Cover The Proper Concepts collective co-founder Leong Sheen Jet (Photo: Frenchescar Lim)
The Proper Concepts collective co-founder Leong Sheen Jet (Photo: Frenchescar Lim)
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The co-founder of the group behind Rappu and Ms Maria & Mr Singh tells us how to keep ahead in a turbulent industry
As a child, the entrepreneurial spirit in Leong Sheen Jet was already glowing. He used to sketch Pokemon characters and sold them to his classmates for a bit of pocket money. Years later, he channelled everything he learned in his early years as a budding businessman to become the co-founder of F&B group, The Proper Concepts collective. The group helms restaurant concepts that have become cult favourites in the dining scene: steakhouse The Feather Blade, Rappu Handroll & Sake Bar, Goho Kaiseki & Bar, Japanese-Mexican taco bar Mezcla, GQ Laksa (Singapore), Ms Maria & Mr Singh (Singapore) and Mish Mash, Singapore's first wine-cocktail gastro bar.
“At the end of the day, it has always been innate in me to start my own business,” Leong tells Tatler Singapore. Entrepreneurship runs in his blood—his father was an entrepreneur himself, running multiple businesses, including an IT company that he later sold. But to say Leong is following in his father’s footsteps would be erroneous. He’s striking out on his own in an industry that is frequently rocked by turbulence.
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Above Hokkigai (surf clam) handroll served with miso mayo and masu ikura at Rappu (Photo: Instagram / @rappu.sg)
Hokkigai (surf clam) handroll served with miso mayo and masu ikura at Rappu (Photo: Instagram / @rappu.sg)
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Up and running
Given his finance education at Cass Business School (now Bayes Business School) and a masters in business at the University of Cambridge, Leong could have chosen to succeed in a more lucrative and secure industry. Yet, he chose F&B, where the “attrition rates” of “businesses failing is high”. “I was warned by numerous people: ‘Are you sure you want to go into F&B?’” Erstwhile a growth and operations associate at Oaknorth, Leong had little experience running an F&B group.
But F&B is a passion, one that was sparked in Leong after finding part-time work at the popular steakhouse Flat Iron as a student in London. The quality of the steaks stunned him for their reasonable price point, so when it came to breaking out of corporate, he was inspired to start The Feather Blade in March 2019. A curious steakhouse at Tanjong Pagar featuring alternative cuts of meat and quality steaks, it was there that he would develop the ethos of his F&B group—to deliver “proper food at proper prices”—a goal that he would focus on full-time after quitting Oaknorth in December 2020.
“It was important to initially have a corporate experience to understand how companies run,” he says of his time at Oaknorth, where he “work[ed] very closely with the co-founders to learn how they structure, scale, and manage a business”. Yes, with little experience, Leong had to “learn and adapt quickly”, but he sees through numbers and structures to see what really connects with consumers. For him, F&B is the key to their hearts (and stomachs). “F&B is a place where people celebrate milestones. They forge connections. So I find it very gratifying to be able to provide an avenue for that to happen.”
It was just over a year into The Feather Blade’s operation when the shadow of Covid-19 loomed over businesses, forcing Singapore to a standstill during the circuit breaker in April 2020. But Leong wasn’t too surprised—in the months leading up to the circuit breaker, his team had been formulating contingency plans for a lockdown. They perfected the delivery-only model by serving steaks on mashed potatoes to preserve their tenderness; they tripled their marketing budget to promote the business. It was a Keynesian bargain that ultimately worked in their favour as sales outperformed dine-ins, allowing them to pay their staff bonuses in an era marked by austerity.
Above Food spread at steakhouse The Feather Blade (Photo: Instagram / @thefeatherblade)
Food spread at steakhouse The Feather Blade (Photo: Instagram / @thefeatherblade)
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Proper food at proper prices
The pandemic was an initiation by fire, of sorts, into a cutthroat industry that Leong and his team had passed. Their follow-up handroll bar concept, Rappu, opened in July 2020, with new concepts coming out with each following year since. “At The Proper Concepts collective, we want to drive or create value-driven concepts across the pillars [of hospitality]”, Leong says, pointing towards the “food, drinks, service, ambience”, and ultimately, the “overall value”. “Usually you see a trade-off between price and offering, and we try to break that trend.”
It’s this commitment to accessible quality, combined with innovative ideas, that have kept The Proper Concept collective’s journey smooth-sailing. “When we create a concept, we look at what the trends are out there,” Leong says, who analyses changes in “consumer behaviour” and “demographics” to identify a “niche within that trend”. “Our concepts go against the grain.”
Case in point—Goho Kaiseki & Bar, an eclectic space located right beside Rappu Handroll & Sake Bar. It celebrates the Japanese tradition of kaiseki, refreshing its menu every quarter to reflect the season's finest produce and upholding the five culinary techniques of Japanese cuisine—nama (cutting); niru (simmering); yaku (grilling); musu (steaming); and ageru (frying). But if you were expecting another stuffy Japanese omakase, you'd be sorely mistaken—the small and intimate space is doused in aesthetic neon purple lights and adorned with sakura flowers, crafting a playful atmosphere that's still elegant. And at the kaiseki counter, you can get up close and personal with chefs and savour contemporary kaiseki, accompanied by a diverse beverage pairing spanning wines, sakes, beers and cocktails thoughtfully curated by Diageo World Class winner and co-owner Boo Jing Heng.
Above Interiors of Goho Kaiseki & Bar
Interiors of Goho Kaiseki & Bar
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One of Leong's latest concepts is Ms Maria & Mr Singh, a collaboration with chef Gaggan Anand that opened in October 2022. Leong met Anand serendipitously at a café one afternoon, where he invited the celebrated chef to visit Rappu. Weeks later, Anand did drop by and proposed working together to bring Ms Maria & Mr Singh from Bangkok into Singapore. “It's fun, casual, but it's none of that fine dining theatrics that you get at high-end dining,” Leong says. The move was a way to combine growing interest in Mexican and Indian cuisine in Singapore with the trend of fine-dining chefs launching their casual spinoffs, which targeted The Proper Concepts collective’s focus on mid-market dining experiences perfectly. Today, these spots are the places to see and be seen.
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Above Crab curry at Ms Maria & Mr Singh
Crab curry at Ms Maria & Mr Singh
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Challenges
Fortunate as The Proper Concepts collective may be in weathering these past few years, it is not immune to the sweeping forces of trouble in the industry. Manpower issues are one of them, with a high demand for F&B labour but a low supply. “Over Covid, we lost quite a few people, as people transitioned out of F&B during those tough times,” Leong mentions. His solution is two-pronged—cherishing the team he curates, and leveraging on technology to reduce reliance on manpower.
“Our hiring process is very rigorous. We have a very strict process as well as a detailed questionnaire which hires go through to then fulfil the roles that we want,” he says. But once employees are in, he makes sure that they are given opportunities to develop. “As we grow the business, we grow the pie to share with our staff. If our staff can grow with us, we'd be more than happy to have them promoted internally faster than they may have in another company.”
The other solution is looking towards technology to lower labour costs, which is something that his concepts are already doing. But looking forward, Leong sees new ideas like “fast, casual, kiosk” concepts to leverage further on technology. Is it risky? “There's always a certain degree of doubt with each decision made,” he posits. “But by having proper planning, forecasting, and having the right people execute these plans, we reduce that level of doubt.”
Parting words
It’s only been four years since the opening of The Feather Blade and The birth of The Proper Concepts collective, but the scale of what Leong and his team has achieved is impressive. As a lifelong instinct for calling the shots blossoms with possibility, brighter things are lined up for him and the group. For now it’s sufficient to say that Leong has made his stamp on the dining scene with—as always—proper food at proper prices.
“Never be afraid to challenge the status quo,” he says to anyone looking to start a business in F&B like he has. “Through that, you create something that's unique.”
Credits
Photography: Frenchescar Lim
Grooming: Angel Gwee
Topics
Ethan Kan was Tatler Singapore’s dining writer.
