We meet the guy who looked at Singapore’s brutal F&B scene and said…
“Yeah, sure. Let’s sell fresh pasta.”
Introducing Darren Tan, Co-founder & Brand Manager of PastaGo; the young entrepreneur who went from kneading dough in an abandoned kitchen during COVID to building one of the fastest-growing pasta brands around.
And trust us, nothing about this journey is “al dente.” Don’t expect a typical “glamorous founder story.”
Here’s a taste of what you’ll hear:
- How a simple lockdown hobby turned into Singapore’s first scaled fresh-pasta concept
- The surprising science behind making pasta that survives delivery (and picky customers)
- Why Darren refuses to launch a new store with discounts, and why it actually works
- The hidden formula behind portioning, customer behavior, and the psychology of “feeling full”
- What scaling an F&B brand really requires beyond capital, recipes, and nice branding
- How culture and people management quietly determine whether your outlet thrives… or sinks
If you’ve ever wondered:
“How does any F&B brand survive here?”
or
“Why pasta? And why now?”
…this episode will give you an inside look, and maybe challenge a few assumptions along the way.
What We Discuss:
- 08:00 - Why pasta? Why not yellow me? Why not Asian kind of meat?
- 09:00 - Was it straightforward to decide on pasta as your career?
- 10:10 - What was the structure of your business when you started?
- 13:00 - Can you protect your recipe or is it all about execution?
- 14:20 - How do you decide on the formulation for your product?
- 15:10 - How do you maintain quality control with so many variables in the process?
- 19:00 - How do you deal with feedback, especially when it affects your sales?
- 20:30 - How do you optimize your product line and improve customer experience?
- 23:00 - What strategies do you use to make sure you are profitable from day one?
- 30:00 - How do you manage the promotional strategies and expectations from investors?
- 35:00 - Can you explain the formula for food cost, labor, and rent?
- 37:00 - How do you make sure customers are not too picky and come back for more?
- 39:00 - How do you handle marketing and social media as part of your business?
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