The original Got Food? logo: a cartoon burger with big eyes and legs, in a red circle

Got Food?

Est. 2012

We offered people leaving prison a way into the food trade, with business ownership as the goal.

How it worked
Drawing of a hawker stall counter: a wok over a flame with steam rising, a tin holding a spoon, and a stack of blue-rimmed plates.

What Got Food? was

Makan, with a plan.

Est. 2012

We started Got Food? in Singapore in 2012 to take Princeton Mind’s idea into a food business: practical experience, with a route towards being your own boss.

At Princeton Mind, our Get Funded to be Your Own Boss workshops had helped people leaving prison plan businesses. We worked with the Industrial & Services Co-operative Society (ISCOS) and helped participants seek micro-loans from the Social Enterprise Hub (SE Hub).

With Got Food?, we brought that ambition into the daily work of an outlet.

Got Food? is a social enterprise that puts its heart and soul into creating delicious meals. With the support of their customers, Got Food? aims to employ disadvantaged individuals to be part of their family and help them lead fulfilling lives.

In our own words
Drawing of a tissue packet left on the edge of a marble table, a Singapore way of saving a seat.

How it worked

From apron to ambition.

  1. 01Drawing of an apron

    Apprentice. Learn the food trade.

    We employed former offenders as apprentices, with cooking at the heart of the training model.

  2. 02Drawing of a wok with a ladle

    Run the outlet. Learn the whole job.

    Our model went beyond the kitchen: store management, customer service, logistics and marketing.

  3. 03Drawing of a shop key

    Own an outlet. The next step we planned.

    We planned to assess apprentices for entrepreneurship. Suitable candidates would be able to hold a sub-franchise licence and start their own business.

    SE Hub’s MicroCredit Business Scheme would consider loan financing for eligible franchisees.

The kit

  • A white Got Food? apron printed with the words “Got hungry?”, worn over a black T-shirt
    March 2013Apron try-on
  • Illustration of an orange Got Food? T-shirt printed with the words “Got tempted!”
    March 2013Staff uniform
  • Illustration of a black Got Food? T-shirt printed with the words “Got served!”
    March 2013Uniform for managers

What we served

What was cooking?

On our menu: burgers, sandwiches, pancakes and desserts.

The dishes to remember: our signature Omelette Burger, in beef, chicken or fish, and the Fish Sandwich. Tasters praised our kaya pancakes for their softness, butter fragrance and kaya filling.

For something sweet: mango pudding, glutinous rice balls in black sesame or peanut, and chocolate, strawberry and Oreo cheesecakes.

Burger tasting February 2013

  • A young woman bites into a burger wrapped in Got Food? foil.
    Biting into our signature Beef Omelette Burger.
  • A young woman in a patterned top smiles and gives a thumbs up, burger in hand.
    A thumbs up for the burger.
  • A young woman in glasses looks down at a partly eaten burger in Got Food? foil.
    Savouring a Chicken Omelette Burger.
  • A young woman in glasses smiles and points at her burger.
    “I have never tasted a burger this good before!”Final-year student

Pancake tasting April 2013

  • Wenyou Tan grins and gives a thumbs up, a pancake in his other hand.
    “Got Food? pancake tastes so good!”Wenyou Tan
  • A smiling student holds up a kaya pancake and gives a thumbs up.
    “The pancake is not too hard and very soft to munch on, the kaya filling inside tastes good.”Polytechnic student
  • A student bites into a pancake and gives a thumbs up.
    “I like the butter fragrance of the pancake.”Polytechnic student
  • Three tasters at a table give a thumbs up; the two at the sides hold pancakes.
    “Got Food? pancakes… yummy!”

Where it grew

Further afield.

Kaiwen Leong, holding a microphone, speaks to business people seated at tables in a meeting room.
February 2013Kaiwen Leong introducing Got Food? to small and medium enterprises.
  1. Singapore

    We started in Singapore in 2012.

  2. Outreach

    In 2013, we introduced Got Food? to local businesses, with support from leaders in food and social enterprise.

  3. Investment

    SE Hub invested in Got Food? as we set up our outlets.

  4. Southeast Asia

    We then started sharing the concept throughout Southeast Asia, including Malaysia.

In the press

A little ink with that?

  • The Business Times · 17 May 2013

    A heart for business

    Sara Yap

    A feature on social enterprises that give the underprivileged work. Got Food? is among its photo credits.

    View the NewspaperSG archive reference

  • National University of Singapore · Faculty of Engineering · Annual Report 2013

    We shared our apprenticeship and sub-franchise model through Wenyou Tan’s alumni feature.

    Read the feature on page 43

  • SE Hub · Investments page · shared March 2013

    “Got.Food? is setting up two outlets selling curry food in buns and burgers.”

The people

The people behind the idea.

We came from top universities, with promising careers ahead of us, and we shared the heart to give back in a sustainable way.

  • Kaiwen Leong
  • Wenyou Tan
  • Edward H. Choi
Drawing of a round marble-topped kopitiam table between two bentwood chairs