Pang Gek Teng: Surrey Hills ventures beyond brunch food with 3 new brands

The year 2024 was when Ms Pang Gek Teng achieved what she deems "the impossible".

- Eunice Quek

The founder and chief executive of Surrey Hills Holdings took on a $2.5 million project—her most ambitious yet—opening three new food and beverage brands that are all unrelated to her popular chain of Aussie-inspired cafe Surrey Hills Grocer. The Singaporean restaurateur has proven she can do more than just brunch food.

All located at Raffles City Shopping Mall, the three brands are Japanese ramen restaurant Mensho Tokyo, which opened in July; Spanish restaurant MoVida Original from Melbourne, which opened in August; and the eagerly anticipated hot-pot concept Bon Broth in partnership with acclaimed Taiwanese chef Andre Chiang. Bon Broth is slated to open in early 2025.

They join the Surrey Hills Grocer outlet which opened at the same mall in July 2023.

Convincing the chef-owners behind established brands to set up in Singapore was no easy feat, let alone fine-tuning each concept for the local market—a power move that lands Ms Pang, 36, a debut spot on the Life Power List.

The Raffles City foodie enclave is the feather in Ms Pang's cap, who rounds off an intense year with an all-time-high revenue of almost $20 million.

In addition to the new restaurants, she opened another two pet-friendly Surrey Hills Grocer branches—in One Holland Village in March and VivoCity in November—and the newly launched Bao Bao Chinese bun takeaway shop at Ion Orchard.