Rolex-wearing Kim’s Hokkien prawn mee hawker falls out with son over business spat
Recently on Sept 3 and 4, a curious advertisement ran in Chinese newspapers Shin Min Daily News and Lianhe Zaobao. Its header blared ‘Rolex Mee Master’, and below, the address of zi char eatery Kim's Famous Fried Hokkien Prawn Mee at 62B Jalan Eunos.
Putting the ‘famous’ in the shop’s name is Tan Kue Kim, 78. The notorious hawker is nicknamed by his customers — including this writer’s parents — as “kim chiu pio” (golden watch in Hokkien), ’cos he’s best known for frying his popular Hokkien mee while wearing office attire and a gigantic gold Rolex watch.
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Selling his Hokkien mee recipe
Splashed all over the large ad were several photos of a beaming Kue Kim on magazine covers, presiding over his wok of noodles.
He apparently also couldn’t resist including snapshots of his beloved three Rolex watches and of himself, standing in front of his flashy Mercedes car giving towkay energy. Pretty impressive showmanship.
Other than trumpeting his status as the ‘King of Prawn Mee’, his delicious food, solid recipes and how he built his famous business from scratch, there was also an unexpected line tucked away at the bottom of the page: “The boss intends to sell his business and secret prawn noodle recipe. Interested parties can call for enquiry.”
Photo: Vincent Ho/ Can Eat! Hawker Food
The plot thickens
As for why Kue Kim is selling the business he founded in 1958 with his cousin in Changi Village, here’s the tea.
Speaking to Shin Min Daily News, he expressed that he had only considered selling his brand in recent years, as he was getting on in age and felt that it was a pity if his shop couldn’t continue operating.
He explains: “Only my eldest son is in the F&B industry currently. My younger son and daughter are in other jobs and won’t be taking over my business.”
Kue Kim adds that he had thought of passing his two-storey zi char eatery to his eldest son Hock Yong, but felt that the 52-year-old was not up to the task as he had apparently struggled with over 30 business failures over the years. This forced Kue Kim to look for a successor outside of his family to continue his legacy.
“There are already a few people who called to express interest in buying [my recipes], but there were also many people who called to ask if I could help save their business. I’m willing to help, and don’t mind teaching others for free,” he said.
Even at 78, Kue Kim still heads to Geylang Serai at 5am daily to buy ingredients for his prawn mee. He typically works from 11am to midnight, take a brief break between 3pm to 5pm.
He tells Shin Min Daily News that his health is still robust, and he intends to stay on as a shareholder after selling his recipes and continue helping out to maintain his food quality.
Photo: Vincent Ho/ Can Eat! Hawker Food
Spat over son not paying electricity bill
What led to Kue Kim falling out with his eldest son was Hock Yong failing to help pay the utility bill for their shop, among other triggers.
The eatery, also known as Kim’s Place Seafood, underwent a month-long facelift in February this year. Father-and-son worked together, with Hock Yong in charge of zi char dishes while Kue Kim fried Hokkien mee.
Kue Kim reveals: “We stopped working together when my son did not help pay our utility bill and did not manage our restaurant properly.”
Hock Yong counters that he was financially strapped after their shop’s renovations, and fell behind in his payments for rent and utility bills.
“Initially I had hoped that my father could help me, but we have very different ideas on how to run our business and that created some conflict. He drove me out in August this year,” he says.
Kue Kim and his two sons, with Hock Yong in the middle (Photo: Kim’s Seafood Place)
Eldest son set up his own shop to help pay father’s debts
Hock Yong also contends that he had set up his own business to help pay off his father’s debts amounting to over $100,000.
They were incurred several years after Kue Kim opened a four-storey restaurant in the ’90s serving seafood and shark’s fin. “There were many problems with the restaurant. I had just graduated from polytechnic, and decided to set up my own restaurant to help pay my father’s debts,” Hock Yong says.
In 1996, he opened an eatery in Kembangan using his father’s branding, and managed to clear the debts after two years. “It’s not my intention to blame my father. I just wanted to help him clear his debts. That was the most important thing to me,” says Hock Yong.
His sister later convinced him to combine his business with their father’s so that the senior Tan could retire with ease. According to Hock Yong, his sister had known about his father’s intention to sell their business, but he only got to know about the ad after it ran in the papers.
He concludes: “This is after all the business that my father founded. If he wants to sell his brand and recipes, I respect his decision.”
Kim's Famous Fried Hokkien Prawn Mee is at 62B Jalan Eunos, S419510. Tel: 6742-1119. Open daily 11am-12am. www.kimsplaceseafood.com
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