The past few years have been tough for Singapore’s F&B scene.
In 2024 alone, a record 3,047 businesses closed down — the highest number in two decades since 2005 — and this January, several popular establishments such as PizzaExpress, Kith Cafe, and Hooters announced that they were exiting the market.
Despite the rocky F&B climate, Derek Cheong is unfazed.
The serial entrepreneur even opened a new hawker stall at Beauty World Food Centre on Jan 10.
His latest venture, Berempah Bros specialises in a Malaysian-style fried chicken called ayam goreng berampah.
“If I never try, I’ll never know,” the winner of MasterChef Singapore Season 2 told AsiaOne during our recent visit to Berempah Bros.
While he noted a lot of F&B business closures in the past two years, Derek decided to go ahead and start a new venture.
And if it doesn’t work out, Derek still has two other F&B concepts to fall back on — Tamagood, a canteen stall at Singapore Polytechnic, and Twelve Flavours, a private dining concept in his home.
“I already have my other two businesses that are running, so I’m not too worried. It’s more of finding another business venture,” the 29-year-old said.
His Berempah Bros business partner, Ong Zhen Ning, shares similar sentiments.
Zhen Ning is the owner of hawker stalls Bronzo Pasta Bar and Liu San Jie Mee Hoon Kueh, both of which opened last year.
Despite seeing many F&B businesses shut down in recent years, Zhen Ning does not feel that he and Derek opened Berempah Bros at a bad time.
“We are still young. Throughout our time, the F&B scene has always been shaky. I don’t think there is a right time for things,” the 28-year-old said.
They invested around $30,000 into the business, hiring two full-time staff and several part-timers.
Derek, however, declined to reveal the hawker stall’s rental or operating costs.
To survive in the current F&B climate, he believes that operators must learn to detach themselves emotionally from their businesses.
“For F&B businesses, even though you’re pumping in your blood, sweat, tears, and money into it… If you realise that the business is not profitable due to location or other reasons, you need to have no feelings attached and be able to cut it off,” Derek said.
If a business owner doesn’t cut their losses, they will end up bleeding money while struggling to stay afloat, he explained.
Derek took his own advice in 2024 when he shuttered the GoPizza outlet he was running.
“When I was doing GoPizza and the business was not profitable, I said okay, we need to stop this, we need to cut it off, so that is what we did.”
New business, new partner
One may think Derek and Zhen Ning have been friends for a long time, judging by their easy work dynamics at Berempah Bros.
But in reality, the duo have only known each other for around three months.
They first met in November 2025 through a mutual friend, who also happens to be one of the four partners of Berempah Bros.
Earlier on, Zhen Ning shared with the group that he had rented a stall unit at Beauty World Centre but he had yet to decide on the F&B concept he wanted to launch.
“Previously, Zhen Ning worked at Restaurant Kin, so he learned how to make the basics of a very good rempah curry paste. And then I myself have always wanted to start a fried chicken joint,” Derek recounted.
“So we thought, why don’t we combine these, curry paste and chicken. That is how Berempah Bros was born.”
Traditionally, ayam berempah features chicken that is marinated in curry paste and mixed with starches before being deep-fried.
“What I find about the original ayam berempah is that the flavour is quite bland, because the curry paste is not very fragrant if it isn’t pre-fried. The curry paste itself is not liquid-based, so it doesn’t hold much seasoning and doesn’t season the chicken as much,” Derek explained.
They came up with their own version of ayam berempah.
“We infuse curry paste into a liquid brine, and then brine our chicken to make it more juicy, moist, and seasoned throughout, all while still having a very nice curry taste.”
The recipe was adjusted four to five times, and the team experimented with various types of starches before settling on the final formula, which consists of five different starches.
“These starches help the chicken stay crisp for a very long time, prevent moisture loss, and also prevent oil from seeping into the chicken. So, the meat isn’t very greasy and stays juicy,” Derek added.
Despite having only known each other for three months, Derek, who handles marketing, and Zhen Ning, who is in charge of operations, feel that their different skillsets have helped make running the business smooth.
“Working with Derek feels easy. Suddenly, I have someone who complements the things that I am not good at, and I can complement the things that he isn’t good at,” Zhen Ning said.
“It is my first time working with someone new and it feels so straightforward.”
Their goal this year is to expand Berempah Bros and open a few more outlets islandwide. The team also plans to tweak the concept of each new outlet so that diners can try something new at each stall.
“We will change the menus here and there, so different stalls will have different menus,” Derek shared.
Passion doesn’t make you burn out
Those who have been keeping abreast of Derek’s life on social media would know that he and his wife welcomed their son just last December.
Derek, who usually wakes up at 8am, spends his mornings taking care of his son until his mother takes over.
He works at Berempah Bros till 5.30pm before returning home to start his private dining service, which ends at around 11pm.
He repeats this process seven days a week.
While his newborn has made his already packed schedule busier, Derek is confident that he won’t burn out.
“As a chef, I enjoy seeing people queueing up to eat my food. As long as there are still people eating my food, I will never be tired,” he said.
Some may think Derek’s schedule leaves little to no time for his wife and child, but that isn’t the case.
“My private dining concept allows me to work from home, my wife helps me. That’s our family time,” he told AsiaOne.
“Because my wife works at home, she’s able to look after the baby as well. Everyone’s responsibilities are shared, so we can just hand these over to each other.”
The couple also make it a point to go for family trips several times a year.
Winner winner, chicken dinner
Berempah Bros may have just opened but word has spread fast and business is booming.
When AsiaOne visited the hawker stall on a weekday afternoon, there was a constant stream of customers despite it being past the peak lunch period.
If you’re planning to visit the stall for the first time and are not sure what to order, a must-try dish is the Ayam Berempah ($7.50). Diners have the choice of either chicken wing, breast, or thigh.
While Ayam Berempah is the stall’s signature dish, the two most popular menu items so far have been the Pork Berempah ($8.50) and Unagi Berempah ($12).
Derek’s personal favourite is the Ayam Berempah chicken breast, which he noted is less commonly ordered.
“I think there is a very strong stigma about chicken breast because people think it is dry. But if done properly, it is very moist. That is what we’re able to achieve,” said Derek, adding that out of the three chicken cuts, thigh meat is the most popular among customers.
We ordered the Ayam Berempah thigh, which features the signature fried chicken topped with typhoon shelter crumbs, fragrant coconut rice, housemade achar and a side of sambal belachan. We also added a begedil ($1.50) to our meal.
The chicken’s texture was excellent.
Just as Derek had promised, the meat was moist, juicy and packed with flavour, while its crisp exterior was crunchy without being too greasy. While we had anticipated the dish to be heavy on the palate as most of the elements were deep-fried, it wasn’t.
We also loved how the chicken paired with the rice — Thai Jasmine rice cooked with chicken fat and infused with coconut milk and pandan leaves.
It tasted like a mix between nasi lemak rice and Hainanese chicken rice and was very fragrant.
Address: 144 Upper Bukit Timah Rd, #04-51, Singapore 588177
Opening hours: Daily, 10.30am to 8.30pm
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melissateo@asiaone.com
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