10 years of Chulop: How this celebrity couple built a lasting F&B business with churros

In Singapore’s cutthroat F&B landscape, surviving even a few years can be a challenge. But one celebrity couple has bucked the trend with a commendable 10-year run. And they did it by focusing on just one niche product – churros. 

Singer and actor Ahmad Syarif, together with his wife Malaque Mahdaly, a singer and social media personality, founded Chulop in 2015. The pair were at the crossroads of their entertainment careers and after getting married in 2014, had wanted to start “something of our own”, said Syarif.  

Syarif was formerly part of local hip-hop duo Sleeq. The couple met when Syarif was an intern with Mediacorp's Channel 5 and Malaque was a contestant of singing competition Singapore Idol 3. Together, they have grown from partners in life to partners in business. 

What started as a humble churros shop at East Village in Bedok has expanded into a second outlet in Haji Lane and overseas branches in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The couple’s F&B ventures also encompass premium choux pastry shop Boms & Buns, and Open Secret, an alleyway cafe serving up takeaway toasties and coffee. 

“Business is all about the right time and right place. If you penetrate the market at the right time with the right product, and you put in consistent effort to improve, you might hit the spot,” said Syarif. “Of course, a little bit of luck will take it further.” 

MODEST BEGINNINGS

While mulling over business ideas, Syarif initially dreamed of opening a cafe. But Malaque, who has a background in F&B with formal training at The French Pastry School in Chicago, was against the idea. 

“At that point of time, the market was already saturated and it was only getting more so,” she recalled. “I told him, if we really wanted to dive into something, why not specialise in one thing – a niche product but make it really good?”

Eventually, the pair finally landed on churros, a snack they had first encountered when Malaque was working at a cooking studio specialising in Spanish cuisine. “Cookies, pretzels and donuts have evergreen appeal with dominant global brands like J Co and Krispy Kreme. But there isn’t a dominant churro brand that exists right now,” said Syarif. “Churros have the potential to be a fuss-free, evergreen snack catering to a range of ages.”

The couple began modestly in 2015, investing S$30,000 to open Chulop’s first shop at East Village, a small condominium complex in Bedok with retail units. They kept costs low by doing minor renovations and DIY-ing much of the space themselves. The menu features freshly made churros with a light yet crisp texture, paired with a selection of artisanal dips such as Spanish Caramel and Mexican Chocolate. In addition to the classic cinnamon sugar, Chulop also offers unique flavours like pandan and chocolate. 

Within six months, they had recovered their initial investment and started turning a profit. While they acknowledge that their celebrity status offered some initial visibility, particularly within the Malay/Muslim community, Syarif noted, “Singapore customers aren’t celebrity worshippers like in Malaysia. They’ll support you but the product has to speak for itself.”

And, as the couple are well-aware, fame, after all, can cut both ways. “But over the years, we have learnt to block out the noise and focus on what we are doing,” added Malaque.

A FIRST-GENERATION BUSINESS 

After the initial success of the business, the newly-minted entrepreneur duo made a conscious decision to grow at their own pace rather than chase aggressive expansion. “We weren’t rushing to expand exponentially or to look for investors or loans. It was really organic,” Syarif reflected. 

Tapping into their online following, they focused on building a consistent brand presence on social media. Syarif, the brains of the business, also chose to expand the brand “horizontally instead of vertically” – instead of opening new outlets, he ventured into gifting, catering and live stations for corporate functions and events. 

As time passed, with the help of “affordable rent”, Chulop’s first outlet managed to gain a loyal following. “A business needs to stay long enough to create credibility and trust to customers. Being prudent helped us in creating a sustainable business,” said Syarif.

That’s not to say the journey was smooth-sailing. “This is a first-generation business and nothing was handed to us on a silver platter. We had to learn the hard way,” Syarif noted. 

FAILURE AS A ‘RITE OF PASSAGE’

One of the most challenging periods for the couple came a year into the business, when a family member invested in opening a second outlet at JCube mall in the West of Singapore. While the outlet performed well for the first three months, footfall soon declined. “We didn’t do enough market research to realise that people in the West usually don’t stay in the West on weekends,” Syarif admitted. After two years, the outlet closed, incurring a significant loss.

That experience shaped their decision to adopt a more conservative approach to expansion. “A lot of people enter the F&B market because it’s a low barrier to entry,” Syarif noted. “But to sustain a business – that’s where the risks lie.”

In 2022, encouraged by the brand’s success during the COVID-19 pandemic  – when takeaway models thrived and locals spent more domestically – they decided to realise their cafe dreams by opening one specialising in grilled sandwiches. “We opened at the wrong time. The moment we launched, the borders reopened,” Syarif recalled. 

The cafe only survived for six months before they decided to close and cut their losses. “That’s something many entrepreneurs fail to understand. Closing a business doesn’t mean you’ve failed. Sometimes you’re saving yourself or your other ventures. You just have to put your ego aside and make the right decision,” Syarif reflected.  

For the resilient duo, every failure is a “rite of passage”, said Syarif. “I can’t say I have any regrets. They were tough lessons to learn but we wouldn’t have learnt them any other way.” 

GROWTH AND THE NEXT CHAPTER

A decade on, the business is in a comfortable place. Chulop’s East Village outlet continues to draw regulars. In August this year, driven by the need to grow brand visibility, the couple opened Chulop’s second outlet in Singapore’s bustling Haji Lane. 

Earlier in 2024, the brand made its first overseas foray with the launch of two outlets in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, located at Union Square and The Exchange, TRX. Malaysia was a natural choice due to its “sense of familiarity”, said Syarif, who had spent some time based in KL for his showbiz career. “The culture is not too far off from Singapore and the food scene is also colourful,” he added.  

Syarif and Malaque envision Chulop becoming a global go-to brand for Churros, much like how Krispy Kreme is for donuts. However, they emphasise maintaining quality and a premium feel, even as the brand scales. 

Having found their footing as entrepreneurs, the pair – who are also parents of two – have a clear synergy, so much so that they showed up to this interview with CNA Luxury both in shades of blue, completely unplanned. Their strengths complement each other, balancing the need for both creativity and business acumen. 

Malaque, who admits to being less involved with the day-to-day running of Chulop, is the “flavour builder” among the two, leading product ideation and creation. Meanwhile, Syarif focuses on business development, branding, marketing and systemising operations. 

Beyond Chulop, the couple’s other F&B ventures also include choux pastry specialty bakery Boms & Buns, which launched in 2020. More recently, they opened Open Secret, a back alley takeaway joint on Haji Lane serving up grilled sandwiches and coffee in collaboration with homegrown brewer State of Affairs. 

Starting new ventures and expanding outlets at a time when F&B closure news are rampant is daunting, Syarif acknowledged. “Every day, I’m fed with news on a friend’s business closing down because the rental is too high. There are a lot of macro factors that you can’t control and you never know what’s going to happen. But at the same time, we take calculated risks,” said Syarif.

STAYING THE COURSE

Reflecting on keeping Chulop afloat for 10 years, Syarif admits that the journey “is not easy”. “Churros is not an essential type of food, it’s an emotional one,” he said. With that in mind, he has worked to position it as the go-to snack that you need for “all your milestone celebrations, all your parties”. By tying churros to emotional moments, Syarif and Malaque hope that it will find its place in people’s lives beyond being just a sweet treat. 

As an entrepreneur, one of the biggest lessons Syarif has learnt through the 10-year journey is the importance of separating oneself from the business. “Your business does not define you. Sometimes you get too mixed up, you lose yourself, your identity, your social life. How the business performs really affects how you see yourself as a person,” he said. 

“Not everyone is built for entrepreneurship. It may look glamourous but it’s not about making fast money,” he cautioned. “But if you have the belief, just go for it. Whether you succeed or not is not for anyone else to judge but yourself.”