Roger Yip has had part-time jobs in the dining room since he was 14.
He worked as a banquet waiter, dining assistant and barback at various institutions before even though everything entered the bar as a bartender.
The transition to bartender’s overall was no surprise. Roger has been interested in the bartender; he was even program director of his school’s bartender club (Singapore Management University).
My interest in the bartender began near the point where I was allowed to drink. At first it was just the holidays, but then I was exposed to cocktails and sophistication.
I started visiting cocktail bars and looking for other cocktails and, despite everything, I discovered myself making drinks at home for friends quite often. I ended up doing a homework assignment at a cocktail bar and fell in love with her.
When the 29-year-old was an amateur bartender, he had conversations with his friends while having a drink to create his own bar together.
It was just a dream at the time. When he was doing his national service, he took him to a local craft cocktail bar called Bar Stories. He fell in love with the post and was without delay implemented for a task there.
He didn’t know much, that’s where he met his long-term business partners.
On one occasion, his manager asked him to make a waiter at a friend’s party.
Roger dressed up with his friend Mike and, in combination, captivated visitors with his traditional drinking skills.
Visitors were so inspired that they even asked for their tactile details, opening the door to more bartender concert opportunities.
Aware of the call and lack of cell bartender corporations in Singapore, the duo created one in 2013 called Mixes from Mars.
The peculiar call underscored his ambition to create drinks that are “out of this world” and incorporated the acronym for his calls (Mike and Roger, hence Mars).
He was only 22 when the company started, so how did Roger get the capital?
A mobile bar business doesn’t require much money. We already had the machinery and bartender apparatus to start as a bartender, and all we charged at the time was alcohol and new ingredients, which were still quite manageable even as a student.
To save money, we designed the through ourselves and did as many things as possible.
They invested about S$5,000 to take off the Mars Mix and operated it directly outside Roger’s room.
When asked about the challenges of advertising, Roger said craft cocktails require “complex preparation,” such as extracting new fruit juices, making herbs, culmination, and dressings. There’s a lot of manual work, and they want to be ready in advance so they can serve drinks faster.
Installing a cell bar also requires a lot of logistics, such as tables, glasses, a variety of spirits, ice creams and a lot of new ingredients. At first, the duo prepared it and stored everything from Roger’s space and his parents complained about all the “disorder.”
Despite these difficulties, the company took off temporarily as it began to make more reservations.
At this point, Roger and Mike had just studied at Singapore Management University (SMU), so they had to rent to another business spouse to help them manage operations.
However, even at school, Roger’s fondness for the bartender is evident. He joined a bartender club in SMU, where he assumed the role of program manager.
Towards the end of 2013, the trio came across a new opportunity.
One of the occasion’s guests, who owns the now-defunct Duxton Hotel, presented them with the opportunity to run an ephemeral physical bar.
“(He) sought more activity inside his hotel before it was renovated, and presented us with a low hiring in stocks that is too difficult to pass on,” Roger said, recounting his business meeting with the hotel owner.
“We (too) didn’t have to renew at all because the bar already existed. We just had to move.
With few overheads, they saw no explanation for why to reject the offer.
In addition, the cocktail scene was still in its infancy at the time, making it easy for them to stand out from the crowd with their fusion drinks in Singapore.
They created Mars Bar with very little wisdom and revel in running a business.
After the first month of a circle of family and friends, they temporarily exhausted their clientele.
Roger’s original spouse left the company and couldn’t even earn a salary because of poor sales. In the first 3 months, they only took a salary of S$500 to withhold their money and even in this case they struggled to make a profit.
We learned temporarily that running in a bar was another ball game. (As) operational staff, we only care about how our consumers feel and how our drinks come out.
We knew nothing of other facets of the business such as marketing and public relations, which we temporarily take into account as one of the ultimate facets of the business.
Roger sought to replace things and pierced the bull with the horns. He contacted media companies, chose photography to design his own menu and even developed his own website.
He did it all himself because they had to cut prices to make them viable.
“As I read to get my degree in accounting at the time, I was able to put those skills into practice first hand at the company. We remain very cautious about money and survive with few debts,” he said.
The press archives they submitted were worth it, as they temporarily attracted media attention for their local-themed drinks.
This served as a turning point for the company, but it was short-lived, as Mars Bars was only a short-lived assignment and ceased operations in mid-2015.
While running Mars Bars, he approached Roger to manage another emerging bar in the Red Dot Traffic Building, which was once located along Maxwell Road.
Taking the opportunity, he took a break in 2014 and approached two of his former colleagues at Bar Stories to set up this bar together.
Called Rayuela, it mimics the same menu concept as Mars Bars, and specializes in craft cocktails with a different twist.
Having more experience this time, the rayuela did, but she also had her percentage of challenges. One of its affiliates left the company and Rayuela faced labor shortage problems.
It’s well known that F-B staff is hard to find and it’s hard to blame anyone for that. Jobs in the restaurant and retail sectors are sometimes among the lowest paid due to high rental prices.
(This is) why many catering companies are turning to foreign labor, which also faces the challenge of meeting the needs of compulsory quotas and costly tax service for foreign workers.
Due to labor constraints, Roger and his partners strive to be more active in operations.
“At a time when we can’t locate part-time workers to work, we’ll fill the stalls in the box ourselves. Even to this day, I continue operations in Rayuela on weekends,” Roger added.
In addition, the craft cocktail industry was becoming saturated, making the scene more competitive. Singapore’s alcohol tax increase has not helped.
These points had a massive effect on the business, but normal consumers made it easier.
“I think we differed and stood out quite a bit at this point. By placing a stall in local themed drinks, Rayuela did his best,” Roger said.
“We are constantly innovating and making sure our beverage menu is replaced so consumers don’t get bored with our drinks that fast.”
But like Mars Bars, Rayuela was just a emerging project, so Red Dot’s facilities were only transient and ceased operations in April 2017.
In late 2017, Rayuela granted a new permanent location at Gillman Barracks. Although they had to start from scratch, the redesigned ray makes a lot of traction with its new cocktail menu.
This year, Rayuela was even named “Best Cocktail Bar,” an award voted for by the public, through SG Magazine.
COVID-19, however, proved to be a major obstacle.
Bars, nightlife and other entertainment venues in Singapore have been forced to close since march ago due to the government’s COVID-19 warning.
This is certainly a difficult time for these companies, as the closure meant no source of income and had to bear overhead.
The most complicated impediment is uncertainty: they don’t know how long they can do so when there is no guarantee that they can reopen.
COVID-19 is an absolute fear. Lately we are at the level where the operating sector has generated similar revenue.
Even since February, we’re starting to see a significant drop in our occasional revenue, and it’s zero absolute since March. When we entered the circuit breaker, we had another major concern because we had to close the ray.
The long term of their bar business was bleak, but Roger and his partners believe they had to do anything to keep them afloat.
“At this point, we directors are ready to keep the company’s money flow. One of us was a packer, a delivery man and me on a night meeting line,” Roger said.
In addition, they moved to a larger area in January and incurred significant renovation costs.
“Fortunately, government grants have been very helpful in helping cover some of those ongoing costs, and we are now pleased to be able, regardless, to get the floor back up and running,” Roger speculated.
Mixes from Mars was an extension of Hopscotch itself and operates from there since 2014. However, as they expanded their operations, Mixes from Mars had to secure a committed workplace in 2016.
At the time, they expanded their concept of offering traditional cocktails to creating themed cocktail menus for occasions to facilitate faster production.
They presented molecular cocktails to host high-level events, as well as selections of cocktails and blends, where visitors can create their own cocktails by opting for the ingredient table.
After gaining great delight in virtual marketing from his series of companies, Roger started another business.
This time it has nothing to do with the bartender.
Roger, along with 4 of his former schoolmates, co-founded Story Box Collective, a company committed to branding, content creation and virtual marketing, in mid-2016.
It generates content for SMEs and helps them have a social media presence “unless they are charged with hiring a full-time social network worker, a position for which many SMEs cannot budget,” Roger explained.
However, control of the business is not a walk in the park – 3 of the original five trading partners left due to a “difficult start”.
When asked to provide more details, Roger said that at the time, they didn’t even know where they were going to protect customers.
“Marketing for a company and a company is completely different,” he added.
Without giving up, Roger and his other remaining spouse continued to push Story Box Collective forward.
Since 2018, Story Box Collective has controlled a portfolio of more than 15 accounts and has also grown by offering photography and videography for occasions and production.
Today, they serve some mandatory customers and many ad hoc contracts.
It’s not a euphemism to say that Roger is a serial entrepreneur. So what have you learned so far from your business ventures, whether successful or successful?
I guess not many other people know, however, in 2017 we tried to run a school, and that failed significantly in 4 months.
The main lesson was to paint with the right partners. Working with the other right people is also the explanation for why other corporations are still alive today. For me, it would be running those corporations alone.
So how do you know when a “good” trading partner would be?
Roger has identified it as a “very delicate subject,” however, he believes it varies for each business and for each individual.
Personally, he would be someone he simply clicks with, a percentage of the same hobby as him, possessing skills he lacks and, above all, percentage of the same price formula as him.
When asked about his long-term business plans, Roger said he hopes the second-hand industry will continue to be delayed until at least next year.
“(For now), we have reallocated most of our events team to run in Rayuela, while at the same time holding virtual cocktail workshops.”
As a self-proclaimed “gourmet,” Roger also plans to open up more F-B concepts, this is consistent with his business mantra: “Make sure your business is all you enjoy and actually do everything you can to do it.”
Featured Symbol Credit: The Dining Collective / Rayuela