This 35-year-old had 5 failed businesses before starting her grocery store chain – now it brings in over $8 million a year

In 2008, Pang moved to Australia, where she attended university.

After obtaining a bachelor’s degree in management and marketing at the University of Newcastle, she landed a job as a banker — but she did not feel fulfilled.

“I knew that it was not a job that I could work until I retire,” Pang said. “I have this thing about me [where] if I don’t believe in that thing, it’s very hard [for me] to do that task.”

Eventually, she started casually brainstorming business ideas to start with friends and by 2015, Pang decided to quit her job as a banker and took the leap into entrepreneurship.

Between quitting her job and starting Surrey Hills Grocer, Pang founded five different businesses.

The first was a tour agency, where she hosted running tours. That was followed by a real estate rental business, a watch business called Daybook Watches, a brick-and-mortar grain bowl business called Surch, followed by a home-cooked food delivery business.

Unfortunately, none of those business ventures worked out.

When Pang moved back to Singapore in 2021, she had just 362 Australian dollars ($235) to her name.

“Honestly, I never quite thought that I will go into business again because of all the other things that happened …and I think my parents tried to tell me to be more practical with my life, to be more normal.”

For Pang, sixth time’s the charm. She did not give up despite being jaded from the years of trying to get her businesses going.

One day while driving in 2021, she began reminiscing about her time in Surry Hills, Australia. That’s when she started toying with the idea of bringing an Australian grocer-café concept to Singapore.

That same year, a family friend Alvin Lau decided to invest 400,000 Singapore dollars ($293,800) into her business. Today, he is the founding shareholder of Surrey Hills Grocer.

“He always [told] me if I say the moon is yellow, he will believe the moon is yellow …. The trust is a blind trust, so I really appreciate what he has done for me,” Pang said.

Pang opened her first Surrey Hills Grocer store in December 2021, and eventually went on to open four other locations.

She told CNBC she’s on track to surpass her 2023 revenue of $8 million (SG$11 million) and has been bringing in an average of SG$1.4 million in monthly sales this year, according to unaudited statements seen by CNBC.

As of April, Pang said she’s also manufacturing her own line of pet products called Furry Hills. Additionally, she is working on developing a new Japanese ramen restaurant, Spanish restaurant and Taiwanese shabu restaurant, all set to open in the third quarter of this year.