She built a hit bakery and cafe by 26. Now Hoh Loyi is cooking up her next big idea

Meet the new generation of women in F&B turning bold ideas into success stories, from Parisian banh mi and molecular coffee to Singapore’s most coveted butter buns. In the final instalment of this three-part series, we speak to Hoh Loyi of Champion Bolo Bun.

At just 26, Hoh Loyi has her head firmly on her shoulders. The foodpreneur opened her first business, Champion Bolo Bun, at 21, followed by Dickson Nasi Lemak a year later – and she has a few life lessons to share with aspiring restaurant owners.

“Take a sales job before starting your own business. Sales teaches you how to deal with people – and business is all about people management. There’s no formula for success; only lessons that help you avoid failure. Everyone’s journey is different,” she says.

“Learning to communicate, handle rejection, and understand human nature are essential skills for surviving the notoriously tough F&B industry.”

Champion Bolo Bun – which serves freshly baked Hong Kong-style sweet butter buns with a golden, crunchy and crumbly topping – and Dickson Nasi Lemak (which she has since sold) both opened to much fanfare. Even today, queues still form outside Champion Bolo Bun’s sole Tanjong Pagar outlet before it opens. The next predictable step might be to expand, but Loyi has no such plans.

“Something I’ve learnt after four years of running a business is to move with intention. Every decision should have purpose – not just because something’s trendy,” she emphasises.

Despite her insistence on avoiding trend-driven fads, one thing’s for sure – she has an instinct for identifying consumer demand. Loyi shares that she grew up eating bolo buns at Hong Kong’s traditional cha chaan tengs (local-style diners) with her mother, who is from Hong Kong.

After studying breadmaking in Taipei, she apprenticed at one such cha chaan teng in Hong Kong for two years to perfect the art of baking bolo buns, before opening Champion Bolo Bun in 2021.

The secret behind Champion Bolo Bun’s success is simple – quality. Loyi insists on using Japanese flour and New Zealand butter, and constantly experiments through R&D to keep every bun at its best.

“The soul of the bolo bun is the cookie crust on top. At most places, it’s too thin and breaks apart. Ours is thicker and fragrant – you can actually peel it off and eat it like a cookie,” she says.

“We also make sure every bun served is warm – straight from the oven, never reheated. That adds cost and wastage, but it’s worth it. That’s why our pricing is what it is – consumers don’t always see the behind-the-scenes details like ingredient quality or wastage control.”

The bolo buns, which come in flavours such as Classic (with French butter sandwiched in between), Curry Potato, and Breakfast with Egg, are priced between $5 and $7.60 each.

With Dickson Nasi Lemak, the concept was born out of nostalgia as much as opportunity. Being Malaysian, she often spent her childhood visiting her grandmother in Bandar Utama, near the famed Village Park restaurant. So when she learnt that a family friend had brought Village Park’s chef to Singapore, she recalls: “Everything just aligned.”

She eventually sold Dickson Nasi Lemak to focus on quick service. “I realised I couldn’t do multiple things well at once. Running F&B requires real, hands-on effort – it’s blood, sweat and tears. I didn’t want to spread myself too thin between Champion, Dickson, and a new concept.”

Loyi’s newest concept, Don’t Runaway, has been operating as a series of pop-ups in a Joo Chiat shophouse. The American-style eatery and test kitchen was inspired by her “emotional connection to sandwiches” – a discovery she made during a three-month trip across the US.

“From late 2023 to early 2024, I spent about three months travelling through New York, DC, Philadelphia, LA, Las Vegas, and San Francisco. When you’re jet-lagged and the only thing open is a deli – that’s when my love for sandwiches began,” she says.

It was a logical next step for Loyi, who had long wanted to move into quick-service dining. The space that once housed Dickson Nasi Lemak now serves as her test kitchen for Don’t Runaway.

The menu rotates regularly, featuring playful creations like Jack & Loaded (slow-cooked jackfruit chilli), The Side Chick (shawarma-spiced smoked chicken), and Beef Me Up (a tan tan mian–inspired yakiniku beef brisket with peanut butter and housemade tallow chilli crunch).

Loyi is also giving away a limited number of sandwiches for free to gauge market sentiment. All customers need to do is download Don’t Runaway’s custom app, available on the App Store and Google Play, and sign up as a member.

With a new concept underway, much of Loyi’s focus is naturally on the business. For her, it’s about work-life integration.

“I don’t believe in being ‘busy’ for the sake of it. I move with intention – every meeting has a clear agenda. I also make time for quiet thinking. Every few months, I check into a hotel alone, go offline for a week, and spend that time reading, journalling, and planning the business,” she shares.

“F&B is extra challenging because margins are thin, the work is labour-intensive, and the rewards can be small. You can have a great idea or product, but without the right team, it won’t succeed.”

PHOTOGRAPHY Lawrence Teo
ART DIRECTION Ray Ticsay
COORDINATION Chelsia Tan