Two brothers who swapped well-paid finance careers for a hawker stall selling handmade Hakka yong tau foo have decided to call it quits after just five months.
Scott Lee, 29, and Troy Lee, 31, will serve their final customers at New Horse Noodles at Chinatown Complex Food Centre on Oct 25. The brothers announced the closure in a video, with Scott later confirming that the main reason was simple: “The lifestyle is not what we really want.”
The decision comes despite the stall showing potential. The brothers had invested around RM 64,000 of their savings into the business, but the reality of running a food stall meant working around 70 hours a week, with little time left outside of work.
From fintech and trading to 70-hour workweeks
Scott previously worked as a fintech product manager and was earning between RM 16,000 and RM 32,000 a month, while Troy worked as a trader.
After leaving their corporate careers, the brothers turned their shared interest in food into a new career. They became food bloggers and spent time exploring different cuisines before eventually deciding to learn how to make Hakka yong tau foo.
Their journey took them to Malacca, where they trained for 10 days under an 85-year-old Hakka hawker. After bringing what they had learnt back, they adapted the recipe and paired the handmade yong tau foo with Malaysian-style dry noodles.
The stall eventually became their full-time job, but the hours quickly proved demanding. Scott previously said he was probably earning “less than minimum wage” from the business, while both brothers were putting in roughly 70 hours every week. Even their only day off was not really a day off, as they still had to prepare ingredients and food for the following working day.
Netizens say the experience still matters
Their decision has sparked a discussion among netizens, with some praising the brothers for having the courage to try something completely different.
“At least they dare to step out and try to do business. Even if they fail, they can use it as a life experience for themselves,” one commenter said.
Another pointed out that the difficulty of running a food business is something many people only understand after experiencing it firsthand.
“Running a restaurant from scratch is a very time-consuming and arduous task,” the commenter wrote, recalling how their own parents would wake up at 5 or 6am to buy ingredients, return home to prepare the food and then work until midnight. It took their parents many years before they finally built up a reputation.
Another commenter shared an even more personal experience, saying their parents used to sell noodles at a coffee shop in the morning before setting up at a night market in the evening.
“As a child, I would go to the stall after school or during the holidays to help out, and I had no choice,” they recalled, adding that the experience was so difficult that they still feel scared when thinking about it decades later.
“I didn’t want to be a hawker when I grew up, so I studied for a few years and eventually became a white-collar worker. Only those who have done it know the hardship,” the commenter said.
The brothers have now decided that the hawker lifestyle is not sustainable for them, with Scott saying he would share more about their decision in upcoming videos. For now, the siblings have not decided what they will do next. They said they plan to take some time to rest and explore their options, with software-related work among the possibilities.
In their farewell video, the brothers thanked their customers for supporting the stall and said the experience allowed them to meet many people and serve diners from different backgrounds.
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