{"id":43417,"date":"2026-01-20T01:11:34","date_gmt":"2026-01-20T01:11:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/agooka.com\/news\/usa\/they-left-pharma-and-fine-dining-to-open-a-cozy-bakery-early-mornings-and-16-hour-days-are-a-small-price-to-pay\/"},"modified":"2026-01-20T01:11:34","modified_gmt":"2026-01-20T01:11:34","slug":"they-left-pharma-and-fine-dining-to-open-a-cozy-bakery-early-mornings-and-16-hour-days-are-a-small-price-to-pay","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/agooka.com\/news\/usa\/they-left-pharma-and-fine-dining-to-open-a-cozy-bakery-early-mornings-and-16-hour-days-are-a-small-price-to-pay\/","title":{"rendered":"They left pharma and fine dining to open a cozy bakery. Early mornings and 16-hour days are a small price to pay."},"content":{"rendered":"<figure><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i.insider.com\/692fe32c71107c9f34573a3d?format=jpeg\" alt=\"Au Hui Her and Liu Yi Wen run The Weirdoughs, a bakery in Singapore.\"\/><figcaption>Au Hui Her and Liu Yi Wen run The Weirdoughs, a bakery in Singapore.<\/p>\n<p>Aditi Bharade<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<ul>\n<li>Au Hui Har and Liu Yi Wen opened a cozy neighborhood bakery in Singapore this year.<\/li>\n<li>Before becoming business owners, they worked in the fine dining and pharmaceutical industries.<\/li>\n<li>Running a bakery means rising well before the sun and baking hundreds of loaves daily.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Ten minutes before The Weirdoughs opened its doors on a Friday morning, a queue of pastry-hungry customers had formed under its bright yellow awning.<\/p>\n<p>The small bakery, located in a quiet residential neighborhood of Serangoon in Singapore, had fewer than 10 tables. But it wasquickly packed with regulars buying coffees, sourdough bread, croissants, and brownies.<\/p>\n<p>I sat in a corner and people-watched, savoring the smell of espresso and The Weirdoughs&#039; caramelized onion and leek pastry. It was the brainchild of cofounder Liu Yi Wen, a Taiwanese fine dining chef trained in French cuisine.<\/p>\n<figure><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i.insider.com\/692fe61004d0f0a114f14cd6?format=jpeg\" alt=\"A queue had formed outside The Weirdough&#039;s storefront before opening time.\"\/><figcaption>A queue had formed outside The Weirdough&#039;s storefront before opening time.<\/p>\n<p>Aditi Bharade<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Liu and her business partner, Au Hui Har, opened The Weirdoughs in July. The pair met while working at a local pastry business and decided to pool their savings to pursue a shared dream of starting something of their own.<\/p>\n<p>About five months on, business is booming, but baking close to a hundred loaves daily is not easy.<\/p>\n<h2>Leaving behind jobs in pharmaceuticals and fine dining<\/h2>\n<figure><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i.insider.com\/692ff0ba71107c9f34573a71?format=jpeg\" alt=\"Au prepping sourdough loaves for the oven.\"\/><figcaption>Au scored sourdough loaves before putting them in the oven.<\/p>\n<p>Aditi Bharade<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Liu studied materials science in college.<\/p>\n<p>&quot;Studying materials science, that was the trend then. So I followed the trend, but I realized after I joined the course that I was not interested in it at all,&quot; Liu said.<\/p>\n<p>After graduating, she cut her culinary teeth at several upscale restaurants in Singapore, Paris, and Taiwan, including the three-Michelin-starred restaurant Jo\u00ebl Robuchon.<\/p>\n<p>She described work in fine dining as akin to being in the army.<\/p>\n<p>&quot;The hours were very long, 14 to 16 hours daily. It was very normal for us to stay over,&quot; she said. &quot;And there was a strict hierarchy.&quot;<\/p>\n<p>She returned to Singapore in 2022 to be with her partner, where she started working at Tarte by Cheryl Koh, a local pastry business.<\/p>\n<p>Au&#039;s pivot into baking, meanwhile, could not have been more drastic<strong>. <\/strong>She studied bioengineering in college and joined a management trainee program at the pharmaceutical company Novartis, completing rotations in Germany and Switzerland.<\/p>\n<p>Like Liu, Au also realized her day job wasn&#039;t what she wanted to do.<\/p>\n<p>&quot;Regulations in the industry take years to be implemented. I felt disconnected from the patients, and corporate life felt very tedious,&quot; Au said.<\/p>\n<p>When COVID-19 struck, Au returned to Singapore, seeking a job in the food and beverage industry. She joined Tarte, where she met Liu.<\/p>\n<p>Liu had a vision of opening a warm and homely caf\u00e9, similar to those she frequented in Taiwan and France.<\/p>\n<p>The duo pooled about 100,000 Singapore dollars, or about $77,300, from their savings to purchase kitchen equipment, including large ovens and industrial mixers.<\/p>\n<p>Their bakery, The Weirdoughs, opened its doors in July.<\/p>\n<h2>A creative, fusion-heavy menu<\/h2>\n<figure><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i.insider.com\/693137277ecd1d1da662e661?format=jpeg\" alt=\"The Weirdoughs&#039; baked goods selection, which includes matcha croissants and cinnamon brown sugar knots.\"\/><figcaption>The Weirdoughs&#039; baked goods selection includes matcha croissants and cinnamon brown sugar knots.<\/p>\n<p>Aditi Bharade<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Au and Liu brought their A-game to menu development.<\/p>\n<p>&quot;We wanted to incorporate Yi Wen&#039;s Taiwanese influence and techniques into our menu,&quot; Au said.<\/p>\n<p>Their selection includes a tea egg sandwich, madeleines flavored with maqaw \u2014 a spice indigenous to Taiwan, and corn and miso sourdough.<\/p>\n<p>I was about to order a plain butter croissant when Au asked me if I was in the mood for something more adventurous. She recommended the caramelized onion and leek pastry. It was the perfect combination of sweet and savory \u2014 I still dream of it.<\/p>\n<p>I also tried their sourdough loaf with garam masala butter and a matcha cream-filled croissant.<\/p>\n<p>Patrons in the bakery told me it had quickly become their neighborhood go-to.<\/p>\n<p>I spoke to Foo Yong Howe, a public servant and a sourdough fan, who was sharing a sourdough loafand cups of coffeewith his brother. He said he visits the caf\u00e9 often to have some quiet time to himself.<\/p>\n<p>&quot;If I had the time and my pocket could afford it, I would definitely come once a week,&quot; Foo, 51, said. &quot;Their sourdough is light and goes well with their homemade butters, and the space is really cozy.&quot;<\/p>\n<h2>Long, tiring hours<\/h2>\n<figure><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i.insider.com\/693137e27ecd1d1da662e663?format=jpeg\" alt=\"Au gets sourdough loaves ready for the oven.\"\/><figcaption>The job means long hours for Au and Liu.<\/p>\n<p>Aditi Bharade<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Business is booming, but that means more prep and earlier hours for the duo.<\/p>\n<p>Au starts baking their 26 varieties of pastries six hours before opening time, so that means getting in at 4 a.m. on most days. She wraps up baking the day&#039;s pastries before doors open at 10 a.m.<\/p>\n<p>&quot;It&#039;s definitely more tiring than I thought it would be,&quot; Au said.<\/p>\n<p>On weekends, when the shop opens earlier at 8 a.m., she wakes up at 1 a.m.<\/p>\n<p>&quot;The biggest trouble we have is that since the space is so small, we can&#039;t really be turning on the oven when the shop is operating, otherwise it gets very hot,&quot; she said.<\/p>\n<p>They get about 80 to 100 customers a day, and earn sales between SG$1,500 and SG$2,000 daily. The duo pays themselves a monthly salary of SG$2,000.<\/p>\n<p>To try to maintain some semblance of a work-life balance and have a social life outside the caf\u00e9, Au said she just sleeps less: three to five hours a day.<\/p>\n<p>&quot;I&#039;m not someone who lives life with regrets,&quot; she said. &quot;I always just go with the flow; everything is a learning process.&quot;<\/p>\n<p>Read the original article on Business Insider<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Au Hui Her and Liu Yi Wen run The Weirdoughs, a bakery in Singapore. Aditi Bharade Au Hui Har and Liu Yi Wen opened a cozy neighborhood bakery in Singapore this year. Before becoming business owners, they worked in the fine dining and pharmaceutical industries. Running a bakery means rising well before the sun and [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-43417","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-usa"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/agooka.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43417","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/agooka.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/agooka.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/agooka.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/agooka.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=43417"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/agooka.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43417\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/agooka.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=43417"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/agooka.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=43417"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/agooka.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=43417"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}