Joseph Tan and Jass Lee had set up their own chain Rui Ji Chicken Rice in 2023 and purportedly use recipes from their family’s defunct business Swee Kee, which was widely regarded as Singapore’s best chicken rice purveyor.
It took just a month for things to fall apart — after making headlines in April this year for opening athat employs staff with disabilities, the siblings who founded the business are now at loggerheads with each other over how to run it.in 2023. The half-siblings, whom Joseph says are “同母异父” , apparently descended from the Moh family who founded the famous Swee Kee Chicken Rice. “ was my granduncle,” says Jass.
When she and Joseph opened their first Rui Ji Chicken Rice eatery in Toa Payoh, Jass helped out part-time with operations at the shop, which also serves Hainanese-style chicken curry noodles. Due to the heavier workload, Jass says, her brother hired more manpower to ease her workload and let her take a break. He also opened two more Rui Ji outlets at Beach Road and Ubi, though the Ubi branch has since closed due to poor footfall.The trouble started when, according to Jass, Joseph tweaked their Swee Kee-linked recipes in her absence and changed their Hainanese menu to include roast meat and laksa.
“When she told me to set up the Toa Payoh outlet, we used Swee Kee’s recipes, but were dismal. After three days, I took over,” he says, adding: “I think her food, cannot leh. She cook at home for people, can lah. But if she wants to become a hawker, cannot lah.” Last week, she also opened a second outlet for Moh Swee Kee at High Street Centre in City Hall. The air-conditioned cafe offers the same chicken rice menu, with an additional selection of hot and cold beverages, plus a breakfast-friendly. Oddly enough , this cafe serves non-Muslim-friendly beer and finger snacks like sotong balls and sweet potato fries.
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