Every enterprise has an origin story. And for these hunky fitspos, theirs began with the common “eh bro” greeting — extraordinarily helpful if you need to work together with a stranger however do not know their identify.
Fast ahead a couple of years, the trio have gone from “gym bros” to working a profitable biz collectively. Of course after getting one another’s names and information down lah — by the way, Gerald is 34 this yr, whereas Anson and Ben are 33.
Founded in 2018, Yummy Bros is a meal prep supply service that cooks up wholesome and delish Asian meals — suppose kung pow hen and sambal fish — that purpose to meet all of your dietary wants with out leaving you feeling sinful!
The journey so far hasn’t been simple they usually’ve had to make nice sacrifices so as to get the place they’re right this moment. Since they’re no strangers to robust choices, we (meal)-prep the fellows by giving them a warm-up spherical of “Would You Rather” questions, and asking them to make sibei demanding selections.
Would you somewhat have entry to good meals or a gym, for the remainder of your life?
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Anson: I might somewhat have entry to a superb gym, I’ll get the components and make the nice meals myself as an alternative.
Ben: Definitely good meals. I can do dwelling exercises on a regular basis, however I can’t have dangerous meals on a regular basis for the remainder of my life.
Gerald: I feel I might die if I might solely decide one! If there is no good meals, then all the trouble within the gym would go to waste. If there was no good gym, all the nice meals could be consumed for nothing! Super troublesome query for me.
I nearly “died” when the gyms closed throughout the circuit breaker. Well, since health is 30 per cent exercise + 70 per cent weight-reduction plan, let’s go together with good meals.
Then, I’ll in all probability construct a “ghetto gym” that has some home-made barbells, dumbbells, and benches with the assistance of Anson and Ben, and retailer them exterior one in all our central kitchens or one thing.
Among the three of you, would you somewhat have Anson, Ben or Gerald as a gym buddy solely?
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Anson: Gerald, as a result of he is at present my gym buddy if I had been to practice with somebody. Ben is barely obtainable at odd timings.
Ben: I’ll select Gerald as Anson is simply too sturdy to be coaching with – have to load and unload lots of weight plates after I practice with him! However if I can select, I might somewhat work out myself as I choose to work out at my very own tempo.
Gerald: Wah lau, y’all attempting to stir some politics amongst us is it? Lol! I might decide Anson as a result of he lets me choose the workout routines. Hahaha however what Ben says is true. Anson is a beast.
He takes all of the 20kg and 25kg weight plates within the gym. When it comes to my flip, eradicating the plates is already 1 / 4 of a set value of power. But, I assume his brute power can be motivation for me to sustain!
Would you somewhat have Nasi Lemak or Beef Rendang (that are, coincidentally, two of the meal prep flavours you provide)?
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Anson: Neither of the above, my favorite dish is Yummy Sambal Fish – I can eat it daily with out rising sick of it.
Ben: I’ll undoubtedly select Nasi Lemak as a result of I do not take beef. I used to be addicted to Zesty Chicken once we first began out in our “dwelling kitchen”.
Gerald: Without a shadow of doubt, the reply for me is… I do not know! Hahahaha as a result of I usually order each this stuff for myself. Like Anson, the Yummy Sambal Fish is one merchandise that I can’t cease consuming. It’s so flavourful and simple to devour, particularly with the brown rice and broccoli!
Would you somewhat have sturdy arms and weak legs, or sturdy legs and weak arms?
Anson: Well, I have already got sturdy arms and robust legs. I feel each of them are essential. I don’t want to have a Johnny Bravo or T-Rex like physique!
Ben: I might somewhat go together with both each weak or each sturdy! That’s as a result of proportion is vital. But if I’ve to select one, I might go together with weak arms and robust legs.
Gerald: I by no means thought I might have to make such a alternative. Hahah! I’ll go together with sturdy legs and weak arms as a result of I really like coaching my higher physique.
I’ll go into leg day with a vengeance and it is like a love/hate relationship. I’ve put in a lot effort to work on my legs, and I do not ever need to begin from scratch once more. But, it is a totally different story when it comes to my higher physique and arms. It’s simply too enjoyable for me.
Would you somewhat eat no matter you need however want to train daily, or have a strict weight-reduction plan however by no means have to train?
Anson: I might somewhat eat no matter I need and train daily, as a result of I really like consuming and I really like exercising!
Ben: Definitely eat no matter I need however train daily to hold myself in form. Exercising is what I’ve been doing daily, so why not?
Gerald: I agree with Anson and Ben. I, too, would somewhat have the ability to eat no matter I need and train daily than to have a strict weight-reduction plan and by no means train.
That’s as a result of I legit love going to the gym. It’s my place of solitude to get away from all of the stress and rigours of life. So, this is not a query concerning the consuming half. It’s a query about whether or not to work out or not to work out! Lol.
So, it began with an “eh bro”. Then how did y’all “bro up” from there?
Gerald: Oh, we first bought to know one another wayyyy again, which I feel was in 2010-11. We met within the gym in very typical trend. Since the tools and weights had been somewhat restricted, we steadily had to go up to one another and go “eh bro, can share”?
That’s the standard ice-breaker within the gym for guys. It quickly turned, “Eh bro, right this moment you practice what ah? Legs ah? Okay, we do collectively loh. Can share the squat rack mah”.
Subsequently, we might prepare to meet on the gym at particular instances in order that we might “monopolise” sure tools collectively — relying on which a part of our our bodies we had been coaching.
The three of us loved understanding collectively as a result of we might push one another to get stronger and higher.
We would do that for months and nonetheless name one another “bro” as a result of, frankly, we did not know every others’ names but! Lolol!
We additionally had a typical gym-bro greeting for once we met one another and parted methods: the basic fist bump. That’s why we selected the model identify “Yummy Bros”, and it is also the rationale why our emblem consists of a fist.
Swee, y’all are actually gym bros. How did Yummy Bros come into the image?
Gerald: It all started with Anson and me feeling very misplaced in life. I used to be coping with enterprise failures, had little or no cash (I in all probability had like, $4k left in my financial savings), and was struggling to determine how I used to be going to earn a correct dwelling and marry my then-girlfriend. Anson was sick and uninterested in his job and needed a manner out.
One tremendous day in Dec 2017, the 2 of us determined to skip leg day, went for a couple of drinks to relieve some stress. However, as an alternative of complaining about life, we discovered ourselves complaining about weight-reduction plan!
You see, we completely love going to the gym, we did not precisely benefit from the consuming half. Most energetic folks, like us, need to watch what we eat so as to obtain our health targets or keep our physiques.
Back then, it was so troublesome for us to get meals that had:
Lots of protein
Tasted superior
Contained issues that we needed to eat
Had the dietary values all listed down
Is moderately priced (omg have you ever seen the costs of “wholesome” meals?)
Is tremendous accessible, which means I can have the meal in entrance of me inside minutes
We needed meals that had been made with components that we get pleasure from and for the portion sizes and sides to be interchangeable. Also, we love Asian meals!
That was once we determined that Singapore wanted a meal prep model that serves genuine Asian delicacies that was reinvented into more healthy variations. It had to be inexpensive, customisable, and conveniently delivered to our clients’ doorsteps.
Being the business-obsessed individual that I used to be, I advised Anson that we should always begin this enterprise Asap. He was like “hmmmm, I dunno leh, bro…” to which I responded “Swee! Let’s go purchase a site now, bro!”
We went with the model identify of Yummy Bros inside a minute as a result of it was so apparent – we’re gym bros about to begin a meals enterprise. So, Yummy Bros it was! And sure, folks did poke enjoyable at our identify as a result of it appeared like we had been beginning a pornography enterprise.
After three months of analysis, constructing the web site, creating the menu, and inside testing, we launched on 1 April 2018! Ben joined us about three months later.
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You’ve been working this enterprise since 2018 – What has modified up to now few years, particularly since yall began out in an HDB house?
Gerald: Well, the early days of Yummy Bros had been as ghetto because it might get.
We began out in Anson’s 4-room HDB house, and his kitchen had the least variety of cooking instruments you’d ever see in a house. We began with only one range, one pot, one frying pan, one spatula, and a fork and spoon.
For the primary couple of months, we made do with that as a result of we had been broke and we solely spent on components, packaging, and the occasional gasoline invoice. We even bought our meals security & hygiene certification without spending a dime! Skillsfuture FTW!
With the restricted gear we had, it took us two sleepless days to put together, cook dinner, pack, and freeze sufficient meals for our first 10 orders in order that they’d be prepared for supply. Once we had been accomplished cooking, we had to shortly clear up and ship the meals ourselves. It was continuous work, man.
Wah, your early days sound rattling shag! What had been another challenges y’all confronted?
Gerald: There was one time after I was so drained that I sliced my thumb open whereas sharpening a knife. Work continued as a result of we had orders to fulfil, so I simply modified the dressing and glove each hour or so to forestall any blood from seeping by way of.
Anson was answerable for the meal field manufacturing so he spent lots of hours within the kitchen. He nonetheless had a full-time job that required him to report early within the morning.
But he was so exhausted that he would miss a number of days of labor every month. One day, he got here up to me and stated “Bro, I took a lot unpaid depart that the corporate requested me to depart”.
I used to be devastated as a result of we weren’t incomes a lot from promoting meal bins. Our prices had been fairly excessive as a result of we bought every part at retail value.
Furthermore, I used to be the one which pulled Anson into this enterprise and as an alternative of serving to us earn more cash, he misplaced his job! We additionally solely took a wage of $50 every within the first month of operations.
My duty was to herald clients. Since we had been working from a house kitchen, there are guidelines that we had to adhere to in accordance to the HDB home-based enterprise scheme.
One of the larger challenges was that we weren’t allowed to promote our enterprise — on-line or offline.
Really respect the hustle. When did the biz actually begin to take off?
Gerald: I went to totally different gyms in Singapore to work out, make buddies, and share about Yummy Bros with these new buddies. I might carry enterprise playing cards in my pocket and hand them out each time I made a brand new pal.
What actually helped us develop sooner was our Instagram web page. During the early days of Yummy Bros, I used to be posting pictures that featured not simply our meals but additionally recommendations on diet, train, and quirky tongue-in-cheek motivational quotes.
The content material helped develop our following and, quickly, strangers started going to our web site and putting orders!
We additionally commonly contacted clients from Instagram, and improved our recipes and programs many instances with their suggestions.
As our orders grew from 50 meal bins per week to 300 meal bins per week, Anson and I had been overwhelmed as a result of we weren’t allowed to rent folks. When Ben got here onboard, he contributed lots within the kitchen, in order that made life slightly higher.
We then purchased extra cooking stoves, new pots and pans, and extra forks and spoons. We even had two upright fridges and a 450-litre chest freezer!
Storage appeared like an enormous concern! How did you guys resolve it?
Gerald: We operated as a home-based enterprise for nearly a yr and had been working out of house. There was no manner that we might stuff a 4th freezer into Anson’s dwelling.
We had the thought of elevating cash to hire a retail house the place we might put together meals, fulfil on-line orders and promote to walk-in clients on the similar time. But that plan failed as a result of no one was involved in investing in us. Thankfully, that did not succeed as a result of the subsequent step was what introduced us to the subsequent degree.
By a miraculous stroke of luck, I used to be launched to Uncle Raymond, who owned a catering firm working from a completely geared up central kitchen with a number of workers and a longtime provide chain. It was precisely what we wanted!
So, we struck a take care of Uncle Raymond to associate up and Yummy Bros was not a home-based enterprise. We might run promoting campaigns, converse louder to the market, and proudly showcase our model to many extra fitspos in Singapore. We had been comfortable that we might lastly scale our advertising efforts.
Our partnership was ready to produce and promote so many meals that we had to construct a second walk-in freezer!
Today, we work hand-in-hand with two central kitchens (a second partnership was set-up just lately to assist ship meals to our east-side clients) to develop new and thrilling dishes for our clients, run the manufacturing line, and discover new enterprise alternatives collectively too.
We even have a number of supply distributors to assist us get our clients’ meals to them in a well timed and orderly method.
So many meal-prep picks on the market although – how do you bros stand out from the remaining?
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Gerald: While we won’t converse for different meal-prep suppliers in Singapore, I consider that our key differentiator is our core worth of serving to folks benefit from the means of wholesome consuming and consuming for his or her health aims.
This mindset has guided us towards creating distinctive options for our Yummy Army, akin to the liberty to customise their meals by upsizing the proteins or decreasing the quantities of carbohydrates. We additionally show clearly and transparently the dietary values of every meal.
Yummy Bros has progressive recipes that our clients get pleasure from and persistently reorder, akin to Yummy Nasi Lemak, Yummy Chicken Panggang, Yummy Sambal Fish, and Yummy Kopi Chicken, simply to identify a couple of.
It can be very handy for the Yummy Army to obtain their orders due to our vast collection of supply time slots.
I can confidently say that our clients get pleasure from weight-reduction plan with Yummy Bros as a result of referrals are our greatest supply of recent clients. We’ve bought many repeat clients ordering from us on a weekly foundation over years and months.
This is regardless of us not providing a month-to-month subscription; our clients really make an effort to come again to our web site each week to order their meals for the subsequent seven days.
Our background in diet and health performs an enormous half as a result of it helps us keep away from placing fad diets into our menu. By counting on the basic rules of weight reduction and acquire, we now have been ready to assist our clients obtain their health targets by way of our meals.
Gerald, it looks like you had been fairly enthu throughout nationwide service. Share-share extra about your NS expertise and the way it formed your entrepreneurial spirit leh!
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Gerald: I’m in all probability probably the most “siao on” individual right here when it comes to NS. I used to be lucky to have gone by way of coaching on the Officer Cadet School (OCS), which granted me lots of management expertise.
My stint as a commander additionally taught me how to be a meticulous planner and executor.
Strong management and planning abilities are essential abilities any enterprise individual ought to possess. The journey forward is troublesome and unsure. Every crew wants a pacesetter who is aware of (or appears to know) the place he is going.
For that, I liked and loved my NS lots to the extent that I prolonged my NS legal responsibility past my 10-year obligation. I really like going again to serve, attend programs, and tackle extra duties due to how a lot I stand to study.
NS impressed me to be in cost. To cleared the path and be liable for folks round me. It impressed me to tackle hardship and challenges with dedication and fortitude. I can confidently say that with out NS, I would not be the entrepreneur I’m right this moment.
This article was first revealed in Wonderwall.sg.
