Burgers born of heartbreak

In 2019, everything fell apart for Mr Lee Syafiq Muhammad Ridzuan Lee.

- Hedy Khoo Senior Correspondent

A business split cost him the burger brand he built and the friends he trusted. And three months before his wedding scheduled for January that year, he discovered his fiancee was seeing someone else.

He took over the hawker stall at Golden Mile Food Centre that he had run with his former partners since 2017 and re-branded it Ashes Burnnit. The name, he says, was a reminder to rise from the ashes and keep his passion burning.

"I had a point to prove," the 33-year-old says. "People said I couldn't sell the burgers on my own. They thought that was the end of me."

Picking up the pieces after that double blow was not easy. He threw himself into work, but lost his appetite and barely slept. Each night, he cried himself to sleep after punishing 14-hour days of cooking, serving and cleaning.

"I was in a personal crisis," he says. "I had lost two of my closest friends and my fiancee. My career was in shambles. I had to start over in every aspect of my life."

Mr Lee Syafiq, who calls himself a late bloomer, found his footing through culinary training.

He preferred the kitchen to the classroom and earned his Nitec certificate in Culinary Arts (Western) from ITE Clementi, followed by a Technical Diploma in Culinary Arts with Restaurant Management and a bachelor's degree in gastronomy and restaurant management from ITE College West in 2013.

The course, conducted in collaboration with Institut Paul Bocuse, included a two-week exchange in Lyon, France.

Back in Singapore, he interned at Balzac Brasserie and Bar and Jaan at Swissotel The Stamford before joining one-Michelin-starred Terra Tokyo Italian as chef de partie after national service.

In 2017, he co-founded a burger brand with two partners, but by 2019, tensions surfaced. He preferred to grow the business through profits and reinvestment, while his partners wanted to bring in investors. Unable to come to an agreement, they parted ways.