Owner of popular kueh tutu store Tan’s Tutu Coconut Cake has died at age 63

Tan Bee Hua, the owner of the popular kueh tutu store Tan’s Tutu Coconut Cake, has died at age 63, the store announced on its social media pages on Tuesday morning (Jul 29). 

"She always [loved] her job and took pride in perfecting her tutu kuehs to contribute to Singapore’s rich food heritage. She will always live in our memories," wrote the store.

Tan took over the store from her late brother in 2004 following his death. Speaking to CNA Lifestyle in 2018, Tan said that the business was first started by her father as a pushcart and shared how her whole family would help out.

“When I was in secondary school, during the school holidays, we would help clean the pandan leaves and fry the peanuts. Then I would help sell at the roadside before my elder brother, who was working part-time at a machinery hardware store, would come in the evening,” recalled Tan.

“We moved around Singapore – we’d go to the Cathay where there were midnight shows, or Great World City.”

Tan’s Tutu Coconut Cake has been operating from Havelock Food Centre. It previously closed its Clementi outlet in 2023.

In a tribute post on the Facebook group Hawkers United, Melvin Chew, the owner of Jin Ji Teochew Braised Duck And Kway Chap, said that Tan was a "legend".

“Her passionate passion [for] making tutu kueh [was] a great contribution to our hawker culture,” wrote Chew.

“Auntie Tan had been following her family selling tutu kueh since she [was] very young. [The] passing of Auntie Tan is [a] big [loss] of our hawker culture.”