Recently, I came across a news article that largely grabbed my attention immediately because it a place that i like to frequent often. It talked about 18chefs in Singapore and how the restaurant owner was a former drug addict who now turned his life around by starting up this chain of restaurants with much success. In summary, it talked about the life story of Mr. Benny Se Teo who was released from jail in 1993 and was rejected numerous times in his quest to find a job. Therefore, he wanted to become an owner himself and hire ex-convicts just like himself. Although initially it was not successful and he had to resort to closing down a few outlets, he made a few changes and slowly built his restaurant up to what eighteenchefs is today. Faced with much challenges and difficulties, but he never gave up and always persevered. He is very humbled about his successes and does not try to cover up the fact that there are challenges faced and gives the examples of one of his staff thrashing the kitchen in a drunken rage and also other instances where there was trouble. He gave this staff a chance again and he was rehired, this portrays his forgiving nature and his ability to give second chances. He talks about how his passion lay in chinese food rather than western, however he wants to give people the kind of food that they would like to eat. He attributed the success to his past failures and challenges, and how he is glad that he can be an inspiration to many.
Reading this article was very heart-warming as I have always been curious about the nature of eighteenchefs. Before entering this course, the only social enterprise that i knew well enough and had experienced was eighteenchefs. Therefore, this article largely peaked my interests. Reading about Mr Benny Se Teo has truly inspired me as I am amazed at how he managed to bring his life around despite so many setbacks and problems set against him. It portrays how hardwork is rewarded and that with the right mindset anything is possible. His ability to change so many lives is truly great and eighteenchefs is very sustainable and also popular among youths. I learnt much about the insight, his inspiration and his journey in creating this success story and it was truly interesting and a unique experience.
A few things that caught my attention was when Mr Benny Se Teo mentioned about how he did not want people to see eighteenchefs as a social cause and come based on sympathy for his social mission. He wanted people to view it as just a restaurant where people want to continuously come back for more because of its affordability or quality food. His reasoning for this being that coming just for sympathy would only last once or twice but he would rather people come just for the food. This makes the restaurant sustainable as more people want to go just for the food or ambience. Also, he mentioned about the problems faced with his staff when one of his staff thrashed the kitchen in a drunken state and also staff who broke into the restaurants safe. I think it would be extremely easy to blame the reason for these happening on the fact that they are ex-convicts. However, it could happen to anyone but we fail to realise this. We automatically associate it with the fact that they are ex-convicts. I hope that the social stigma associated with hiring ex-convicts would soon be removed from society as a whole.
In conclusion, I have learnt a lot from reading this article and it has inspired me greatly. I feel that Mr Benny found the balance between enterprise and social cause and that is the reason for his success. This is what we as students from business and social enterprise should aim to do. I hope that more aspiring entrepreneurs will follow his path and go down this route that many are scared to take. With these, more help can be given to those who need it and it will be a better singapore with better people.
References:
Huang, L. (2014). Former drug addict cooking up social change. The Straits Times. Retrieved from http://www.straitstimes.com/lifestyle/food/former-drug-addict-cooking-up-social-change on 13 August 2015.
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