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Taking Singaporeans ‘around the world’ saved this local F&B company

How the founders of AndSoForth, Stuart Wee and Emily Png, persevered through the pandemic and found their business thriving because of it.

Taking Singaporeans ‘around the world’ saved this local F&B company

The founders of AndSoForth, Stuart Wee and Emily Png. (Photo: Kelvin Chia)

Why settle for a traditional (read: Staid) Michelin-star meal when you can enjoy a bit of theatre with your finely wrought dinner? That’s the premise behind Restaurant Absurdities, which, as its name implies, is more immersive theatre than restaurant; a wild and much-needed romp for guests at time when most of the country hasn’t seen the outside of our diminutive borders for the best part of two years.  

Without giving too much away, Restaurant Absurdities is a tightly run show that takes guests through an infinity mirror tunnel to six fantastically designed rooms in which each course is served. One might resemble a suburban American kitchen circa the 1950s, another a tent in the middle of a Moroccan dessert.   

“Absurdities is a fun, anti-fine dining experience. It’s the most absurd restaurant in the world,” explained Stuart Wee, founder of AndSoForth, the company which purveys this experience.

“Absurdities is a fun, anti-fine dining experience. It’s the most absurd restaurant in the world.” – Stuart Wee

FROM THE GROUND UP

Wee founded AndSoForth with his wife Emily Png. The company has come a long way since it debuted its first immersive theatre dining experience in 2014. Held at Lower Case, a cafe within the grounds of Lasalle College of the Arts, the event dragged on for four hours as the kitchen struggled to keep up with service and guests complained about the lack of wine.

“An alcohol company sponsored our spirits with the caveat being that we couldn’t serve wine,” Wee said. “There was a huge backlash because people really wanted wine!”

(Photo: Kelvin Chia)

Earlier this year, Wee was invited to speak at the Immersive Industry Home Coming Summit in Area15 Las Vegas, a gathering of the world’s best creators of immersive experiences including big names such as Disney, Meow Wolf, Broadway, and David Byrne’s Theatre of the Mind. Suitably stoked, Wee said, “That’s kind of cool because it recognises the work we’ve been doing for the past eight years. That really helped and encouraged us.”

Since that first pop-up in 2014, AndSoForth has run numerous theatrical feasts centred around stories and drama. Early last year, Wee and Png launched another gloriously ambitious project. Called Around The World, the experience takes guests across the globe as they become part of the story as it unfolds, while enjoying the food and drink of each country they “visited”.

AROUND THE WORLD, AT HOME

In a now-familiar plot twist, the pandemic hit and threatened to put paid to all the hard work of building sets, casting actors, creating fantastical meals and selling tickets. At around the same time Png lost her father to COVID-19, exacerbating an already difficult period.

“We were like, ‘how’??” Png recalled. “[While the business was on shaky ground], I had to deal with the grief of my dad’s passing. But we chose not to give up because we thought there would be a light at the end of the tunnel.”

As the pandemic wore on, what was initially a bane slowly untangled into a boon. With people seeking new and novel experiences at home, Around The World became an easy sell. “People were like, ‘you cannot travel now, right?’ Come, let me take you somewhere around the world,” she added.

To adhere to pandemic restrictions, Wee rewrote the experience, turning it into a book analysis workshop that still unravelled across six rooms and involved food and drinks.

“(The pandemic) sparked the interest of people who were doubtful about this concept. In the end, a lot of them attended Around The World, and because of that, we started Absurdities,” Png said.

“[While the business was on shaky ground], I had to deal with the grief of my dad’s passing. But we chose not to give up because we thought there would be a light at the end of the tunnel.” – Emily Png

EMBRACING THE ABSURD

“When you go to a fine dining restaurant, there is a format. The way the tables are set, how the courses are served… after an hour, you’re restless. If service is slow, it’s a waiting game. So, we took that further and thought, what if we can serve you amazing, creative dishes that are refined, but in a crazy setting, and the entire room is designed to come together to focus on food and sensorial experiences? That’s what Absurdities is,” explained Wee of the 130-minute experience.

Now sold out three months in advance, an evening at Restaurant Absurdities is priced between S$348 to S$388 per couple. And this is just the beginning. The plan is to roll out five more volumes of Absurdities so those who experienced and loved the first can return to something different.

(Photo: Kelvin Chia)

This success has been hard won. The last two years have brought unprecedented challenges for the couple and their company, which now employs eight full-time staff and almost 70 part-timers.

“[When the pandemic hit], we decided we would do whatever it takes to make it happen,” said Png. “Because of that, we’ve borne the fruits of our labour. We realised that we’ve succeeded because of our resilience and that’s something we can look back on whenever we fall on hard times.”

If nothing else, the couple is evidence that resilience eventually gives way to the ability to embrace the broad, nuanced spectrum of the human experience.

“We’ve succeeded because of our resilience and that’s something we can look back on whenever we fall on hard times.” – Emily Png

For more information, visit absurdities.com.sg

Source: CNA/ds

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