Determined to change his life after prison stint

All that came to an end when Ah Boy was arrested during an island-wide raid in 2018 and sentenced to 15 months in prison. “Search 2018 Geylang raid, you will see reports of it,” he says with a laugh. “I was at home sleeping when the police came and banged open my door. It was like a robbery.”

After his release in March this year, Ah Boy was determined to turn his life around. His wife, who is Vietnamese, left with their now eight-year-old son when he was in police custody, and he is raising his five-year-old daughter on his own. “Fortunately, my wife couldn’t find my daughter’s passport. Otherwise, she would have taken her away too,” he says.

Despite not having any experience in F&B, he decided to start a hawker biz: “I have always been interested in F&B. I’ve known the boss of Lao You Ji Fishhead Steamboat and Seafood Restaurant in Outram for many years and when I told him I wanted to start my own business, he advised me to do zi char ’cos he has experience and can help me.”

When the opportunity arose in May, he borrowed $40K from friends to take over the Yishun zi char stall and Yi Tian Xiang was born.

His parents are very supportive of his new venture as he is “no longer getting into trouble”. “Even the police officer who arrested me is happy for me. He lives around here and we happened to bump into each other at the coffeeshop. He has returned to patronise [my stall],” says Ah Boy.