So many small Kueh businesses have forced to close during this pandemic! We found the best and most authentic ones across the island and have committed to help them thrive during these most challenging times!
Many people talk about the big food groups which are suffering or fancy restaurants that have closed down during the pandemic. But, while that is a tragedy, the real tragedies occur when our heritage businesses in Singapore close down and these decades-old small businesses and traditional food types are lost forever!
During the vertex of the COVID-19 pandemic, we found ourselves in a privileged position to help these small businesses survive. Using the government's solidarity payouts, thank you very much, we had $600 each to make a difference and that's where we decided to start helping our heritage businesses survive by upselling their goods as luxury gifts!
Nyonya Kueh is near and dear to the hearts of every Singaporean, it is something we all grew up eating and, many times marks significant milestones in lives.
We have surveyed the island and found true artisans producing the highest quality, most authentic Nyonya Kueh varieties; our Ondeh Ondehs are sourced from a 40-year-old heritage business which hand makes them daily and our Lapis and Salats are from an elderly couple whose lively hood was threatened when all the 5-star hotels stopped ordering from them.
Through our journey, we discovered the jobs and the hardships of Kueh Creation. Little did we know that the process of making truly authentic Nyonya Kuehs starts the night before with the preparation of the Kuehs for steaming. Post-steaming, the Kuehs need to undergo a rapid cooling process which is done by Aunty, who painstakingly fans the Kuehs manually as she is an expert judge of temperature.
Even simple processes like cutting these delicate morsels are challenging. A normal knife wouldn't slice clean pieces, instead, we learned that extremely-thin metal wires are used to slice through the delicate flesh of the Kueh pieces and this was done with incredible swift precision by the elderly couple.
After purchasing these heritage Nyonya Kuehs at full or even above market prices we will then start to adorn them with 24 karat gold leaves from Kanazawa and organic tropical flowers from another business also heavily affected by the pandemic. At Atlas Handcrafted, we curate, style, and increase the value of these traditional products. But at the end of the day, the quality of these heritage bites makes our customers come back for more; sending them as luxury gifts to their friends and families!
The amount of love and care from Aunty and Uncle that goes into each Kueh is indeed admirable! They truly deserve to be retailed at much more than just $1 per piece! That is why, from day one, we have made a commitment to Aunty and Uncle that we will continue to support their business at full retail or above retail pricing. We are lucky to have made friends with these small businesses, they deserve our support, and we will do our utmost to help them thrive during this painful period.
