(Photo: The Straits Times)

The next time you dine outside, check the brand of the tableware. Chances are, it is Cerabon or Safico.

It does not matter if the names do not ring a bell. What is noteworthy is that they are developed here and retail in leading local department and kitchenware stores.

The birth and reach of these brands can be traced back to the business acumen of Mr Tan Choon Boon, 67.

Supported by his daughter, Grace, 38, he has succeeded in making many local and overseas kitchenware brands known to – and used by – many here.

Ms Grace Tan is the director of household kitchenware retailer and lifestyle store ToTT (Tools of The Trade), while Mr Tan is the chief executive of ToTT's parent company Sia Huat, which sells kitchenware to industrial kitchens, restaurants and chefs.

Mr Tan's wife is also involved in the company, but his two other children are not. His younger daughter, 35, is a housewife and his son, 30, works in the logistics industry.

He says: "I'm not trying to brag, but if someone wants to duplicate our concept, it won't be easy. You just need to look at the merchandise mix that we have."

Sia Huat carries more than 30,000 products across more than 300 brands, while ToTT carries about 200 brands, of which 70 per cent are from Sia Huat and the other 30 per cent are brand partners that work directly with ToTT.

APPEALING TO HOMEOWNERS AND INDUSTRY

Mr Tan began as a sales assistant at Sia Huat in 1968, about a decade after the Temple Street company was started in 1959 by his father.


(Photo: The Straits Times)

With his vision and drive, he had succeeded in securing several weighty brand partners under his belt by the time he took over managing the company in the 1980s. The company is co-owned by Mr Tan and his siblings. His youngest sister Katherine, 61, is Sia Huat's executive director, but their five other siblings are not involved in the business.

One of its brand partners is Zebra, a household kitchenware manufacturer based in Thailand. He successfully made a pitch to the brand for Sia Huat to be its sole distributor here about 40 years ago.

After securing the partnership, Mr Tan lost no time in pitching Zebra's products to department stores here.

He recalls arriving at CK Tang, now called Tangs, swinging Zebra's two-tiered stainless-steel tiffin carrier in hand. CK Tang liked the product and that deal marked Sia Huat's entry into the retail distribution business.

Today, its products retail at department stores such as Tangs and Robinsons and at supermarkets such as FairPrice and Giant.

Sia Huat is also the exclusive distributor for cookware brands Jamie Oliver and Nordic Ware, cheeseware brand Boska and Grant Primo sous vide machines.

Mr Tan launched in-house brands Safico and Cerabon in the 1990s.

In the early 1990s, Ms Tan began helping out in the business. The then 12-year-old manned the cashier with her grandfather. When she grew older, she helped out with the store's administrative work during school holidays.

She later went to study at the University of San Francisco in the United States and worked in a dot.com company there after graduating.

One night in 2002, she received a call at 2am from her father in Singapore. "He said it was time to come back to work for him," she says.

She agreed and worked in Sia Huat as a marketing executive from 2002 to 2005.

Her key contributions during this period were helping to launch Sia Huat's first product catalogue and working on refreshing the logo design and branding for Cerabon and Safico.

After this stint, she went back to the US to pursue her Master of Business Administration in marketing and get married. Her husband is Taiwanese-American Wen Huang, 40, who works as a senior advisory consultant with Amazon Web Services. The couple have two sons, aged six and 21/2.

During this time, Mr Tan was busy brewing another idea – ToTT.

He observed a growing trend of people who enjoy cooking and hosting meals at home. He reasoned that they would want to impress their guests with their kitchenware and tableware.

So from 2005 to 2010, he and a team of five thought about how to launch a differentiated concept from Sia Huat that would appeal to homeowners.

Sia Huat opened ToTT in October 2010.

By then, Ms Tan's husband had secured a job here and the couple had moved back to Singapore.

Ms Tan, who rejoined Sia Huat in 2009, took on the directorship of the 36,000 sq ft ToTT. Its flagship store in Dunearn Road turns seven this year.

A second outlet opened at Suntec City in 2015. Its e-commerce arm has seen sales increase by 10 per cent between its launch in 2014 and last year and the store's total sales have increased by 59 per cent since its opening.

In 2013, ToTT received international recognition when it was awarded the Global Innovation Award – which recognises excellence in houseware retail and design – by the International Housewares Association in the US.

ToTT's in-store kitchens – where cooking classes and demonstrations and birthday parties can be held – are also popular. They can conduct up to 12 classes a week and have hosted up to six parties on weekends.

A new 5 Senses Bistro, by chef-owner Andrea Lim, has also opened at ToTT's Dunearn outlet in April this year. It takes the space of the ToTT bistro, which closed in February.

Ms Tan says revenue figures for 5 Senses are looking to be "significantly higher" than last year's bistro takings.

In spite of this, both father and daughter are quick to add that the learning curve has been a steep one.

Mr Tan says: "We were gutsy. We took over a huge space and I thought, 'Why can't we do everything?'"

But the truth was, the ToTT concept was new and they had no experience managing cooking studios, much less a bistro.

They initially offered the studios for cooking classes only, but later realised they were under-utilising the space. They subsequently opened them for events.

For the bistro, they found it challenging to manage a team of food and beverage personnel. With chef Lim helming it now, they are looking to change that.

Ms Tan recalls that in the early days, although they knew they wanted to position ToTT as a business-to-consumer concept, they also stocked industrial mixers in the store.

"These mixers came up to my waist. You could put a small child in them," she says.

But all the heavy commercial and industrial equipment items had to go. Together with their teams, the Tans re-curated their merchandise and sought to appeal more to household consumers.

Those early days were also challenging for their father-daughter relationship, says Ms Tan.

She used to report to him, but it was hard for her to see him as the boss and they had clashes.

She says without going into specifics: "As a father, he is not very authoritarian and I can speak to him casually. But in a work environment, a certain amount of professionalism has to be maintained even when we have our differences."

They talked about the issue and Ms Tan now reports to her aunt Katherine.

"Our working relationship is much better now," says Ms Tan.

Although the reporting structure has changed, she still consults her "father-boss" up to three times a week to exchange ideas with him or discuss how to increase sales.

ToTT's lease at Dunearn ends in the middle of next year, so Ms Tan and her team are "reviewing our options".

There are also plans to possibly franchise the brand, expand locally with a few more outlets or take it overseas.

While it remains to be seen what will be next for ToTT, one thing is certain: Mr Tan's steadfast love for his job.

He clocks 10-hour days, getting to office at 8.30am and leaving at 6.30pm.

"I'm still very passionate about the business. I still work as hard as I used to 40 years ago," he says.

"My vision for ToTT is to continue to be a trendsetter in the kitchenware and houseware scene, offering the widest variety of options, all under one roof. Perhaps, it could even become a tourist destination."

Written by Bryna Singh for The Straits Times