With a mission to share Singapore with the world, the family-run Rainbow Lapis started as the retail arm of Cooking Art Industries, one of Singapore’s first professional culinary schools, founded in the early 1980s by Mrs. Esther-Kim Sim. Then, Cooking Art was known for its wide repertoire of culinary courses taught by wellknown professional teachers and chefs including Nicholas Lodge, who was one of Princess Diana’s wedding cake decorators, and the late Baba Jolly Wee. The mid 1990s saw Cooking Art evolve into becoming a manufacturer instead to meet the rising need for a first-rate local dessert supplier for Singapore’s hotel industry.
Rainbow Lapis was eventually established in the 1990s amidst Singapore’s historical struggles of the financial crisis and SARS. “In those days our main business was hit really badly as tourist numbers plummeted and we wouldn’t have been able to survive if we had stuck only with our food-service business model,” shares Claire Shen, managing director of Rainbow Lapis and daughter of founder Esther-Kim Sim. “We started participating in temporary week-long pop up stores and small kiosks at food events in the malls. We have come a very long way since then, and Rainbow Lapis is still continuously growing with its mission to preserve and celebrate Singapore’s heritage delicacies,” shares Claire.
A LABOUR OF LOVE
Thriving on their key values of service excellence, creativity and quality products, Rainbow Lapis’ beautiful range of handcrafted local kuehs, lapis, chiffon cakes, tartlets, cookies and snacks revolves around the company’s vision to share the authentic taste and experience of Singapore locally, and with the world. “Our products are handmade daily, in a 24-hour ISO22000-certified central kitchen, with the finest ingredients to ensure the freshness and quality of our offerings,” notes Claire.
This story is from the September - October 2019 edition of WINE&DINE.
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This story is from the September - October 2019 edition of WINE&DINE.
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