Life Power List 2024: Pang Gek Teng, founder-CEO of Surrey Hills Holdings, goes beyond brunch food 

Ms Pang Gek Teng, chief executive and founder of Surrey Hills Holdings, at the Ion Orchard outlet of her Surrey Hills Grocer. ST PHOTO: GIN TAY

Eunice Quek

UPDATED Dec 21, 2024, 10:00 AM

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SINGAPORE – The year 2024 was when Ms Pang Gek Teng achieved what she deems “the impossible”. 

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. 

On how the year has panned out for her, Ms Pang says: “The impossible has already been achieved, but I don’t think I would do it again. If I could, I would have paced it out more. Rushing to open does not give each brand its justified attention. 

“But we have done it in the best possible way, and I am very satisfied with the results that my team and I have achieved.”  

Ms Pang, who is single, has come a long way since leaving her banking job in 2015. The Shatec graduate started a string of failed companies before hitting on the idea of the kind of cafe-grocer she enjoyed visiting when studying for her management and marketing degree in Australia from 2008.

After her business ventures Down Under flopped, she returned to Singapore in March 2021 with just A$362 (S$313) in her pocket.

With a $400,000 investment from a family friend, Surrey Hills Grocer made its debut in Joo Koon in December 2021 – proving that distance is not an issue for pet-loving cafe hoppers hankering for a slice of Australia’s cafe scene in Singapore. 

That outlet, which shut in October 2023, paved the way for several more – a total of five now, with other branches at The Woodleigh Mall and Ion Orchard. 

The VivoCity outlet is the largest at 5,600 sq ft, with $2 million spent on customised animatronic kangaroos, giraffes, koalas and birds, as well as lush green interiors and beautiful murals inspired by the Dandenong Ranges in Victoria, Australia. 

Aside from new menu items – for children and pets as well – this outlet sees the debut of Australian coffee brand ST. ALi’s curated selection of pantry products such as Chotto Motto Crispy Chilli Oil and Chunky Dave’s Chunky Peanut Butter. Its coffee is also served at this outlet.

ST. ALi will also be setting up its first cafe in Singapore – to be located at the former Bukit Timah Fire Station – in the third quarter of 2025, in partnership with Surrey Hills Grocer.

Other upcoming projects include Mensho Tokyo’s new Mensho Tonkotsu ramen outlet at Six Battery Road, a unit converted from the now-defunct Surrey Hills Deli, which specialised in sandwiches. 

A sixth Surrey Hills Grocer will open at Jewel Changi Airport in the second or third quarter of 2025. It will carry a menu that offers the “best of” dishes from each outlet.

The group’s culinary director Pang Kok Keong – who has been instrumental in crafting the menus for every concept – will also open a new brand called & So On. Details are still under wraps.

Chef Pang, 49, is best known for Pang’s Hakka Noodles chain and his now-defunct Antoinette patisserie. 

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There are plans to expand Furry Hills, Surrey Hills’ pet-centric section of food and retail products, into what Ms Pang hopes will be the “Mothercare of dogs in Singapore” – a nod to the renowned British retailer that specialises in products for mothers and babies. 

Currently, sales of pet products across Surrey Hills Grocer outsell the grocery and retail items for humans, she adds. 

With expansion plans in Singapore sorted, the gung-ho entrepreneur has her sights set overseas. 

She has inked a deal with a Malaysian partner to launch Surrey Hills Grocer at the Sunway Pyramid mall in Selangor. It is slated to open in the last quarter of 2025. 

Her long-term goal is to be Singapore’s version of American cafe chain Starbucks.

“I would love to be something in every country, even if it is in weird locations everywhere. We’re still in the early stages and, whatever we do, I hope that it is long-lasting.” 

More than just growing her empire of outlets and brands, she is also working on “building people”. Her team of more than 300 includes about 200 full-timers and 100 part-timers. 

“I try to spend time with them, talking about beliefs and values. I would like to do more of this in the coming years, rather than thinking that I can do everything by myself,” she adds. 

Ms Pang Gek Teng of Surrey Hills Holdings took on a $2.5 million project opening three new food and beverage brands that are all unrelated to her popular chain of Aussie-inspired cafe Surrey Hills Grocer.  ST ILLUSTRATION: CEL GULAPA

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