Not every expansion move went according to plan for the homegrown gelato business
Singapore has no shortage of gelato brands. But finding one that has not only survived but also expanded to multiple outlets could be considered a rarity in the city-state’s tough F&B landscape.
Sweet Cheeks is one such business. Founded in 2019, Sweet Cheeks emerged at a time when the founders felt the local gelato scene lacked “interesting flavours.”
The brand quickly won over customers with offerings such as Bronte Pistachio Pralines and Charcoal Honeycomb—flavours they describe as “absolute palate pleasers.”
Seven years in, Sweet Cheeks operates three outlets across Singapore. Here’s the story behind the brand, and how a combination of strategic pivots and creative collaborations helped it carve out a niche in Singapore’s competitive gelato market.
Sweet Cheeks’ beginnings
Sweet Cheeks is the brainchild of Siow Jiayu and her two friends from Singapore Management University, Anna Ng and Isabel Lee, who are also the founders of An Acai Affair.
The gelato venture was launched shortly after the trio graduated in 2019, opening its first outlet at Potong Pasir with an initial investment of S$150,000—bootstrapped from savings accumulated through part-time jobs over the years. To keep start-up costs low, the team sourced secondhand equipment and materials, refurbishing them where needed.
We kind of went for secondhand equipment hunting, and for most of our equipment, we got them at a discounted rate. And even our tables and chairs, we actually bought them from, like, a restaurant, and then we just painted them.
Siow Jia Yu, co-founder of Sweet Cheeks
However, as An Acai Affair gained momentum, Anna and Isabel stepped away to focus on the business, leaving Jia Yu to steer Sweet Cheeks.
She was later joined by Xavier Lim, another university friend who initially contributed part-time while maintaining a full-time career in finance. Jia Yu managed day-to-day operations, while Xavier provided strategic guidance and advisory support.
Coming fresh out of university with no prior F&B experience, Jia Yu initially learned the basics of gelato-making through a short workshop in Singapore.
Determined to deepen her expertise, she then flew to Bologna, Italy, to train at the Carpigiani Gelato University. During her two- to three-week stay, she learned directly from gelato professors and visited local gelaterias to study their processes firsthand.
Drawing inspiration from what she observed, Jia Yu returned to Singapore ready to develop unique and innovative flavours for Sweet Cheeks.
They lost their dining sales almost “immediately”
But Sweet Cheeks’ early days were not without challenges. Jia Yu and Xavier recall struggling to decide which flavours to launch.
“At the start, we developed a lot of recipes and invited friends and family to try them. They were essentially our beta testers, giving us feedback on every batch,” Xavier shared.
While the input was invaluable, it also created a challenge: with so many opinions, it was difficult to decide which flavours truly represented the brand and should make it to launch day.
Ultimately, the team combined customer feedback with their own “gut feeling” to settle on 24 launch flavours. “That served us well for many years,” added Xavier.
Shortly after opening, the COVID-19 pandemic hit—presenting another challenge for the team. With dine-in sales abruptly halted following government restrictions, the founders found themselves “scrambling to build a website within days and pivoting to deliveries” to sustain the business.
It was really quite crazy that, you know, we just started, and then immediately we lost our dining sales.
Xavier Lim, co-founder of Sweet Cheeks
That move turned out to be a turning point, helping Sweet Cheeks not only survive the crisis but build a stronger customer base beyond its physical stores.
Orders began to grow—so much so that the team decided to expand to two other outlets when the restrictions began to ease in 2021. However, the expansion did not turn out as planned.
Misreading the market
The two outlets Sweet Cheeks opened were at Ang Mo Kio and Lavender, but the former was eventually shuttered around 2023.
Looking back, Xavier said the team may have expanded too quickly, thinking that COVID-19 would be over soon. On the contrary, it dragged on, with outlet sales taking a hit, particularly at Ang Mo Kio.
At the time, the founders struggled to pinpoint the root cause. “We didn’t know if it was the COVID-19 restrictions, our product, or whether we misunderstood the target audience and demographics of those areas,” Xavier said.
Eventually, the team realised that they had not clearly defined their target customer, and had made a mistake by opening the Ang Mo Kio outlet.
Initially, Jia Yu shared that the team envisioned the brand as a neighbourhood gelato shop, but over time, they recognised that their flavour profiles and product quality were better suited to a more premium positioning.
Hence, following the Ang Mo Kio closure, Sweet Cheeks underwent a rebrand with a branding agency, overhauling its visual identity and repositioning itself from a neighbourhood concept to a premium artisanal gelato brand.
“The rebrand allowed the entire brand to evolve completely,” said Xavier—and in a good way. Sales picked up once again, and following the Potong Pasir and Lavender outlets, Sweet Cheeks opened a third location in Dec last year, this time at Holland Village.
The rebrand also marked a shift in leadership. Xavier decided to take on a more active role in the business, and with the brand stabilised, he decided it was the right time to leave his day job and focus on growing Sweet Cheeks full-time alongside Jia Yu.
Building “brand equity”
In the early days, the Sweet Cheeks team churned gelato in small batches daily, handcrafting many of the ingredients themselves. Today, with growing demand, production has since moved to a central kitchen in Tai Seng to streamline operations and meet larger orders.
Part of the brand’s growth also comes from collaborations with other companies. “We’ve worked with brands like Kinder Bueno, Golden Village, Louis Vuitton, and Gentle Monster, creating flavour collaborations with these brand partners,” Xavier shared.
Its outlets have also become popular venues for daytime sober parties and raves. The brand has even partnered with Beans and Beats to host such events, combining gelato with music and social experiences.
Through these collaborations, we get to grow our brand equity.
Xavier Lim, co-founder of Sweet Cheeks
Navigating Singapore’s F&B landscape
Looking ahead, Sweet Cheeks hopes to collaborate with more brands and further strengthen its presence in Singapore.
The co-founders remain candid about the challenges of the local F&B landscape, citing rising rents and increasing competition from both homegrown and international players.
Yet, they remain confident in their niche.
With Sweet Cheeks, we want to provide people a third space, so they can just come in and enjoy—there’s no pressure, we want it to feel like a space where they can just hang and connect with their friends.
Siow Jia Yu, co-founder of Sweet Cheeks
- Find out more about Sweet Cheeks here.
- Read other articles we’ve written on Singaporean businesses here.
Featured Image Credit: Sweet Cheeks