After five years in business, home-grown soup brand Chu Collagen is calling it a day.
Taking to Instagram on Wednesday (Jan 7), its founders — local film director Jack Neo’s daughter Ethel Neo and her husband Peter Lau — shared news of the closure and explained why they made the decision.
The couple cited their relocation to Australia last July as one of the reasons, saying that managing a food retail business remotely was “extremely hard”.
“We really tried managing the business for six months while we were in Sydney. But it was just so difficult,” said Ethel, 35.
“Effort per output was extremely high,” Peter, 41, chimed in, adding that they wanted to focus on their two other brands.
Besides Chu Collagen, the couple is running jewellery label Eclat by Oui and luxury athleisure brand Saints & Sports, launched in 2017 and 2025 respectively.
Chu Collagen specialises in frozen collagen soup packs, which can be used for cooking and steamboat.
Among the brand’s popular products are its signature Premium Chicken Collagen Soup (from $29.90) as well as local-inspired flavours such as Premium Prawn Mee Soup and Premium Laksa Soup.
The idea for Chu Collagen began in 2018, when Ethel started bringing chicken collagen soup to gatherings with family and friends, she told Vulcan Post. The soup became so popular that they encouraged her to sell it.
According to media reports, the business hit $1 million in revenue a year after it was launched in April 2020.
While the couple have yet to share Chu Collagen’s closure date, Ethel replied to a comment under the post that Chinese New Year will be the brand’s “last run”.
In a show of support to his daughter’s soup brand, Jack Neo incorporated Chu Collagen into the menu of newly opened restaurant Home by Enjoy — the film director’s first foray into F&B with chef Joel Ong.
AsiaOne has contacted Chu Collagen for more information.
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carol.ong@asiaone.com
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