After decades in banking, this S’porean quit to pursue F&B and now runs his own restaurant

Diners of the 18-seater restaurant 8Picure in Tanglin might not know this, but chef-owner Gabriel Lee’s affinity hadn’t always been in cooking.

Instead, he had a good head for numbers. It’s the reason why he decided to go into banking. That, and the fact that the economy was doing well at the time.

“Everyone wanted to get into the financial industry,” he mused.

For decades, he worked in the bank, involving himself in backend matters for seven years, then as a relationship manager for seven more.

The latter role ended up coming with high stress levels, something that Gabriel overcame through his hobby: cooking.

And as he opted to go back to the backend of the bank as a business analyst, this hobby became something that he could spend more time developing.

“Eventually, I ended up doing customer service with a private bank. This was a 9-to-5 job and it offered me the time and space to fully develop my interest in cooking,” he shared.

Yet, it still wasn’t enough. Gabriel went on to learn how to cook professionally, leading him to leave his banking career behind to start anew in the F&B world.

Entering the culinary world

You’d think that a 40-something year old leaving his stable banking career to romp in Italy and the UK is having a mid-life crisis. But to Gabriel, it was the first page to his new culinary career.

He spent three months in Chef Academy in Terni, Italy, pursuing a Cuoco (Chef) certification. Then, he spent three months as an intern at The Kingham Plough in the United Kingdom.

“Upon my return to Singapore, I worked with the well-known Italian restaurant in Singapore, Forlino,” Gabriel shared with Vulcan Post. “This helped me hone my skills in cooking Italian cuisine and to learn how a restaurant operated.” 

At the same time, he started doing degustation menus for friends. Over private dinners, he grew leaps and bounds as a chef.  It wasn’t just his cooking techniques; he learnt to listen to the opinions of others and appreciate varying palates. 

However, as his customers were friends, he wasn’t earning much at all. So, he ended up going back to the bank to work in a 9-to-5 role as a customer service officer.

“For the next four years, I worked in the day with the bank and did private service at home in the evenings,” he said. In essence, he was a banker by day, and a chef come nightfall.

This double life came to a close in the tail end of 2018, though, when Gabriel incorporated his own restaurant—8Picure.

Becoming a full-fledged business

Before 8Picure, Gabriel had been dishing out his experiences from home.

Referred by friends, many of his guests were corporate customers who wanted a different experience to share with and host their clients, Gabriel recalled. Most regulars were management executives, who would book a table once a month. 

“Since my place could only host six to eight persons at a time, some of these executives had to dine twice in a week to host all of their clients,” he said.

Eventually, Gabriel’s base of regulars had grown so much that he had to turn some of them away. 

“I realised I needed a bigger venue so that I could delight more of my friends and customers,” he said. Thus, he decided to open an actual restaurant.

Located in Tanglin, 8Picure is a fine casual dining restaurant with mid-level prices. The food, Gabriel said, is of higher quality than casual dining, yet affordable for the kind of quality and value offered.

The casual vibe wasn’t always the case, though. In fact, the current look came during a recent refresh. At first, the initial interior featured black walls, and it came across as too intimate and expensive looking.  After almost six years, they decided to change up the ambience.  

As a cosy 18-seater venue, the spot occasionally gets booked out as early as two months in advance, especially if it’s a festive season. 

“Glad to say that we manage to keep our sanity by having Sundays and Mondays off despite a busy weekly schedule,” Gabriel said.

Growing amidst troubled times

But just because business is relatively steady doesn’t mean Gabriel plans to be idle. In fact, he has many goals in mind, one being to further develop the business to host more corporate functions. 

“The plan is also to open a second more casual restaurant down the line,” he revealed. “This was in the original plan after a year of operating, but COVID set us back to square one and we are rebuilding the business.”

But financing fine and gourmet dining is difficult. Plus, as Gabriel said, customer behaviours have changed.

He said, “We had more frequent regular customers in the past compared to now. From what we know, certain customers are cutting back on their dining and wine budgets. Lifestyles have changed. Many expatriates are also no longer in Singapore.”

On top of that, business in Singapore is competitive and costs are high. Starting salaries have gone up by at least 66% from when he first started, Gabriel said. 

All these factors mean that Gabriel and his team must constantly innovate and be resourceful to optimise operations and profits. 

“Demand for fine dining is still there, but are diners looking for value or just high-end fine dining?” he wondered. “For some, maybe we are not expensive enough for them. However, we also have a lot of diners who usually dine at Michelin-starred restaurants but now come to us, once they know of our quality and value.”

Profiting from your passions

Pivoting in life isn’t easy, even when it’s to pursue a genuine passion. Although his passion had fuelled him, Gabriel’s top advice to budding entrepreneurs, especially those looking to enter the F&B industry, is not to start before you’re ready.  

“We came into this business without fully understanding the manpower challenges and the cost management that we had to deal with,” he said. “If you want to step in to only make money, then this line may not be right for you.”

Indeed, F&B is a tough line to be in. Aside from costs, it’s a physically and mentally tiring career to be in. The saying “if you love what you do and you’ll never work a day in your life” isn’t necessarily true. You could get burnt out even while doing what you love.  

“Sometimes, it gets tedious when money is an issue. But we must keep investing in ourselves and our business,” Chef Gabriel said to that. “I make it a point to set aside a learning fund for this. I encourage others to do so as well, if not it can get boring and if it does, then your passion may flag, and if this happens, then the business will flounder.”

Yet, despite all his warnings, the chef-owner believes that if you have a calling, you should follow it.  

“Don’t get a job to make a living,” he shared. “Find something you are really passionate about to keep learning, and to keep young.”

Featured Image Credit: 8Picure