Cooking up a storm at $7m nasi lemak chain

Hawker Noorman Mubarak went from Singapore Airlines to oil and gas to Nasi Lemak Ayam Taliwang, which now has 26 outlets and 100 staff

- Hedy Khoo

Former flight attendant Noorman Mubarak, 46, was earning up to $20,000 a month as a project manager in the oil and gas industry, when he quit and turned hawker in 2017.

Together with his wife and a long-time friend, he started Nasi Lemak Ayam Taliwang as a hawker stall at Yishun Park Hawker Centre.

Today, the University of Queensland graduate who has a degree in business management has seen his stall expand into a Muslim-owned chain with 100 employees across 26 outlets and annual revenue of $7 million.

He recently made the news after saying in a Feb 18 Facebook post that he had "forced" his heavily pregnant wife, Ms Puti Andam Dewi Henry, 39, to stand at their nasi lemak stall in Yishun.

As the registered stallholder, she had received a National Environment Agency warning for violating the tenancy agreement by not being physically at the stall.

Mr Noorman asserted that the stall is personally managed by both of them, as they utilise a human resources software, set standard operating procedures for staff and use CCTV to check on operations. He took issue with Ms Puti having to be physically present at the stall.

The matter has since been resolved, with Ms Puti appointing an employee as a nominee to operate the stall while she is on maternity leave until September.

She remains in charge of the stall's financial, administrative and operational matters. Mr Noorman says the couple also communicate with their staff daily and visit the stall up to three times a week.

Ms Puti also a former flight attendant was supportive of his move to become a hawker. Then 37, his decision was spurred by the birth of their first son. His job in the oil and gas industry required frequent travel, but he wanted to be home for his family.

The couple, who married in 2013, have an eight-year-old son, a two-year-old daughter and a one-month-old boy.