Legacy Building: Lana Cakes’ Jason Kwan on preserving one of Singapore’s most beloved chocolate cakes

You can have your cake and eat it too

Growing up around the cake business also meant indulging in delicious chocolate cake frequently. On his third birthday, he remembers having a giraffe-shaped cake made by his mother.

“As a kid, I remember attending a lot of birthday parties and I always hoped that it would not be my mum’s cake. People love having those cakes but for me, I wanted to try something else,” he shares jokingly, adding how his friends always wanted to be invited to his party just to eat his mother’s cake.

Despite growing up around the business, Kwan and his sister were never pressured into joining the company. “I don’t think my mum expected us to take over the business. We were allowed to pursue what we wanted to do,” he explains.

From banking to baking

Kwan started his career as a banker and lived overseas for almost a quarter of a century. In 2017, he decided to return to Singapore for two weeks to spend time with his mother. During this time, the elder Kwan had already put up her shop for sale but had yet to find someone suitable to sell it to. “She was on the verge of just closing the business and I was so sad to see her in that state. I found myself asking if this is something I should do,” he says.

He spent the rest of his time in Singapore learning about the business from talking to the customers to looking at the baking processes.

“It wasn’t so much that the baking was tough but it was the decision to take over a legacy business. It’s not like you can just quit and walk away. You have to really see it through and make sure that it works. I was a banker for so many years and I wasn’t too sure how I could be a good baker,” he explains, adding how enjoying his mother’s cake was very different from recreating it.

Kwan continues: “There was a lot of pressure in terms of trying to make sure I could do something as good as my mother. I had big shoes to fill, especially when there are customers who have been eating the same cake for decades.”

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On top of this, Kwan also had to consider his family, who were living in Tokyo, Japan. Being based in Singapore also meant spending less time with his kids who were in high school in Tokyo. Fortunately, his family was supportive of whichever decision he would make.

Deciding to be the successor of his mum’s business, he spent the first 18 months quietly learning the ropes. It was a “huge change for [his] family” as Kwan would also travel between Singapore and Tokyo, Japan to spend time with his wife and kids.

“For almost one and a half years, most of my friends didn’t know I was back because I [stayed low-key],” he says, adding that he wanted customers to focus on the cakes itself instead of who was taking over the business in order to have a “seamless transition”.

“It was hard work but the focus was clear on what we needed to do,” he continues.

Keeping tradition

Since taking over the business, Kwan has been taking little steps to improve the business. While he is not changing any cake recipes—and he won’t be doing so any time soon—he has modernised the shop and its processes. For one, Lana Cakes was only available online in 2019—prior to that, you’d still have to pick up the phone to order a cake and pay in cash. He has also made minor changes to the packaging, from the lilac shade of the ribbons to the golden label on the box. “We had to think about rebranding. There were a lot of steps that we had to take to try to make the cake as it is seen now,” he adds.

Although Kwan has gotten multiple questions about expanding and opening a central kitchen, he doesn’t believe in mass producing.

“I’m not sure whether I can mass produce the cake and still keep the kind of experience that people have come to expect from us,” he explains.

Looking ahead 

While the older Kwan retired back in 2018, you’ll still find her coming down to her shop. “She comes down to the shop, she’ll sit around and then quite often she would check on how things are done and then we will have some discussions about how it should be done,” the younger Kwan says. 

Big plans are ahead for Lana Cakes, especially as they approach their 60th anniversary this November. “We’re quite proud to have been able to [create memories through our cakes] for the last 60 years. People still come to us to celebrate birthdays and anniversaries. We’re happy that we’re continuing to do it and so far it’s been good,” he muses. 

It’s still too early to ask about continuing his own legacy, but Kwan hopes that Lana Cakes will continue to serve their loyal customers for as long as they can. After all, the next generation of customers is already eagerly waiting for a slice of this legendary made-in-Singapore cake. 

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