Mr. Loh Jwee Poh
Founder and CEO of Mr. Bean
I love cooking from very young age, and my ambition as a child was to be a celebrity chef. When I was young, my first job was in a fast food restaurant, then in a hotel, and later I moved to a supermarket for many years. Working in the supermarket days gave me a deep understanding of the food industry, familiar with all kinds of food and its supply chain.
By coincidence in 1995, I came into contact with a soy milk machine and saw that it could produce fresh soy milk 24 hours a day at an average speed of one pot per hour continually and the quality was very good. As such, I opened my first soy milk shop with my alumni at the hawker center in People’s Park Food Center. Since our soy milk tasted delicious, the service of the stall was thoughtful, we were widely praised by customers. Since then, we never look back and we have grown all the way to a sizeable company of five to six hundred staff. This is what you see today: Mr. Bean. Before when the company was small, I wanted to manage by myself; Now the company size is big, I have to be reasonable. I think this is the origin of the so-called “management”.
As a boss managing a sizeable company, I don’t think it is necessary or possible to manage all including the minute details. For me, as long as employees possess the right values, I encourage them to have their own ideas and innovations, and not to be afraid to do things. As a 26-year-old company, our company’s structure has stabilized. What we need now is fresh creativity and drive, passion. I am grateful that I have a young, dynamic team that brings new blood to Mr. Bean and grows with our company. Our corporate culture pays attention to “inclusiveness”, give young people the opportunity to try and error, help them grow. After they have grown in the business, they in turn gradually contribute to the company and become its backbone.
I have been in the food industry for many years. When asked about successful experience, my response is no other than quality and services. In fact, regardless of the size of the enterprise, only if it emphasises in its quality and services can it achieve considerable development. For example, if one buys any drink from Mr. Bean and is not satisfied with the taste for whatever reason, we will change it unconditionally. We pay great attention to the quality of products. Although it is difficult for customers to judge the quality of food through superficial observation, we in this business need to examine ourselves diligently and whole-heartedly. Your efforts determine your future.
Mr. Bean has been overseas for more than a decade: China, Japan, Korea, Philippines, Malaysia… Our brand has been to many countries in Asia. The current pandemic outbreak is slowing down our drive but I believe the situation will eventually pass and we will move on after learning to co-exist with the epidemic – my goal is to open 100 stalls in the future and spread the Mr. Bean brand to more area of the world.
