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Owning a business is never easy. Take it from Singaporean actress and host Jeanette Aw, who started her own patisserie, Once Upon A Time, back in 2021.
Her bakery relocated to Geylang in March, after closing its Jalan Besar outlet in December 2025, where it had operated for more than four years at a Hamilton Road shophouse.
In a recent interview with Chinese media Zaobao.sg, the 46-year-old recalled the skepticism and unfriendly remarks in her early days as an entrepreneur.
Some claimed she was simply leveraging her fame to open a shop, acting as a figurehead in name only.
In the first year of the business, the actress even fainted while making cakes in the store, only to be mocked by someone in the F&B industry who said: “If that’s all it takes to collapse, we could have fainted three times already.”
But Aw did not give up. Instead, she saw criticism as motivation.
“I know I have to put in more effort than others to prove that this is my work and my business,” she said.
During this process, Aw also learnt some hard lessons, including suffering an S$8,000 (US$6,275) loss to someone she trusted.
She explained that since desserts are delicate and require careful handling during transportation, choosing the right delivery partner is crucial.
At that time, the actress believed she had found a reliable outsourced team for that purpose.
However, after two years of working together, the person in charge requested over S$5,000 upfront as a package fee, claiming it was for developing an application.
Due to their previously stable partnership, she and her manager did not suspect anything and paid in advance.
Later, the same person borrowed another S$3,000 from her manager, claiming it was needed to cover his father’s funeral expenses.
When Aw found out, she reportedly stepped in and covered the loan for her manager.
However, the individual soon became unreachable, disappearing with both the company’s prepaid delivery fees and the loaned funds.
It was only when a batch of completed dessert orders failed to be delivered and he could not be contacted that Jeanette reached out directly to the delivery drivers.
She was then informed that the workers had not been paid and had even assumed that it was her side that had failed to make payment.
“Later, other F&B operators even emailed me asking if I could reach him. That’s when I realised he had probably been using my name to solicit business,” she recalled.
The incident was eventually reported to the police and the matter was brought to a close, but the experience has since made her much more cautious in running her business.
This story was originally published in 8Days.
For more 8Days stories, visit https://www.8days.sg/
