Ditching corporate life to start you tiao business

IT WAS 2017 and Audrey Chew was looking for something new to do. She had returned to Singapore after five years of working for a Brazilian mining company in China.

"I went to fintech, AI (artificial intelligence); I looked at the different markets to assess where I could utilise my strengths. Then, I realised it was the family business that I had a chance to transform," recounts Ms Chew, 35.

Her father was then selling you tiao from a hawker stall in Toa Payoh - where it still stands today - and managing the business himself, but he was getting on in his years. Ms Chew wanted to preserve the business, but also saw potential in taking the product further. Hence, she decided to remodel the business by mass producing you tiao, setting up a factory and hiring workers in the process.