#14 | The Potluck Speaks To: Christopher Kong, chef-owner of Dearborn Supper Club and Granola King
From private dining to granola, chef Christopher Kong charts out a new direction in his culinary journey
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When the going gets tough, the tough get cookin’, or bakin’ a bonanza of granola. That was what chef Christopher Kong of private dining outfit Dearborn did when circuit-breaker struck last April and forced eateries to close for dine-in services. The 33-year-old American sprang into “survivor mode” and quickly pivoted to making the breakfast staple, granola.
It went on to become one of the biggest chef success stories of 2020 as “granola” drops on Dearborn’s Instagram account (@dearborn_sg) were snapped up fast than you can utter “strawberry and macadamia granola”. Business blossomed so much that he is operating his granola outfit from a central kitchen near Boat Quay. Chef Kong shares how the pandemic has shifted his priorities as a chef and he is working towards building his food brand.
How did the demand for your granola blow up? Retrace the steps for us.
We went into survival mode and so I was like, why don't we just do like 50 jars on Instagram and see how it goes? It sold out within 30 minutes and then we started doing it every week, and demand snowballed. We started with making the granola with one small oven with three trays in my home - so I could only do 6 jars every hour.
And now, we do like 500 jars. I had to borrow my mother-in-law’s stovetop counter and started renting my friend’s kitchen - we use theirs in the morning before service, wrap it up, put it in a trolley and head home. It got to a point when I had so many trays I can't see my living room table anymore. It got kind of crazy, but that was a good problem. (Ed’s note: About 800 to 1,000 jars of granola are sold monthly)
How has the COVID-19 situation changed your career plans of becoming a chef?
This pandemic has shown how vulnerable the way of running traditional restaurants is - where you like, sit and wait for customers to come in and the margins are already so small with your costs are so high. You have to diversify - there has to be another source of income to help the restaurant if you're gonna have one.
Has the e-commerce route always been in the pipeline for you as a chef?
I like this idea of going into e-commerce, I want to be able to build something that's not just the restaurant. Yes, the restaurant is great to help the brand. But we also need to build something that's gonna last.
Growing up in the restaurant business, my parents had a restaurant in the States for 27 years. My dad worked really, really hard for like 28 years. And there were highs and lows at the restaurant. And towards the end of it - he wanted to sell it and get out of it.
But for me, I never wanted to be a chef per se - working in a restaurant every day. It was always like how can we build something, and I can walk away from it and the business can still grow beyond me.
The traditional way of being a chef was working for somebody great before opening your place and then the other stuff falls in line. Now, I have reverse engineered it a little bit, where we have the product under the brand first and do the passion project (of opening the restaurant) later.
What’s your advice for chefs looking to start their businesses during this period?
I think it's very important when you're starting out that you understand the numbers. Make sure your costs are covered, and you're paying yourself. You need to make sure that you can make a livable wage. This is even more important when you want to scale your business up. I think that's important to survive by playing the long game, instead of just a short game.
What are your future plans?
I eventually want to not only grow the granola business organically but be part of a lifestyle. We will introduce other products under the Dearborn name. g
For me, I'm always constantly thinking, and what's the next thing that we could possibly do? For me, I've never been one to kind of follow a trend or anything per se, I've always kind of just done things that I think that I would enjoy. The DearBorn supper club will be back, but in a different form and location.
(All photos are courtesy of Dearborn)
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