From bubble tea to chicken rice: How 3 Singaporean pilots became entrepreneurs in Qatar

DOHA: Singaporean pilot Parthiban Karunanithi always thought about opening a cafe of his own. But it was an idea that never fully formed.

Life as a pilot was good and he and his wife were contented. That is, until the COVID-19 pandemic.

"When the pandemic hit and when the flying reduced drastically, I thought there was a good opportunity for us to jump into this."

So Mr Parthiban and his wife Ms Bharathi Guna, both based in Qatar, roped in two partners to launch a bubble tea cafe. 

Speaking to CNA in November, Mr Parthiban said: "At that point in time, there were just two bubble tea shops in Doha. So we wanted to ride the wave and I knew that the World Cup was coming up ...  We didn't want to miss this chance."

"We had the time on our hands, he was grounded and not flying so much. It made us think ... why not?" added Ms Bharathi.

But one month before they opened the cafe, Mr Parthiban was laid off from his job as a pilot.

"I was in the car and I was depressed, I was shocked. It took a while for everything to set in ... And then I told myself: 'You know what? I shouldn't be worrying so much'," he recalled.

"It happened to me already, so I'm done. But the shop has to go on, the shop has to run, because so much work had been put in. So I took it to my advantage ... I don't have a full-time job, but I can focus on the baby that we just started."

Along with their partners, the couple opened Tea Social Cafe in November 2020. And the early months were by no means easy.

"By the time we closed the shop and we left ... it would be almost 1am. We would come back home at about 2am, and then we'd be washing our clothes, having supper and by the time we slept, it would be 3, 4am. And then the routine starts again at 8 or 9am the next day," said Mr Parthiban, who has been based in Doha since 2017.

"It was tiring, very tiring, I'm not going to deny that fact. But I think it paid off."

The couple, who met when they were working for Tiger Airways, took a course to learn how to make bubble tea.

A year later, they expanded their business to Singapore. Now based back home, Mr Parthiban is a pilot with Scoot and continues to run both the Singapore and Doha businesses with Ms Bharathi.

Being a pilot and running a cafe have both become his passions, said Mr Parthiban.

"We are still a small brand ... but of course, we hope that more people will get to know us."

STARTING A NEW CHAPTER

Another bubble tea joint in Qatar is Xuan Tea, which was opened by former pilot Joel Chou in late 2019.

Sensing a "huge gap" in the consumer market, the Singaporean decided to open Xuan Tea with a partner, who had expertise in making such drinks.

"One of the reasons we wanted to open the store was because we found that a lot of beverages sold here were overly sweet," he said. "It was just a simple concept, open a bubble tea store with quality products for people to enjoy."

Less sugary options would allow customers to enjoy the drinks without guilt, he added.

His flexible hours as a pilot then also made it easier for him to run the business.

"Flying is straightforward, you don't have to bring your work home, so you have all the time after work," he said.

But with no experience running a business, it wasn't easy. 

"I didn't even know how to make drinks – my partner was the one who made drinks," Mr Chou added.

But he eventually learned, and is now proud of the fact that he had some input into all of the current offerings at Xuan Tea.

Xuan Tea is strategically located along a stretch of shops in the Bin Mahmoud area of Doha.

"We found huge potential in this area. It is near the cross section, and at least eight cabin crew accommodations were within a 5km radius," said Mr Chou.

Then the COVID-19 pandemic struck and Mr Chou was stranded in Singapore between March and November 2020. He had to close the business for a couple of months, then got a friend to run it while he helped from Singapore.

He was laid off as a pilot in November that year. 

"I started airline flying in 2014, and I always let nature take its course. When things happen, you just have to deal with it, overcome the obstacles, find something else to do and start a new chapter," he said.

A TASTE OF HOME

Mr Lim Yee Min's entrepreneurship journey also began with bubble tea. A former pilot who has lived in Doha for seven years, he longed for a taste of home.

"I felt like there was nothing here that reminds me of home, of Singapore," recalled Mr Lim.

So in 2020, the Singaporean partnered with another business to open bubble tea shop Tabiboba. That one shop eventually become a chain of eight outlets.

But Mr Lim was not done – he had food on his mind. So he negotiated a deal with a chicken rice brand in Singapore and underwent training.

After two months of waking up at 5am and learning to make chicken rice, he was ready to strike out on his own.

"I didn't know anything about restaurants, only about bubble tea. I do know that the bigger the shop, the riskier it is, so I thought I'd just start with a small shop first."

In an unassuming store in the neighborhood of Al Mansoura, Singaporean and Malaysian accents can be heard and the air is filled with the faint fragrance of home.

“I didn’t expect business to be so good,” said Mr Lim when he finally had a chance to take a breather.

“I was thinking (it would be) just a homely place where you can come and eat some food that reminds you of home. That's all I wanted, I didn't expect all these crowds."

He has had to make minor tweaks to his recipe to suit the tastebuds of locals – the chilli is spicer and rice more flavourful than back home – but Mr Lim prides himself in creating authentic food.

While business is good, he hopes to one day resume his passion for flying, after leaving his job in 2021.

It's the same case for Mr Chong, who wants to return to the skies but continue running his business.

"I still miss flying," said Mr Lim. "Almost every week, I'll dream of flying once or twice."