CocoBoss
The Covid-19 virus outbreak has been merciless for many businesses, especially the hospitality sector.
Leo Tan was in the hotel tech industry, dealing with contactless guest experiences for hotels to automate guest experiences.
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On the other hand, Benjamin Liu is in the fintech industry, dealing with automated currency exchange machines in over 100 hotels in Singapore.
Since their respective jobs were heavily involved with hotels, they were inadvertently affected by the pandemic.
The 34-year-old pair, who have been friends for 16 years, decided they should explore other opportunities and start up their own business called CocoBoss.
They want to be the “Starbucks of Coconut Shakes”
It was a steep learning curve for the duo, and Leo admitted that their lack of experience posed many challenges for them.
When they were setting up their first outlet, there were faced with a lot of teething issues and operational challenges.
“Covid-19 has affected our normal operational procedures due to safety measures put in by the government which we must adhere to. As these safety measures are constantly changing, we have to adapt and train our crew accordingly,”
Leo Tan
Beyond offer ‘regular’ coconut shakes, CocoBoss wants to stand out from the rest with its specially crafted coconut blends.
The price of their coconut shakes ranges between S$5.80 and S$6.90. It’s not exactly one of the more affordable drinks in the market, which might be a deterrent, but their sales have proven otherwise.
They took only four months to break even
The co-founders have invested “a portion of their savings” into starting CocoBoss, and it took them three to four months to break even.
Leo proudly shared that CocoBoss has recently launched its sixth store at Peninsula Shopping Centre in a short span of seven months.
With an increasing number of coconut shake players in the scene, Leo admits that it is indeed getting saturated and competitive, but they remain unfazed by this.
Instead, they choose to focus on consistency and delivering the best-quality coconut shakes to their customers.
CocoBoss