Why Friday? Why not Sunday or Monday?” Because families would usually eat out on weekends; and on weekdays (Mon-Thurs) business would be normal as there are blue or white collar workers looking to get their lunch, or dinner for families. But on Friday, most people would ‘pig out’ or eat something heavier like western. It is my parent’s years of observance to change their operating schedule to this. Most public holidays the store would still be opened (e.g: Hari Raya, Deepavali, Labour Day, and so on). The definite PH that we would be closed is Chinese New Year until the Chinese 8th day, and New Year's eve.

Life was awesome back then. We were well-off. Me, being the only child in the family, would get all the love from my parents. I felt very spoilt. They want the best for me so they let me buy whatever I want, especially since they have a thriving cai png store. When I was in poly, they gave me a debit and credit card to use. So I was spending on branded stuffs and spoiling my JC gf (we met at the library while I was doing research in my laptop there). We have crazy sex too, she’s a nymph and with a hot, petite sexy body (I mean, JC girl duh) it was awesome. During her school holidays, I secretly treated her and we both went to France for vacation. That’s how rich my family was then.

By then, I graduated from poly. I was in a dilemma whether to further my studies by getting a degree. I don't feel the need then as I could just learn the ropes of handling the cai png store. I even thought of helping my parents to expand it like a franchise. I got big plans for it. Then again, I was still contemplating on that. But regardless of what option I take there's always NS. So I decide to just serve and FO first.

Fast forward one day, when I was in the army, my officer gave me the bad news… My father passed away. I was later told by my mom that my father had a heart-attack when he went to the stall early to do the monthly accounting (tallying the income and expense for the month). He had a heart-attack and no one was around until an owner from another stall came and saw my dad on the floor. He didn’t make it… I was just 1 month from ORD. I used up my compassionate leave and normal leave until I ORD-ed… I was with my mom caring for her. She was so distraught by my father’s death she was bedridden for weeks. I would drive all the way to Pasir Panjang area to buy her favourite food hoping she will at least have a bite. The stall was closed for about 2 months.

And yes, if you ever see a shop close for months then opened again all of a sudden, you know why now. It is likely a family business and something bad happened in the family.

She finally got the strength to open the store again. I would be the one driving the van every morning to get the supplies from Pasir Panjang area and deliver to the store. Many times I would see my mom crying in the store as she is preparing the food. I would hug and console her… I really love my mom. She’s a very strong woman. By then, I was so busy helping my mom and all I chose not to further my studies.

We later decided to hire a helper at the store to do the cashiering and serving. Business did dip by about 30% as our family business has lost its left arm – my father – whose oratory and persuasion skills were the one to lure and get loyal customers to keep coming back.

By then, I have little time for my girlfriend. She was in NUS by then and we met lesser and lesser. She would always complain and say I’ve changed and all. But I’m just too busy helping my mom and caring for her. By then we had trouble with our helper as we caught him stealing from the cashbox. Sometimes he would serve the customer, collect the money, but put inside his pocket. All these were known after my mom and I noticed a huge drop in our cash flow, and immediately we suspected it is the helper. So we secretly installed a hidden IP cam and caught his act. He confessed and said he had stolen about 20K over the months. He promised to return it and asked if he could take leave for tomorrow so he can have his family from overseas transfer the money back and he would withdraw it from the bank. We agreed because my mom trusted him as he’s like a friend. My mom also said she won’t file any police report if he returned the money. He agreed. However, he never returned. Police report was filed and we found out that he has fled Singapore the very next day. By then, the IO said they couldn't do much since he has left the country. But if he ever returns (which we doubt) they will apprehend him.

So my mom and I would take turns doing the cashiering. She was very exhausted at every end of the day.

Then one day… I received the other horrifying news. My mom passed. Perhaps it was due to all the grief and exhausting work… She collapsed in the kitchen. Like my father, it was early morning. This time, however, she was found by the beverage-serving uncle, but her injury was too severe that even the doctors couldn't save her. Autopsy was done and found her brain to have hemorrhage. The mortician’s report said she has likely slip and fell, knocking the side of her head against the stove. This led to a blood clot, thus, a stroke.

I remember crying from morning to night for a week. Not just because I miss my mom (and dad) but I felt clueless on what to do with my family’s cai png store now. Not only do I not have the oratory and social skills like my father, but I don’t even know how to cook.

Worst of all? My girlfriend broke up with me. She claims that I neglected her, but somehow I suspect she broke up with me because I told her my family’s business is in trouble. I realize she’s just a gold-digger. What’s more crazy is she later got a new boyfriend barely 2 months later. Some NUS classmate of hers who’s buff, good-looking and rich. I don't even want to know if I was wearing 'green hat' then because before we broke up there were a lot of photos of them together.

I fell into depression and the store was closed for 3 months. It was so bad that my uncle (father’s brother) had to step in to settle some of the paperwork for me. Like telling the landlord the tenant of the stall will be under my name; my parent’s assets, and such. And yes, that also means I was still paying the store’s rental for that 4 months (3 months + that 1 month my mom’s unfortunate event happened).

When I felt better I decide to try whatever I can to salvage my family’s cai png store. I hired a Malaysian chef. You can hire a Chinese National chef at a cheaper rate but I don’t want to take the risk as I was looking for a GOOD chef. In fact, if you see most cai png and zi ca stores, the chefs are usually Malaysian. So I was willing to pay about 25% more for a Malaysian chef. Then a rather chio Malaysian helper too who is bilingual – English and Chinese – to do the serving and cashiering. All this in the hopes of reviving the business. I was still pretty depress so there wasn’t much of my presence nor contribution physically.

Unfortunately, from that 4 months of inactivity, many loyal customers are gone. Probably because they assumed the cai png store has closed down. Or maybe because the food standard isn’t as great as it was before. It’s so bad that all the food that was cooked would still have 80% remaining at the end of the day. As I didn’t want to waste food I instructed the workers to give out to people for free at the final hour before closing everyday. And guess what? Singapore kiasu-ness kicked-in… Many people would NOT order from my store until near the final hour to collect free food. Ironically, that’s when our shop have the most ‘customers’.

To counter this, I simply asked the chef to cook lesser portions and also, we ceased giving out free food.

I then came up with a new idea to salvage my business: any 3 ingredients + rice at a fixed price of $2.50. The main intention was to draw more new customers to patronize our store.

And, sigh, guess what again? Singapore kiasu-ness and stinginess retuned. Customers would queue up and pick all the expensive ingredients like fish, and meat. In the end, all the vegetables were untaken. This is mainly my fault for not foreseeing this.

So I changed my strategy again. Any meal set (2+1 or 3+1 or 4+1) will be entitled to a free drink at the drinks stall. At the end of every week, I would reimburse the drink stalls for the amount of drinks redeemed.

And, yeap, as you expect it, I got outsmarted again. This time customers would only get the 2+1 meal set. I was making a loss for every 2+1 meal set. Because every 2+1’s profit is about $0.30-$0.50. Now imagine a cup of kopi or can drink back then… about $0.80.

That’s not the worst part… To be entitled for the drink, the customer have to simply show the receipt to the drinks stall to redeem their drink. Some people would show the receipt, then pass the receipt to their family member or friends to go redeem too. So at the end of the week when I was tallying the amount of drinks redeemed and the customers who purchased our food… It would be a 2-fold difference. For example, 100 customers, but 200 redemption. It is nuts.

Remember the durian charity incident? Yeap, reading that news reminded me of the above. Pure recollection.

The whole situation was so bad that my stall was making a loss of 20K every month. And the losses are increasing every month. Gradual increments but enough to make me lose sleep.

I decided to close the stall down. I practically killed my parent’s business and I still regret it until today.

Later, over the years, I had several other business ventures and investments. But they all failed. This resulted me to sell my parent’s landed and all. And that was my biggest mistake because I have problems getting a home after that. I was only 25 then and I can’t even get a HDB as I’m not 35, nor married. So I have to live in a rented room (not house, ROOM) for $800 a month.

I hated myself. I felt like a real “char siew”. All the decades of my parents’ hardwork were destroyed by me.

I’m now 27 with barely 100K in my bank now. And that is why I am always in the HWZ “Money Matters” section reading financial tips and advice.

I can’t find a job since my business ventures failed.

No one wants to hire a 27 year old with ZERO work experience, and with just a diploma. The only option? Be a grab driver. But I can't fathom the thought of it... Having to pay a room rental, then car rental and all.

The unfortunate story of a son of cai png store owners. The downfall of well-to-do individuals are more unfortunate than you think. I can’t imagine how much more dire it is for once rich individuals having to declare bankruptcy. And being the only child is worst as I have no one to turn to in such dire circumstances.



https://forums.fuckwarezone.com.sg/eat-drink-man-woman-16/[my-story]-once-cai-png-store-owner-i-f**ked-all-6175431.html


UO's note : For him to have lost both parents (heart attack and stroke respectively) in his early 20s is pretty sad (and he has no siblings), but the fact he now still has Sg$100k liquid cash (ie. excluding assets) at 27 years old, he's doing pretty ok. Marcus, if you're reading this, know that you still have a hugely promising life ahead of you!
Sounds like a tall story. If got the money just sell the landed. Buy a 2 million condo or 500k hdb flat and live off the leftovers. Slowly spend can last a life time. Even better sell the landed. Buy a resale 500k hdb n 1 condo. Stay in the condo n rent out hdb. Or vice versa. Can live off the rental income. 25 yo n biz venture etc..total BS
 

searcher1

Alfrescian
Loyal
It all boils down to what this guy want in his remaining life. If he already resign to his fate, then join Grab-Food & buy a pedal-assist bicycle. It should be able to feed himself while still being healthy. Or he can join as Bus Driver, smelly-smelly $2.5K ...
 

UltimaOnline

Alfrescian (InfP)
Generous Asset
Sounds like a tall story. If got the money just sell the landed. Buy a 2 million condo or 500k hdb flat and live off the leftovers. Slowly spend can last a life time. Even better sell the landed. Buy a resale 500k hdb n 1 condo. Stay in the condo n rent out hdb. Or vice versa. Can live off the rental income. 25 yo n biz venture etc..total BS


Marcus wishes he read your post before he lost the $5mil. Too late liao.
 

UltimaOnline

Alfrescian (InfP)
Generous Asset
It all boils down to what this guy want in his remaining life. If he already resign to his fate, then join Grab-Food & buy a pedal-assist bicycle. It should be able to feed himself while still being healthy. Or he can join as Bus Driver, smelly-smelly $2.5K ...


It's the psychological trauma of once (just a couple of years back) having had $5mil in his hands, but now having lost it all, he can't bring himself to work as a food delivery guy or bus driver. He'll keep reminding himself, "I used to have $5mil in my hands...". Trauma too painful for him, struggling to get over.
 

no_faith

Alfrescian (Inf)
Asset
Weird thing is once you have huge cash in hands, people sudden appear ask you to invest.
Dont know how they know or you go broadcast
I know is sad but the part when he got his inheritance, i think the story haywire
 

Ralders

Alfrescian
Loyal
Why no sell mala fish mala pork mala chicken mala kangkong to new immigrants?
Sure alot customers cause alot new immigrants.
 

stingray

Alfrescian
Loyal
please remember...be it good luck or bad luck.... they dun last forever... :geek:

A sad story about his desperation to find a niche for survival in life. He might have lived the high life when his parents were alive. He took for granted his money source would not end and did not learn any job skill. Typically, an ah sia kia. Plenty of money to throw about and friends aplenty around him. When the tree falls, all monkeys run away.
 

ChristJohnny

Alfrescian
Loyal
Sounds like a fairy tale to me ... sorry for pouring cold water. In Malaysia, you can just lie or use religion to sway the masses, because most of them have lower IQ. To convince people in higher IQ country, you need more effort than that.

IQ and Race
 

JohnTan

Alfrescian (InfP)
Generous Asset
There's not much future in a chup chye png stall. It's just a miniature version of food catering, but at the lowest level. Most customers have little loyalty towards the typical cai png stall. It's a fight to the bottom. No wonder his family business went bust while my food catering business went from strength to strength, glory to glory.
 

no_faith

Alfrescian (Inf)
Asset
Why no sell mala fish mala pork mala chicken mala kangkong to new immigrants?
Sure alot customers cause alot new immigrants.
But the thing is he cant cook.
Even sell mala is profitable he cant cook.
He employ a prc chef, under the mercy of the chef.
If the chef play him out history repeats.
He also not sure what he is good at. He just randomly burn money.
When his parents still around i believe he also never try to learn from his parents.
Most of the time shd be parktor and play ard be a boss son.
Just a pet dog enjoy spoon fed, once thrown out to the wild cant survive.
Diploma cant find a job? How abt the ppl without diploma?
 
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