When Teddy Chong, 54, was a teenager, he was invited to a Christmas party. There, he tried something he had never eaten before.

“It had mashed potatoes on top of meat. It was the most delicious thing I had ever tasted,” he said.

“I didn’t know what it was called. But every year after that, I would look forward to being invited to that Christmas party.”

When he got married, he described the dish to his wife, Hwee Suan, hoping perhaps that she could recreate it at home.

“I said, ‘This is what I like.’”

But Hwee Suan did not know what he was talking about. Then they got invited to a Christmas party and that very dish was featured. It turned out to be shepherd’s pie.

A dish of minced meat topped with mashed potatoes that Teddy could not name became his favourite food when he was in his teens.

“My wife asked the person for the recipe. From then on, she would make shepherd’s pie for me once a month.”

The couple did not know it then, but Teddy’s favourite dish would become their way out of a business rut and into a journey of faith.

A vision of pies

After working in the financial industry for 10 years, Teddy “had had enough and wanted to move on”. Hwee Suan was then working in the office supplies line. So they decided to open their own office supplies business.

Their B2B shop at the Singapore Expo flourished whenever there were trade exhibitions. But floundered when there weren’t.

The Chongs named their office supplies business Eden Office Supplies to remind themselves that, as in the Garden of Eden where God had provided everything, God would provide for their business as well.

“The business had its ups and downs, and we decided to pray and ask God what we should do next,” said Teddy.

Added Hwee Suan: “Every two years, there would be a mega exhibition that would take up several halls at the Singapore Expo.

“Our idea was that we could represent a product and become an agent for them or import the product and resell it in Singapore.”

Their hope was to diversify their business to give it more stability. That year, 2006, the big trade exhibition happened to be Food Hotel Asia. The couple decided to take turns to visit the exhibition because someone had to man their shop.

Hwee Suan went in first, armed with a plan.

“Before I went, I prayed and told the Lord that I was going to visit all the interesting booths. I said that if there was anything for us, could He give me some signs?”

As she walked through the exhibition halls, she did not hear anything from God.

Amongst the booths on her list was one she wanted to visit for her children’s sake.

“There was a pizza booth and I was interested in seeing how to make pizza so that I could come home and make pizza for my girls.”

But before she could even arrive at the booth, she had a vision.

“It came into my mind and there was this voice that said, ‘Shepherd’s pie business, pizza delivery format.’

“Immediately after that, there was another vision of how to run the business. It would operate like a pizza delivery business. There would be smaller sized shepherd’s pies as well.

“It made me very excited and I forgot all about the pizza booth.”

The God who provides  

When Hwee Suan shared her vision with her husband, Teddy was doubtful.

“Only one product? Sure or not? But we decided to pray about it. Usually if something is just mere enthusiasm, it would die down after a week, a month, three months,” he reasoned.

But as they prayed about it, the idea of a one-product business grew on them. They bought a commercial oven, invited their cell group to their home and did taste tests.

“We got their opinions on the taste and texture, and asked if they would order such a thing because, during that time, not many people knew about shepherd’s pie.

“There were fewer than a handful of places that sold shepherd’s pies,” said Hwee Suan.

From there, they adjusted the recipe, all the while getting more and more excited by the prospect of starting a new business.

Hwee Suan and Teddy with their daughters, Bella (left) and Becky (right), who were only two and six when the couple started The Shepherd’s Pie.

“But there was also uncertainty and fear. We had two young daughters then. One was nine and the other was six, and we would have no other income but this since we work together.

“Yet we had always gone by faith. We always believe that God will not leave us alone. He will always be with us and help us through,” said Hwee Suan.

That conviction came from having seen God at work in their lives. Despite the fluctuations in their office supplies business, they always had enough.

When SARS hit in 2003 and they lost 80% of their year’s business because exhibitions got cancelled, God provided another source of income.

Said Teddy: “I had all along been doing freelance chauffeuring. In 2003, the organiser of an event needed over 40 drivers and he hired me to get those drivers.

“That job made up for the 80% of income that we lost.” 

God of the possible

When they made up their minds to lease a spot to start their shepherd’s pie business, every place they found was too expensive for their modest budget.

Said Hwee Suan: “So we prayed, ‘Lord, this is what we need, a place that can be used for a food business that would fulfil the authorities’ criteria and this is our budget. Help us find this place.’

“After the prayer, we laughed because where would we find such a place with this kind of rental cost?”

Quipped Teddy: “Ai qi ai pi (wanting something cheap and good).”

They had been looking through the classified ads daily. Shortly after they uttered that prayer, Teddy chanced upon an advertisement about a hawker centre spot that perfectly fit their budget.

“God is really a God of the possible. Ours was a delivery model but at the same time, we made smaller pies to serve walk-in customers.

“Because the place was a hawker centre, there would be ample seating for dine-ins,” said Hwee Suan.

They leased the stall and on November 1, 2007, opened The Shepherd’s Pie. The name was both that of their only dish as well as a tribute to God their Shepherd who gave them the idea for the business.

Though the going was tough at first, The Shepherd’s Pie has been in business since 2006.

With zero knowledge of how to run an F&B business, they ran into all kinds of challenges. They made mistakes hiring help and ended up having to do most of the operations themselves.

Recalled Hwee Suan: “We needed at least two delivery guys and a kitchen helper. But people we hired just came and went. We couldn’t find permanent help because people were always looking for a better environment, a place with aircon.

“So we would cry and remind ourselves of the vision from the Lord and then we would move on. We told ourselves, ‘Next year will be better. Two years down the line, it will be even better. Six years on, it may be even better.’ That helped us go on.”

Since husband and wife had to tend to the stall, there was no one to care for their daughters. After school, the girls would join them at the hawker centre.

“While we served customers, our daughters would hide under the table to take a nap or read their story books.

“Sometimes, they would help us to peel onions. When they got bored, they would go to the coffee shop to watch TV and get free drinks from the coffee shop auntie.”

The hawker centre stall in 2007 where the Chongs first started their business.

As the couple clung to the vision they were given, they saw their business pick up bit by bit. Customers would compliment their food and bring friends to try the pies.

“We always remember one particular customer. He was a boy with special needs. He would come in the evening and buy a pie from us. Then he would buy a Coke from the drink stall and eat our pie with two forks.

“We could see him enjoy our pie and that encouraged us. Every evening, we would look forward to seeing him. We believe God sent him to us.”

A place reserved 

When the lease of the hawker stall was about to expire, the Chongs again looked to God.

Teddy’s dream was to get a bigger place. They were eyeing a unit at a flatted factory near their stall that was dedicated to the food business. But they thought getting a spot there would be a near impossibility because the place was highly sought after.

“There was a bidding process. If anyone gave up a unit, it would be snapped up by the next person very quickly. No chance for us,” said Teddy.  

Still, they would regularly check in on the bidding.

One Wednesday afternoon, Teddy logged into the system and saw a unit available. The bid was set to close on Friday at 3pm.

Said Hwee Suan: “We prayed, ‘If this unit is for us, let no one else see the unit. You reserve this unit for us, God.’

“Come Friday, near the close of the bidding, still nobody bid for the unit. We looked at each other and waited.”

Continued Teddy: “At 2,59pm, I put in a dollar more than the bidding price and we got the unit. We were stunned. We couldn’t believe how we got the unit.”

To advertise their business in the days before social media, the Chongs would hand out flyers in neighbouring flats and homes when their daughters had gone to bed or get their children to put the flyers in their teachers’ pigeon holes in school.

The Shepherd’s Pie still operates from that shop 16 years on.

The God who protects

Business was doing so well that another business tried to ride on their success. In 2019, another shepherd’s pie business appeared with a web address that was almost identical to theirs.

Bella helping to deliver shepherd’s pies. Over the years, the Chongs’ daughters have helped out in the business in one way or another.

“Their name confused a lot of people because they somehow managed to get their domain name to come before ours in organic searches. People would click on their website thinking it was ours,” said Teddy.

That business also flooded The Shepherd Pie’s website with negative reviews to pull down their rating. When the other business took in more orders than they could deliver, customers sought out the Chongs.

Explained Hwee Suan: “Their website did not list their contact number. When customers faced problems with their orders, they came to us.

“Some even appeared at our store to scold us thinking we were them. We had to explain to the customers that it wasn’t us. We showed them our order number which had more than just four numbers in order to convince them.”

This went on for over two years. In the first year, they saw business fall by 20%. 

Said Hwee Suan: “We were very angry and upset. At one point, we were thinking of how to get rid of our competitor. But our daughter encouraged us with the phrase ‘the battle is in the Lord’s hands’.

The Chongs (from left to right): Bella, Becky, Hwee Suan and Teddy. Today, the girls still help their parents out in the business. Although they now live abroad, they take care of The Shepherd’s Pie’s social media presence.

“So we said, ‘Okay God, we will trust in You.’”

In the second year, more complaints came. One of their daughters had to sit by the telephone to field the calls that came in. Customer by customer, they explained that the two businesses were separate entities.

In the third year, customers unhappy with the service of the other business went to the media with the story. An article clarifying the situation was written. There have since been fewer issues with irate customers of the other business.

That, the Chongs said, was probably their most trying season.

When Covid hit, their business thrived.

“We had been doing delivery all along so we were able to handle the volume,” said Teddy.

“It was like the Lord had prepared us for this so many years before,” added Hwee Suan.

The Chongs have since relied on technology and machines to help them prepare their shepherd’s pies.

Nearly two decades in, The Shepherd’s Pie now serves up hundreds of pies a month. During the festive period, the number doubles. Apart from the original beef pie, they offer innovative local flavours such teriyaki and rendang shepherd’s pies.

The Shepherd’s Pie now offers eight different flavours of pies.

Asked if shepherd’s pie is still his favourite food, Teddy said: “I still enjoy eating it. When I eat it, I will look at my wife and say, ‘Nice hor, nice hor.’”

Just as the pie once gave young Teddy much joy and enjoyment, the Chongs hope their shepherd’s pie can do the same for others.

Said Hwee Suan: “When he was young, he felt so much comfort when he ate the pie. We want to bless people with the pie as well so that whoever eats this pie will have such great comfort and joy.”

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