An award-winning hawker’s secret recipe to success

With several awards under his belt, including the coveted Michelin Bib Gourmand, it would have been easy for 41-year-old Gwern Khoo to rest on his laurels.

The co-founder of A Noodle Story – a popular Singapore-style ramen stall – is also a recipient of the prestigious SkillsFuture Fellowships. 

Presented by the President of the Republic of Singapore, the award recognises individuals as masters of skills and mentors of future talent. Awarded to Singapore citizens with at least 10 years of working experience in the same or related industry or job function, recipients receive a monetary award of S$10,000 to continue their pursuit of skills mastery.

Instead of sitting back and riding on the waves of past successes, Mr Khoo has worked even harder at honing his culinary skills and developing new skillsets along the way. 

“I believe in constant improvement. There is always something we can improve on,” he said. 

“Learning does not stop when you finish school. Graduation is just the beginning of lifelong learning.” 

SHARPENING SKILLSETS WHILE SERVING UP NOODLES

The former chef at the Michelin-starred Waku Ghin started his culinary journey by learning from the best in the industry. He honed his skills at various award-winning restaurants, including Jaan Par Andre and Saint Pierre, by working as a stagiaire to observe how these top restaurant kitchens work. 

So what motivated him to enter the hawker trade at the age of 33 in 2013? Mr Khoo said it was spurred by his love of creating new dishes and the desire to provide a cost-friendly platform for people to enjoy his culinary creations. 
 
“I’ve always loved coming up with new dishes, and am very happy when people come up to me and say they like my food,” Mr Khoo said. 

“With the high casualty rate of cafes and restaurants in Singapore, we don’t want to throw away good money to test the market. The hawker centre was a low-cost platform for me to test my ideas and concepts,” he added.  

With more ageing hawkers leaving the trade, Mr Khoo had also hoped to preserve the “soul” of hawker food – to provide delicious and affordably priced food for everyone. 

Amid his busy work schedule, Mr Khoo has retained his zest for learning, continuing to sharpen his existing skills and developing new ones.

One of the ways he does this is by collaborating and exchanging culinary techniques and recipes with other chefs whenever the opportunity arises.

“I continue to devour fine cooking and baking books and try the recipes out at home although what I’m selling at A Noodle Story is considered street food. I also attend cooking classes and workshops when I can find the time,” he shared. 

KEEPING PACE WITH THE TIMES

Mr Khoo is a firm advocate of keeping pace with the times. During the circuit breaker period in 2020, A Noodle Story was one of the first stalls at Amoy Street Food Centre to offer delivery options. 

Mr Khoo described how it had to be “fast and decisive” about pivoting to food delivery during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic due to the stall’s location in the central business district (CBD), which is far from most residential areas. 

“Our team trawled the Internet for the most suitable online package and set up a quick ordering form with an in-built delivery driver service,” he said. 

The team also downloaded messaging app Telegram to facilitate orders and deliveries, and later ventured into food delivery platforms like GrabFood and foodpanda. It also did social media shout-outs on its Facebook page to announce its delivery options. 

The team’s swift action saw its online ordering system up and running on the first day of circuit breaker, with delivery orders eventually making up almost 80 per cent of its orders. 

Another way the team keeps up with the times is by offering cashless e-payment options, observing that customers always had their smartphones with them, but not their wallets.  

“We overhauled our point-of-sale (POS) set-up to establish a cloud-based POS and accounting system so that we can monitor and manage things remotely,” Mr Khoo shared. 

As the business grows with a second outlet at Guoco Tower, Mr Khoo is also busy broadening his knowledge by looking into topics related to business, such as marketing, branding, finance and management. 

INSPIRING THE NEXT GENERATION OF HAWKERS

Having worked in the hawker scene for almost a decade, Mr Khoo has witnessed how the trade is changing. 

“With ageing hawkers leaving the trade, some traditions and dishes will be lost,” he said. 

Mr Khoo is doing his bit to keep the hawker trade alive by mentoring new colleagues, and he does so by leading by example. Usually the first in the kitchen and the last to leave, he has no qualms about rolling up his sleeves and getting down to heavy-duty work.

“People follow what you do, not what you say,” Mr Khoo said. “For example, I’m very particularly about maintaining high standards for food quality and cleanliness. But you can’t tell staff to keep the place clean and yet, make a whole mess of the place and instruct them to clean up after you. That won’t work.”

Mr Khoo also shares interesting nuggets of wisdom or teachings that he comes across with younger team members. For instance, the quote from Chinese philosopher Confucius – “Self-criticise and not blame others, then we can keep resentment at bay and be happy” – has helped soothe frayed nerves amid disagreements. 

Receiving the SkillsFuture Fellowships in 2018 has motivated Mr Khoo deeply, and he urges individuals with deep technical and specialised skills who are eager to learn to claim their spot at the SkillsFuture Fellowships.

“It is an enormous title for me to live up to – to be a worthy person who commands mastery of my field and hopefully be an inspiration to others,” he said. 

The SkillsFuture Fellowships honours individuals as masters of skills and mentors of future talent. Apply or nominate someone you know at skillsfuture.gov.sg/sfea. Nominations are now open till Mar 21, 2022.