Second-gen CEO Patrick Chan offers a masterclass in navigating the tightrope of tradition and progress

Thirteen years after stepping into the family business, Patrick Chan recounts the uphill battle of convincing his parents — stalwarts of tradition — to embrace the risks that modernisation demanded. “I remember telling my parents, ‘We have growing orders, and we need a larger kitchen to take on more business in the future.’ It wasn’t an easy conversation,” says the CEO of Kitchen Haus Group.

For Chan, the journey into this second-generation enterprise wasn’t preordained. “I had no intention of joining the business at the start,” he admits. Instead, he forged a career in mechanical engineering, climbing the ranks in a semiconductor company.

“I worked there for seven years, climbing to principal engineer. It wasn’t until I hit a crossroads in my career that I began to reconsider.” The pivot, he reflects, wasn’t a calculated leap but a hesitant step born from uncertainty. “I called my mother and asked, ‘Can I try joining the business?’ She said, ‘Why not? If you want to, just try.’”

What began as an experiment turned into a calling. When Chan joined in 2011, the company was a modest operation with a single brand. Today, Kitchen Haus Group manages nine brands: food manufacturing, catering, retail kiosks, and farming. The transformation, however, was far from seamless.

“One of the first things you must do in a family business is to convince your parents to let you join,” he explains. “They’d been in the business for over 30 years by the time I came in, and they naturally had strong opinions about how things should be done.”

Legacy vs leap

It wasn’t just the generational divide that presented challenges. Navigating a workplace populated with long-serving employees loyal to his parents added another layer of complexity. “They were often resistant to change,” he explains. “Introducing new methods or updating processes was difficult, but I learned to start simple — building relationships on the ground and motivating them to adapt over time.”

His breakthrough moment came with a radical proposal in 2016: launching a secondary brand to diversify the Kitchen Haus Group’s portfolio. “At the time, we only had my father’s legacy brand, Team Catering. When I suggested creating another brand, they were sceptical. ‘Why start a new brand?’ they asked. ‘Why not just stick to the old one?’” Chan persisted, arguing that one brand couldn’t cater to all market segments.

The gamble paid off. Rainbow Catering, the new venture, became the company’s highest revenue generator, validating his vision and establishing him as a driving force behind the group’s expansion.

Risk, he says, has been a constant yet, at times, necessary companion — over the last 13 years, Chan has learned to take measured ones. For him, it’s a balance between… (Read more here)