Fin started in 2017 as a humble pop-up stall in Publika serving poké bowls.

But within four years, founders Joel Foong, Michelle Liu and John Foong have successfully made the step-by-step transition from pop-up to shared space before finally settling into a well-deserved space of their own – and on 100% self-funding, at that!

All three founders are hands-on with their involvement in the business, and this is evident in the interior setting that reflects the founders’ personalities. The table numbers and cake display, for example, were handmade by John.

On any given day, Michelle can be spotted behind the counter serving and talking to customers while Joel stays in the kitchen overseeing the food prep at all of their four stations.

“We don’t take it all onto ourselves individually. Patience, numbers and marketing would be the words to sum us up as partners, which works out well,” says Joel.

The incredibly down-to-earth and genuine founders take us through their journey through the grit and the grime, sharing some tips for those looking to level-up their business.

How did it all start?

We started as a pop-up on Art Row, an initiative by Publika. They were really supportive of startups in general.

Every day, it was the same routine from the set up to the pack up – furniture, food and prep. We set up the same way and have to pack everything home daily. Even if there were no sales, we still had to weather it out.

Our business picked up and exceeded expectations. We also became friends with another pop-up startup that serves coffee, Room 203, and we got to talking one night and literally decided to move into a proper brick and mortar lot together.

Our shared space opened in March 2018 and two years later, we moved into our own space. Everything is funded and sourced on our own. We designed the table with the supplier, 3D-rendered the thing, handmade the cake display and here we are!

What is the essence of Fin?

We want to serve food that we ourselves want to eat – light and clean to start with. And then after that, we just watched how the brand grew beyond our expectations.

When our customers walk in, we want them to feel a good vibe and good energy. It is reflected in everything that we do, like the food, the concept, the way we serve people, the way we talk to them and our relationship with them.

We think that’s why people keep coming back.

Did the pandemic and lockdowns affect your initial plans for opening this space?

A lot of people questioned us as well about why we were so confident during a pandemic.

But life has to move on. Just because there’s a pandemic, it doesn’t mean we should be crippled by it. But of course, we have to be careful and take the necessary precautionary steps.

So, we figured, yes, it’s a risk, but also at the end of the day, doing this helps give us some sense of normalcy.

People still want normalcy in their lives and food is something that we find a lot of comfort in.

We have been planning this for a long time – even at our shared space – and it’s something that the whole team was looking forward to.

What is your business health indicator?

We have targets for three different scenarios:

• Scenario 1: bare minimum – before breaking even
• Scenario 2: breakeven – where we make a close to marginal profit
• Scenario 3: profit-making

The starting point is from the food cost, followed by costs that are consistent such as rental and salaries. From there, we input the sales data from Year 1 onwards, which would give an estimation of our projected sales.

And then from that, we’ll break it down to scenarios where our fluctuating operating costs will be based on a percentage of our total food costs. With all these factors scaled in, we would have our breakeven benchmark and understand which sales target we need to meet in a day.

And referring to Scenario 3, our target goals would be where everyone gets their increments, and business is doing well.

For this place to work, we need to know how much the percentage growth is and whether it’s worthwhile to continue on with this or start planning for staff increments. It gives us an indication of where we are financially.

What keeps you going?

Grit and…(jokes) desperation. Some days, sales can be slow. We can feel the whole team say, “I did all this work. I’m still ready to go and serve people.”

And then nobody shows up. That’s a bit sad, but luckily, it hasn’t happened too much.

In the end, seeing the customers and how they like the space definitely keeps us going. And for us, it’s managing the people and seeing them grow. Just having them be independent and a part of the brand matters, because we’re building Fin with them.

We created the concept, but they are very much a large part of it.

Any interesting stories to share from Covid-19?

It’s so bizarre and it’s also just very uplifting to see that this pandemic has also brought the community together.

You see F&B people helping each other out by increasing awareness to support local brands.

A lot of people are trying new food and brands around their vicinity. It’s helped improve sentiment for homegrown things.

This article first appeared on Set the Tables.

Set the Tables is positioned to inspire and educate those already in the industry as much as the aspiring reader who dreams of a future in the food business, and maybe even the merely curious tantalised by the vast and irresistible universe of food and drink.