"Finding a location is like finding a boyfriend or girlfriend!" says MasterChef Singapore Season 1 Runner-up, Genevieve Lee, who’s also the Founder of Sourbombe Artisanal Bakery. She gives a first-hand account of the thought process behind transforming her home-based business into two physical stores, each occupying very different space profiles.

Presented by: Lynlee Foo

This podcast is produced and edited by Yeo Kai Ting (ykaiting@sph.com.sg) 

Highlights:

01:14 - At the point when you decided to turn your home-based business into a physical store - what exactly went through your mind when considering what kind of shop space you needed, of course keeping in mind that you did all of that while the COVID-19 pandemic persisted? 

03:28 - Tell us, which were some of the areas you considered back then? Were there surprising options along the way? 

05:26 - I've actually passed by your shop at Penang Road actually. So, was it based more on the rental or other logistical issues as well, such as installing machines like ovens, for example?

06:22 - Aside from that space, Genevieve - we understand that you now also have another store at Changi Jewel. That's obviously very different, a very different shop space profile. Why the choice to venture into such a different shop space, assuming that the overheads there are quite high?

08:25 - In your opinion, in the bigger scheme of things, how important is the location of a shop space to a business like yours? 

09:53 - With many business owners, much of setting up the business itself is trial and error. So if you could do all of this again, would you have gone for the same shop spaces that you had gone with and why?

11:05 - Just very quickly, with regards to your intention to franchise your business - any new plans in the pipeline just yet?