Cooking up income: A retired couple turned their home into a private dining experience

From home cafes to private dinners, Singapore’s F&B homepreneurs are proving that passion can pay. Here’s how they’re keeping costs lean, growing loyal communities, and turning kitchen dreams into real income. In the second of this three-part series, we learn from Celina Tan of Intimate Suppers.

Behind closed doors, a home at Sembawang Hills Estate hosts private dinners, open to only one group per evening. Running the gastronomic show is Celina Tan and her husband, Kok Fook Onn, both retirees in their 50s.

Shares Celina: “It’s our way of staying active physically and mentally. Some people exercise, we cook! We think of it as a project that helps fund our food adventures, and our travels. It’s also something we can do together as a couple.”

The pair are not new to the F&B scene, having opened Celina’s Gastrobar on Duxton Road in 2009. It unfortunately closed in 2013 due to manpower issues, but did not douse their passion for cooking.

“When we closed Celina’s, some of our customers wanted more of our food. My husband and I organised a couple of dinners, and with their referrals it just grew from there,” says Celina. “We both enjoy cooking, and wanted to create a space for people to connect through food, eat together and bond.”

Thus in 2017, Intimate Suppers was born. It now serves quarterly menus priced from $128 per person planned around regional themes in Asia, with each change involving extensive research, testing and recreating.

Celina explains: “We begin with four fun-to-eat starters, followed by the mains, which are served family-style: duck, meat (pork or beef), seafood, then salad, and finally dessert.

“Our current Indochine menu takes inspiration from Thai, Vietnamese, Laotian and Burmese cuisine. We love the big bold flavours of Asia, combined with traditional as well as modern cooking techniques, such as fermentation, curing, dry ageing, sous vide, and confit.”

A good starting point

For those interested to start their own F&B business, Celina says a home-based operation is a good entry point. For her, there was not much start-up cost as they already had most of what was needed – just the addition of some nice tablecloths, plates, bowls and cutlery.

“Private dining is a great way to test menu concepts, and learn how to manage a food business, before scaling up to a cafe or restaurant. If it doesn’t work, the cost is relatively cheap. There are also no onerous regulations to abide by, except to be a considerate neighbour,” she adds.

For Celina, running a home-based dining business is very different from that of a restaurant or bar, as there is no pressure from rental or staffing costs. Time is also flexible, which allows them to budget time for family and vacations. Nevertheless, it is still important to articulate one’s objective, and pen down a realistic strategy and business plan.

She says: “For Intimate Suppers, we just cover our COGS (cost of goods sold), factor for depreciation, and receive something for our effort. With a restaurant there’s the additional consideration of high running costs, and there isn’t the luxury of time.

“You would also need an effective social media strategy, collaborations, networking, and paid promotions – while we run our private diner mostly through customer referrals.”

Looking back at her journey, Celina says: “When we first started, sure we were worried if we would get weird people who would then know where we live. But so far, it has been good. Most of our customers are lovely, and refer many more to us, and we’ve just grown organically this way.”

She adds: “Many have become friends.”

PHOTOGRAPHY Athirah Annissa
ART DIRECTION Ray Ticsay
COORDINATION Chelsia Tan