Cover As co-owner of soya sauce business Kwong Cheong Thye, Alvin Choo leads its business development as well as sales and marketing
As co-owner of soya sauce business Kwong Cheong Thye, Alvin Choo leads its business development as well as sales and marketing
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From Michelin-starred kitchens to 30 global markets, the fifth-generation co-owner is expanding Singapore’s heritage soya sauce maker while investing in sustainability, automation and a more visible consumer presence
Growing up, Alvin Choo often wondered why his family always seemed to end up in Chinese restaurants—weekend after weekend, city after city, even on holidays. It took him years to realise that these were more than just meals, but the unspoken language of business. “We get to meet the chefs, who are our customers, and get direct feedback. We used to do the same with my grandparents,” recalls the fifth‑generation co‑owner of sauce manufacturer Kwong Cheong Thye. “After they passed on, my parents continued the tradition. And now, with my children, we carry it on.”
Now 32, Choo inherits a network built, quite literally, around the table—many of the chefs he met as a child remain customers today, spanning Singapore and key international markets. Primarily a business-to-business (B2B) operation, Kwong Cheong Thye has long worked behind the scenes, supplying to restaurants and hotels. “We’re in all the five-star hotels, and the top Chinese restaurants [in Singapore] use our soya sauce,” Choo says, with clients ranging from Michelin‑starred establishments to familiar names such as Paradise Group, Imperial Treasure, Crystal Jade and Din Tai Fung.
Beyond Singapore, the brand has grown organically, following chefs across borders. “A lot of chefs who work in Singapore or Hong Kong already use our soya sauce,” Choo shares. “When they go overseas, they want to bring it with them. That’s how we ended up in places like Dubai and Japan.”
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Above Choo is part of the company's fifth generation
Choo is part of the company's fifth generation
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Today, Kwong Cheong Thye exports to 30 markets worldwide, including China, Japan, Vietnam and the UAE. That reach traces back more than a century. In 1892, founder Choo Cheong Chan, the younger Choo’s great-great-grandfather, left China for Singapore and established Kwong Cheong Thye in Jalan Sultan, producing soya sauce for local food suppliers. The small manufacturing outfit expanded alongside Singapore’s growing dining scene, eventually extending beyond soya sauce into products such as chilli and oyster sauces as well as noodles and cooking pastes while remaining anchored in its core craft.
That scale is now being optimised. In February this year, Kwong Cheong Thye opened its new production facility at Senoko Crescent. Once fully up and running, the space, which is solely dedicated to producing the brand’s core product, will increase its soya sauce output several-fold—a response to rising demand for it across the brand’s existing markets.
Beyond volume, the new plant introduces a higher degree of automation compared to the brand’s original Senoko Avenue facility—which continues to manufacture its other products— utilising systems designed to streamline production and monitor performance in real time. Much of the operation can now be managed by a small team, supported by data systems that track everything from temperature fluctuations to equipment performance. As co-owner of Kwong Cheong Thye, Alvin Choo leads its business development as well as sales and marketing. Opposite page: Choo is part of the company's fifth generation.
At its core, however, the business remains grounded in process, with a tightly controlled fermentation method that prioritises consistency—down to producing its own koji, the microorganism that drives fermentation, roasting wheat in-house, and carefully managing temperature and humidity at the fermentation stage. Choo views this level of control as essential. “We sell to Michelin-starred restaurants,” he says. “For chefs to use our products, we need to give them consistency.”
For Choo, legacy now lies not only in what the company produces, but also in how it operates and what it leaves behind. Sustainability has become central to that effort. Since it began tracking its carbon emissions in 2023, the company has reduced them by about 30 per cent, through measures such as replacing diesel boilers with those powered by natural gas. “It’s also about competitiveness,” Choo says of this focus. “We’re not just comparing ourselves to Singapore brands, but brands across the world.”
At the same time, the motivation is not purely commercial. “[We do this] for the children and the next generation. We bring them into the world, so we should give them a world that’s sustainable,” adds the father of two. This sense of responsibility extends beyond the company. “How we tackle carbon emissions and global warming with one company and 100 employees might not make a difference. But if everyone else in Singapore does it, it will,” he says.
It is a mindset that also guides how Choo is evolving the business—making it not only more sustainable, but also more visible. Kwong Cheong Thye’s presence is expanding beyond professional kitchens, most notably through its concept store in Jewel Changi Airport, alongside its long-standing retail shop in Geylang. “While we are mostly B2B, I feel that consumers should have access to a product (the brand’s soya sauce) used by the top chefs in the world,” he posits.
At Jewel Changi Airport, that vision takes shape in an open, conversational space. Price tags are intentionally absent to spark dialogue rather than quick transactions. “We do need sales,” Choo explains, “but we want conversations to continue between our customers and staff.” The airport location also reflects a longer-term view: as the brand grows globally, visibility among travellers helps build recognition abroad. “We want to be in more markets, developed ones like the US, and developing ones like Laos,” he says, adding that “to do that, we need more capacity, which is why expansion is so important now”.
The business remains very much a family affair. Choo works alongside his brother, a food scientist who oversees operations, and his sister, who oversees administration and finance. “Over the next ten years, my brother and I want [to grow] our company [into] the largest soya sauce maker in Southeast Asia. Hopefully, my children can make it one of the largest in the world, if they want to take over one day,” he says.
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Nafeesa Saini is the Features Editor at Tatler Singapore, where she shapes long-form stories on culture, business, philanthropy, wellness, and the people driving change in Asia. With a deep interest in storytelling that intersects meaningfully with identity and impact, she has profiled a diverse range of visionaries, from scientific pioneers in AI and health to creative trailblazers and literary minds.
Nafeesa’s writing includes cover stories and profiles that spotlight influential voices, alongside commentary on the trends reshaping our world.
Off the clock, Nafeesa unwinds with fiction, a good thrift hunt, and ‘brainrot’ TikTok scroll—while always keeping one eye on her next cultural getaway, usually to Indonesia.
