The late Steve Jobs once said, “If you want to make everyone happy, don’t be a leader – sell ice cream.” It was a pithy quip that said more about the former Apple CEO’s style of leadership than it did his opinion on sweet icy treats – though the sentiment was nonetheless powerful enough to spur Tan Kiat Tan and his wife, Tay Ah Choo, into opening Freshio Gelato together in their silver years.
The cosy cafe has been operating for more than a year in Sunshine Plaza at Bencoolen, where it sees a steady crowd of office workers and students from nearby tertiary institutions clamouring for its luscious, house-churned gelato.
The jovial senior couple, 70 and 74 this year respectively, are there six days a week, for 10 hours a day, enthusiastically doling out their signature scoops with a side of friendly banter.
It’s a winning combination that’s led the cafe to an impressive score of 4.9 stars out of five across a thousand Google reviews.
Kiat Tan, also known affectionately as Uncle KT, explains simply, “We’re selling gelato because it’s the best way to spread happiness.”
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Freshio Gelato a full circle for the senior couple
But of course, there were other more practical pull factors that led the seniors to Freshio Gelato as well.
For one, both halves of the business have, across their previous careers based in China together, amassed skills uniquely suited to operating a gelato cafe.
Kiat Tan brings the know-how as a refrigeration engineer of more than 20 years, trading up the processing, storage and cold-chain transportation of crayfish from Chinese lakes to Swedish markets for a simpler display freezer and refrigerator combo crammed with artisanal batches of creamy gelato.
Meanwhile, his wife Ah Choo wields the F&B chops, having kept herself busy running a couple of cafes selling Singaporean grub during their days in Shanghai.
Together, they’re able to run their 18-seat gelato cafe largely as a two-man operation, with some help from part-timers during the busier evenings and weekends.
Keeping up to date is a mindset
Freshio Gelato offers 16 flavours at a go. There are the usual suspects like watermelon, Sicilian pistachio and cookies & cream, alongside more unconventional flairs like French croissant, pancakes and popcorn.
The display freezer usually gets emptied within three to four days, meaning there’s always a constant renewal of freshly churned gelato.
In a way, this process is itself emblematic of the couple’s relentless urge to keep up with the times – whether that be adding trendy new items like croffles (croissant dough smashed into a waffle machine) and a gelato-stuffed brioche bun, or filming and posting videos on TikTok to reach a younger audience.
“So you have to keep updated with technology, news, human relationships – everything.”
Freshio Gelato is a retirement dream come true
Managing Freshio Gelato, in many ways, is a retirement dream come true for the couple, especially since they’ve already covered themselves financially by renting out spare rooms in their home.
They’d previously kicked off their golden years with cross-Atlantic cruises and driving holidays but got bored after just three years.
The couple decided to go into business; running an aquaponics farm in Malaysia, then a larger eatery in Singapore. However, they found both of those too unwieldy for a pair of silvers to manage.
A bijou setup like Freshio Gelato, as it turns out, was the happy medium for seniors who “didn’t want to have a big worry hanging over them” while finding ways to keep themselves occupied.
In any case, business has been growing steadily for the couple in the year and a half since they opened Freshio Gelato at Bencoolen.
"But that’s not what we’re looking at anyway."
"Some people ask me, 'Wah, every day cooped up in the shop together?' I say why not? There will be arguments – that is guaranteed, but there will also be laughter, there will also be happiness, and we will be together."
