Many moons ago I saw the headlines of how JJ Lin’s business partner of a café in Taiwan, applied for financial aid during covid times.
Then I realized there were many such examples of celebrities owning businesses, and when the businesses are not doing well, they don’t bear the brunt of it and somehow disassociates themselves from it.
When the businesses are thriving and making waves, the celebrities somehow played an integral role and you can see them marketing and endorsing the businesses often.
Is that a fair observation?
Many ways to look at this:
- He should have known, it is his business partner and communications should be open and clear, especially between the partners
- Perhaps a tweet, social media post or a visit from him to introduce the new delivery menu would spark joy?
- Could have hired more experienced business managers to oversee, plan and better prepare for when Covid hit?
Anyway not blaming or assigning fault, I just found it interesting how things unfolded.
So many celebrities are starting their own line of businesses, especially in the F&B sector.
Notably, the F&B sector was hit the hardest after tourism during covid.
Some examples (not all were set up during covid):
What The Fudge (Jeanette Aw)
TheLimsKitchen (Rebecca Lim)
Sibay Shiok (Terence Cao)
Smudge (JJ Lin)
888 Mookata (Chew Chor Meng and Dennis Chew)
The list goes on.
My take is that F&B is extremely volatile and seasonal.
It seems to be an industry that thrives on novelty.
One month its fiery hot and everyone is talking about it.
The next month, its winter and people’s tastes have moved on to the next fad.
It is highly unpredictable at best and a tricky kind of business to get right in perpetuity.
But people will pay, and pay a lot if it tickles their fancy.
Then there are the rules and new regulations that the government introduces on the fly.
To all the warriors and small business owners out there fighting hard, I wish you all the best and have loads of fun.
#startups #business #startupx #growth #success #covid #sme #ownership #cafe #entrepreneurship #f&B
