Straits Times. 11 Feb
By Nur Dianah Suhaimi
WHEN Ms C.F. Chen set up her organic food shop Supernature in a quiet corner of Wheelock Place 10 years ago, she had only five items sitting on the shelves and even fewer customers coming through the door.
When they did, they cringed at the prices and complained about holes in the apples and less-than-pristine vegetables.
Her friends thought she was crazy to have given up her $2,500-a-month job at the now defunct Telecommunication Authority of Singapore to sell ‘rabbit food’.
Today, the 37-year-old is having the last laugh.
Her two Orchard Boulevard shops are among more than 40 organic stores, cafes and warehouses in Singapore, all part of an industry estimated to be worth between $6 million and $10 million a year.
Organic food is produced without artificial pesticides or fertilisers. It is also free of additives and, in the case of organic meat, growth hormones.
Last week, Club 21 founder Christina Ong’s COMO Group bought over the two shops for an undisclosed sum, leaving Ms Chen in charge of the day-to-day operations.
For Ms Chen, the sale was a matter of necessity. She said the business was expanding so rapidly that she could no longer cope, so she decided to sell it to Ms Ong, one of her regular customers.
But the story of sweet success didn’t come without hardship and sacrifice.
The once sickly mother of a two-year-old boy got hooked on organic food while she was studying in London.
‘When I first started drinking organic fruit juices, I didn’t get a cold for an entire month. For someone who used to fall sick so often, that was a big deal.’
Upon her return in 1995, she could not find organic food in Singapore, so she decided to set up her own shop. With moral support from her parents and businessman husband, she pumped $200,000 of her savings into the venture.
It was a bold venture, not least because her career prospects looked very bright after gaining a masters in economics from the prestigious London School of Economics.
The business ‘lost money’ in the first two years. Getting customers to walk into the store was enough of a challenge. Convincing them to pay $9 for a pack of caixin or $40 for a whole chicken was something else entirely.
‘Back then, people didn’t know what organic food was about,’ she said. ‘The ones who did bought for medicinal purposes. There was no market for organic products, but I hung on because I believed in it so much.’
She worked more than 10 hours each day, seven days a week, with no rest days.
By the third year, profits started trickling in, thanks to increasing public interest. Now, buying organic food is not only widely recognised as healthier, its higher price tag has also made it something of a status symbol.
Ms Chen’s well-stocked shop sells everything from organic detergent to fresh chicken. Even the big boys like Cold Storage and NTUC FairPrice have muscled in on the action, devoting shelves specifically to organic produce.
And Ms Chen is glad.
‘They may be competition for us but, more importantly, they also help to bring more awareness to others. So I’ve nothing to complain about.’