This S’pore family has built up a vegetarian empire in the nation with 5 brands & counting

Growing up with a vegetarian father, Ai Lin and Ee Ren were more than familiar with Singapore’s vegetarian F&B landscape. Even as kids, it was clear to them that the options were limited. 

Whether that be a hawker centre or coffee shop, it wasn’t easy for them to find a place to dine at. So when the siblings wanted to start a business together as adults, they decided to address this problem with Saute Group.

“As food enthusiasts, we recognised a gap in the market for innovative and flavourful vegetarian cuisine,” Ai Lin explained to us. 

“Our goal was to create a cafe that offered interesting, wholesome, and modern vegetarian dishes that would challenge the perception of vegetarian food as boring, limited, and bland.”

Who knew that 12 years later, this passion project of theirs would become a vegetarian F&B group with five brands under its belt?

A leap of faith

Looking back, Ai Lin realised that their decision to start Saute Group was rather bold. Neither herself nor Ee Ren had any kind of F&B experience, yet they still left their full-time careers for this.

Not to mention the fact that Ai Lin just had a newborn baby at the time. Talk about taking a leap of faith, right?

But the siblings were driven by a shared vision to disrupt the market with their offerings. It also helped that each of their spouses, Shah (Ai Lin’s husband) and Soek Hui (Ee Ren’s wife), were encouraging and assisted in the R&D process. 

The four of them would frequently meet up at Ee Ren’s place to experiment on new dishes and curate a menu. During an interview with Lifestyle Guide in 2019, Shah revealed that they were trying every meatless dish they saw on YouTube. 

“Once we spot a dish we like, we’d try many variations and different combinations before eventually deciding on one,” he shared. 

A time-consuming endeavour, the whole process took roughly six months before their menu was finalised. Part of this was due to them avoiding the use of mock meat. Instead, they focused on natural ingredients, such as nuts and mushrooms in their raw form.

March 2016 marked the beginning of Saute Group with the opening of their first outlet called Saute at Bugis Cube.

On a roll

If you’ve been to Bugis Cube, you probably know that the retail space there isn’t the largest. Saute stood at a relatively small space of 517 sq ft, but the four co-founders didn’t mind.

The rent there was more affordable, which allowed them to test their restaurant’s concept without significant financial risks. 

Patrons of this outlet were in for a diverse range of offerings encompassing both Western and Asian delicacies. You could get dishes like vegetarian pizza, pasta, ramen, and fried rice all under one roof.

Over time, they also introduced more comfort food like orh luak using the sibling’s own family recipe, which proved to be a bestseller.

It became clear within two years that the founders were onto something big with Saute. Encouraged by the customers, they left Bugis Cube for a bigger space that would also increase brand visibility.

By April 2018, the family opened a new outlet at City Square Mall and launched their new concept, Saute-san.

This was also the same time they considered the possibility of expanding into a vegetarian F&B group. Fast forward to 2024 and they now have four other F&B brands:

Living a veggie-infused dream

You might be wondering, why did they choose to start so many brands? 

While all of these restaurants stay true to Saute Group’s plant-based approach, each of them offer unique dining experiences and focus on a specific culinary concept and cuisine.

Ai Lin acknowledged that consolidating the five restaurants under one concept would be simpler. It would make replicating them across multiple locations less of a hassle as well, from store design to marketing and menu development.

Besides that, she shared that this choice makes them unable to fully benefit from economies of scale. They can’t always leverage the same suppliers or enjoy the cost savings associated with large-scale operations. 

However, “We believe that offering diverse culinary experiences is essential for providing our customers with unique and exciting dining options,” she stated. Introducing new dining concepts with each brand is a distinct part of Saute Group’s offerings.

This ensures that customers of one brand get a new experience at its other sister restaurants.

Another aspect that sets Saute Group apart from others in the market is their commitment to being halal-certified. Of the five brands, only Saute & Mee hasn’t gotten the certification yet but they’re in the midst of the halal application process.

Becoming trendsetters while starting an empire?

With the rise in public awareness regarding sustainability and health, it’s not really surprising that more people are being health-conscious.

Even if they don’t convert to a fully vegetarian diet, there’s a positive trend of consumers looking for healthier alternatives. The growth in flexitarian consumers was a main factor in the group’s pursuit of a halal certification, all to make customers feel more comfortable dining there.

Ai Lin also noticed more non-vegetarian restaurants including vegetarian options in their menus now than before.

To meet this growing global demand, Saute Group is passively looking for opportunities to expand beyond Singapore. “Our long-term goal is for Saute to be recognised as a leading vegetarian F&B group that delivers high-quality, innovative, and wholesome food,” she stated. 

Seeing as how there’s been an increase in the number of vegetarian F&B brands, we’re excited to see how Saute Group will continue to increase their market share. 

Featured Image Credit: Saute Group