Andie Chen and his brothers buy Singapore F&B group Creative Eateries for 7-figure sum, admit working together is 'quite nasty'

If you see any ad campaigns from restaurants such as Suki-Ya and Bangkok Jam in the future, local actor Andie Chen probably played a big part in them.

Investment firm Asia White Knight Group announced its acquisition of Creative Eateries, a local F&B company housing 13 homegrown brands including Suki-Ya, Siam Kitchen and Barossa Steak & Grill, yesterday (Nov 17).

Investing a seven-figure sum, Asia White Knight praised the company for its "creative culinary experiences and accessible world cuisines".

At the forefront of this venture, Andie serves as Creative Eateries' chief marketing officer. Joining him are his two brothers: youngest Adam Tan, 37, is Asia White Knight's director and eldest Ash Chen, 41, is an adviser to the group.

This is Andie's first foray into the F&B scene. Adam, who takes over as Creative Eateries' chief executive officer, also runs the Joe & Dough cafe chain, and the pair had started the gaming company Freedom Nation in 2021.

When mixing family and business, Andie acknowledged that working with his siblings can "get quite nasty".

Speaking to AsiaOne, the 40-year-old elaborated: "It's not nasty in the sense that we try to hurt each other, but because we know that this [business venture] is a big battle with no space for emotions. There's none of that 'Oh, I want to say this, but I can't hurt your feelings'.

"Whenever someone does something wrong, if you're not gonna own up, someone's gonna call you out between the two of us and it'll be straight in your face - sometimes, without tact."

While Andie admitted he takes his brothers' criticism personally at times, he knows that between the three of them, there is only love and the best intentions for one another. As such, he feels Creative Eateries now holds a unique sense of "extra security" with their brotherly bond.

"And with that in mind, it gives us a lot of leeway to be a**holes," he joked. "Because you don't know whether this guy is trying to mess with you. And if he's coming from a good place, I need to do a double take and really look at it - Where does this come from? Why is he saying this?"

'Where do I even begin?'

Taking on the mantle of chief marketing officer, Andie was clear that with great power comes great responsibility.

But still, he was taken aback by the "overwhelming scale" of the company when he first settled into his role.

"We have 13 brands as well as a catering arm in addition to absorbing the five cafes that we already have. We have more than 20 outlets and about 250 staff," he said.

"I mean, yes, you're acquiring a group but when I first looked at the details and the things we had to do I was like, where do I even begin? That was my first challenge in this role."

The Taiwan-based actor remarked that he is now a lot more involved than he initially expected, and foresees that his role will take up much of his time.

In fact, he said he wouldn't be surprised if he's serving customers someday.

"Last weekend, my team saw me becoming their designated driver because of our stamp rally promotion. We were sending in these cards we had and I was the only one available, so I had to carry all of them.

"Even though I didn't expect it, I think this is what the business requires. Sometimes you just need to be that extra hand when we don't have a resource, and you need to step in."

Adam's presence also reassures Andie, as he brings with him a strong team with many connections.

As such, despite many celebrity F&B ventures shuttering due to issues like high costs and manpower, the industry was a natural next step for Andie.

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"I've been watching Adam for all my life. He's been an entrepreneur for more than two decades and I've seen him stumble, his weaknesses, but also his strengths. I know him very well," Andie mused.

"When he first started with his five Joe & Dough outlets, I was like, let me see what you have, show me what you've got.

"And he did actually turn it around, and proved to me that his [business] concepts work... So I trust Adam with the macro view of everything and make sure it's all joined together harmoniously."

Juggling acting and business, Andie is first and foremost a father to his two children and a husband to former Mediacorp artiste Kate Pang. Although the family is mainly based in Taipei, he comes back to Singapore "pretty often" for acting gigs.

"We always think about moving back home to Singapore for good and we don't know when, but we have to be fluid at this point in time," explained Andie.

"In Taiwan, we're starting to get more work. We have to balance our work there with our desire to come home."

In Singapore, Andie recently starred in the historical drama Fixing Fate, alongside Fang Rong, Xu Bin and Carrie Wong.

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kristy.chua@asiaone.com