From supplier to roaster: How Kim Guan Guan Coffee founder took control of quality

Kim Guan Guan Coffee founder Jason Soon (left) with his son Nigel Soon, who heads the company’s consumer-focused brand Kim’s Duet.

Sign up for ST InvestMe and unlock full access to exclusive insights and financial literacy courses today.

SINGAPORE – Jason Soon was fresh out of national service when a relative asked if he was keen to start a business selling coffee powder. He was, given the booming coffee shop scene then.

In 1988, he started Kim Guan Guan Coffee, which began by supplying Singapore traditional coffee powder to food and beverage outlets.

He started by buying robusta beans from small roasters in Indonesia, grinding them to powder before selling the powder to coffee shops, hawker centres, foodcourts and canteens. As he did not have any connections, he went door to door to get sales.

But two years into the game, the business faced financial challenges and his business partner left.

Innovation, hard work and grit helped Soon, 59, take the company from a mere coffee supplier to a coffee roastery and consumer brand offering a range of drinks today.

It now supplies coffee to more than 1,500 F&B businesses primarily in Singapore, and also sells coffee products and other beverages directly to consumers on online platforms such as Shopee.

Soon says: “Those years were defined by 16-hour days. I handled everything from grinding to sales to accounting, slowly building our client base one customer at a time.

“But the challenges kept coming. I encountered inconsistent bean quality, customer complaints, lost accounts and declining revenue. It became clear that if I wanted to deliver the standard my clients deserved, I needed to control the roasting myself. The problem was, I had no knowledge of roasting.”

He adds: “We also identified a growing gap. Authentic Nanyang coffee is deeply loved, yet beyond the kopitiam, it remains less accessible in pure ground formats for consumers to easily recreate at home.”

Soon, who has an O-level certificate, decided to learn about traditional Nanyang coffee from the ground up. He managed to lay his hands on a roaster and dedicated himself to mastering the craft.