CLASSIC CUISINE
As someone who has been in the food and beverage industry for close to two decades, Mr. Dellen Soh knows the mind of a diner. The chairman and CEO of Minor Singapore, Mr. Soh was responsible for launching ThaiExpress in 2002 and then developing Xin Wang Hong Kong Café, New York New York, and Shokudo, among other restaurant concepts.
In 2008, he sold 70 percent of ThaiExpress to Minor International, and later stepped down as CEO following Minor’s acquisition of the remaining 30 percent stake in ThaiExpress in 2011. But due to quarterly losses that Minor Singapore faced, in March 2018 he returned to helm the local unit and turn its fortunes around.
Today Minor Food Group Singapore operates more than a hundred outlets divided among 13 brands, including Thai Express, Xin Wang Hong Kong Café, Poulet, Buffet Town and Kiseki, and added Go-Ang Pratunam Thai-style chicken rice to its portfolio late last year.
All this experience has given Mr. Soh a particular insight into how to keep restaurants and dining concepts fresh, exciting and relevant to consumers. Taking cues from limited-edition collaborations between fashion brands, he launched partnerships with noted chefs, such as Justin Quek for Xin Wang Hong Kong Café and Poulet, to present limited-period menu items that give diners new reasons to return to established restaurants.
“Xin Wang is a brand that’s been in the market for 13–14 years,” Mr. Soh explains. “The current market is such that everyone is selling the same food, and these people are going into and out of business, and I felt I needed to have a push. The push can be in terms of price — $5.90, 1-for-1, for example — but I don’t believe in using price to attract people; I believe in using food to attract people. I want people to say, ‘Let’s go to Xin Wang because they just launched this item,’ and not, ‘Let’s go to Xin Wang because they have 1-for-1 deals.’ Those customers will not last.”
Mr. Soh believes strongly in the power of familiarity that classic menu items possess. “Focusing on staple foods is not sexy or Instagrammable — it’s just chicken rice, nothing to photograph — but it’s something people will always want to eat, and we do it well, and that ensures our business can be sustained,” he says.
“More than 10 years ago, any concept I created would always result in long queues; at that time the market was not so vibrant and exposed, and social media was not prominent; nowadays, you’ll be happy if you open a new concept and it’s full, let alone has a long queue outside,” he continues. “It’s a generational thing, and we have to change, but one thing we cannot change is the food. That’s the basic of the basic.
“Deep down in their hearts, consumers still want the classic products. ... So I don’t let this talk of innovation distract me; I just focus on the food and let the food do the talking.”