Ep 141: Inheriting a 100-year-old family business | Fong (Co-Owner, Tong Heng)

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It’s not every day that you get to inherit a 100-year-old family
business, but that’s exactly what Fong Wai Kheng has done.


Fong is the fourth generation of his family to run Tong Heng -
Singapore’s top confectionary shop most known for its trademark
diamond-shaped egg tarts. 


Ask pretty much any Singaporean (I did), and it feels like 99% of
them will have heard, eaten and love those egg tarts!


So of course, I got curious. 


And asked Fong if he’d be up for a STIMY interview!


After all, family businesses are tricky.


There is: 


The legacy you’ve inherited & must now maintain 


The relationships you need to navigate (you can’t split
family/work) 


The challenge of keeping your brand relevant (a huge issue for
Tong Heng at one point until they went through a massive
rebranding exercise) 


All the ups and downs of keeping a business alive.


A business that first came about because of Fong’s
great-grandfather who fled China in 1901 (end of Qing Dynasty) to
work as a coolie in Singapore.


His great-grandfather eventually earned enough to start his own
pushcart coffee business but… the local “gangs” came around for
protection money.


The great-grandfather had none, but promised to have the money
ready next time. 


Unfortunately, the gangsters won’t hear of it.


And proceeded to beat him up.


Or at least, they tried too.


Because what they didn’t know was that Fong’s great-grandfather
had been trained in martial arts by the soldiers in the Qing
Court (+ he was also 1.87m tall!). 


So Fong’s great-grandfather beat up those gangsters instead.


News spread. 


The community gathered and gifted him with a pistol before
appointing him as its protector!!


Want to know what happened thereafter?


You’ll just have to listen to this STIMY episode with Fong to
find out. 





Highlights:


2:54 Childhood 

5:00 Expectations in joining the family business?

6:32 Have you had enough fun?

10:26 100-year-old confectionary shop - the origins of Tong
Heng

12:22 Tong Heng’s trademark egg tarts

14:22 Gangs & protection money

14:44 Martial arts

16:50 After the war

17:55 His two aunts

20:24 Pulling a surprise

25:06 A new shop

27:38 Cracking thousands of eggs?!

29:40 Massive rebranding exercise to appeal to the Gen Zs
& Gen Alphas

33:23 Tension in the family?

34:41 Going viral

35:00 Branding decisions behind Tong Heng’s trademark yellow
packaging

36:15 Tong Heng’s faithful customers - the grandmother &
her grandson

37:30 The future & staying in their own lane

39:35 Advice for other family business owners?






Special thanks to Limpeh Studios for making this recording
possible! If you want to do any studio recordings while in
Singapore, be sure to check out:
https://www.hepmil.com/limpehstudios 


Show notes: https://www.sothisismywhy.com/141 


YouTube: https://youtu.be/kSXxRHrWWas 


Weekly STIMY Newsletter on the art of storytelling + building
your personal brand (+snippets of STIMY behind-the-scenes):
https://sothisismywhy.ck.page/acd5bd1062


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