Go to Block 543, take the lift to the 12th floor, turn left, and you quickly see a sign welcoming you to Soft Hour, amidst the clothes and the blocks behind. As you walk to the window, Andy and Shi Lin, the owners of Soft Hour, greet you and say hi. Having met many of their customers before, they have remembered their names.
Andy sees one of his regular customers at the window, and starts to ask him how his wife’s delivery went.
“Oh, we had to do an emergency C-section but the baby and mother were fine eventually.”
How did Andy remember that? He puts it down to making an effort, and his previous job at Starbucks. Indeed, if you look at Soft Hour, everything is an intentional effort to connect more closely to their community. Here in Yew Tee, Andy and Shi Lin want to create a community, and not just earn from their community.
For example, one of their upcoming initiatives is a run club to encourage people to come together, and then to get a cup of matcha on them after the run. Beyond this run club, Soft Hour has also deliberately done small things to celebrate the small moments. During Father’s Day, they bought strings, and sewed them together to make handicrafts.
During Hari Raya, they bought dates and gave them to customers.
On Mother’s Day, they encouraged their followers to post the most original memory of food they enjoyed, and gave 5 mother-daughter pairs matcha drinks as prizes.
Many early mistakes
Shi Lin remembers that when they first started, they made many mistakes.
The service counter they ordered online had a mixup, and they waited two months… only for a mattress to arrive. They had to push back their start date to December 2025.
When they started, they only had about five orders a day from their friends and family. Once, Shi Lin accidentally dropped a cup of matcha ordered by a customer. The customer looked at her, shocked that the barista could drop an entire cup, while Shi Lin anxiously tried to clear up.
Some of these early mistakes helped them to focus on marketing, to build a better business. For example, they realised that TikTok was a major discovery channel for their customers, and started creating content regularly there.
These marketing efforts even brought four policemen to their doorstep one day. Andy was shocked, he thought he was in trouble. But they were just there to collect their orders.
Beyond social media, word of mouth also helped. They once served a volunteer well, and he quickly recommended everyone in his Community Club to buy from them. It also resulted in them eventually doing the recent MyBeats Musical Festival.
Shi Lin loves these events, even though she’s an introvert. She sees it as a valuable opportunity to get to know her
neighbours, outside of just her block.
But Isn’t 7 Days A Week Difficult?
Of course, many would think their 7-day workweek is crazy. Shi Lin admits that it was, especially in the first
three months. They wanted to close, but dared not to as they feared customers would think they were unreliable. But they also realised that this was unsustainable. They were falling sick.
They learnt to trust that their customers would be loyal to them, and finally took a break in March. They have now committed to a more regular rest cycle. It’s clear that despite its challenges, Andy and Shi Lin want to give this
cafe their all.
They say that it’s been the best way to exercise their creative juices. “If I didn’t have this, I wouldn’t be able to
play with such cute logos! Look!” She points at the cute cat drawn by her partner, Andy. Andy also agrees, sharing that he finds it therapeutic to stir the matcha, and perfect the different recipes he’s done.
When asked about the difficulty in competing with bigger F&B chains, Andy and Shi Lin had this to say: “Actually no, we find our community has really supported us a lot.”
It’s not just about the money, but the ability to free their creative spirits and also nurture the community they’ve
been forming. One of the most heart-warming moments come when they receive nice notes from their customers, thanking them for the small gestures of kindness.
Whilst the money they earn from their home cafe goes towards “a bulb, the sink, the BTO”, they also know that
they are investing into the long-term health of their community. Because community doesn’t build itself. We all need to roll up our sleeves to build it.
Order from Soft Hour on Saturdays, 11AM to 4PM and Sundays, 11AM to 5PM. For more information visit their Instagram: @hello.softhour