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Keen appetite for roast meat joint 22 March 2012 Straits Times THE asking price for the famed recipe and premises of Kay Lee Roast Meat Joint is a cool $3.5 million, but one day after this was reported, inquiries came streaming in. More than 40 parties - 39 from Singapore - have expressed interest, with the two highest bids at $2.5 million and $2.8 million. Senior property consultant Raymond Lo of Knight Frank, the real estate broker for Kay Lee's owners, said: 'Most of the callers are businessmen or restaurant operators, and most are interested in hiring people to work for them. It's an investment of sorts.' Mr Lo, who is confident he will close a deal by the year end, obviously thinks the eventual buyer will have a clear winner on his hands. He said: 'It's profitable. As long as you take over, you make money.' But the owners of the 30-year-old eatery, Madam Betty Kong, 66, and her husband Ha Wai Kay, 62, are anxious as they want the Guangzhou-style recipe for Kay Lee's signature pork ribs, char siew and duck, for example, to stay true to tradition after the change in ownership. Madam Kong, the spokesman for the business, told The Straits Times that the 50-year-old recipe, which she and her husband have priced at $2 million, was 'not just a piece of paper'. The buyer will be taught how to roast the signature Kay Lee duck 'until they perfected the recipe', said the chatty woman. 'The price includes the brand name. We will teach them till they pass,' she quipped. The hothousing in Kay Lee's art of roasting meats is expected to take two to three months. With the recipe at $2 million, the remaining sum is for the freehold shop space in Upper Paya Lebar Road, a 1,313 sq ft space valued at $1.25 million, said Mr Lo. In testimony to Kay Lee's popularity - or because of the news of its impending sale - a line of customers was waiting to be served yesterday when The Straits Times dropped by. Some people ate there, but others were buying takeaways. So is the asking price too high? Madam Kong, who lives with her husband in a four-room bungalow in Hougang and drives a grey Mercedes-Benz, said she was aware that many parties think the asking price is a tad stiff. 'We are considering the offers,' she said, volunteering the information that the shop makes a net profit of at least $2,000 a day. The president of the Restaurant Association of Singapore, Mr Ang Kiam Meng, said that, going by gut feel, the price seems high, and urged buyers to crunch the numbers. 'Without proper analysis, it's difficult to tell whether the price is really too high. It depends on how the investor looks at it,' he said. Mr Ang, who runs the Jumbo chain of restaurants, suggested that Madam Kong and her husband act as consultants post-sale. 'A business is usually way more than just a recipe and a brand name. It's about management; there are many things that can go wrong when there is a takeover,' he said. Madam Kong and her husband have put up the business for sale because neither of their two children want to run it. Potential buyers who were contacted said they are doing the maths. A 35-year-old IT manager who asked to be known only as Ben said he hopes to clinch the sale and run the place with three friends. 'We think we can make the business work, as long as we have a good team behind us. It's not rocket science,' he said. Another prospective buyer identified himself as the one behind the $2.5 million bid, but declined to elaborate. And then there is Mr Jackie Goh, 48, who runs a roast duck business in Phillip Street in Chinatown. He said he spoke to Kay Lee's owners three weeks ago, but decided against making an offer. 'We think we'll not be able to break even so quickly. The price is quite high,' he said, adding that he could offer no more than $1.8 million. He said he bought his current roast duck stall and recipe for $200,000 just five months ago. He added, chuckling: 'I didn't dare make an offer. They may chase me out.' -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- What other hawkers say PRICELESS RECIPE 'Our recipe is priceless, we cannot put a value to it and we will never sell it. It is a family heirloom and we will pass it on to our children.' Mr Lim Swee Seng, 42, who runs Toa Payoh Rojak at Old Airport Road Food Centre. The stall has been around since 1971 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- REASONABLE PRICE 'The $2 million price seems like a reasonable price to pay for a secret recipe. The brand has been built up over the years. If I sell my recipe, I will also price it at around $2 million.' Mr Chia Kar Wing, 49, owner of Union Farm Eating House which closed last month. It is famous for its paper-wrapped chicken dish and its owner plans to start business again soon -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- TOO EXPENSIVE 'Buy a roast duck recipe for $2 million? That's too expensive. Even if we sell our recipe for $30,000, we doubt people will want to buy it. It's very tough to make these traditional dishes, we spend a lot of effort getting everything right. If we ever sell our recipes, we would want to train the person for at least one year and teach him exactly how to cook the food and maintain the same quality we had.' Mr Richard Ng, 58, who is co-owner of China Street Fritters at Maxwell Food Centre. The stall is famous for its traditional ngoh hiang (pork rolled in bean curd skin) dish going back 70 years -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- DISH ISN'T RARE ENOUGH 'To pay $2 million is too much, especially for roasted meats. You can find that anywhere in Singapore. The price should depend on how rare the food is in Singapore. For example, oyster cakes are hard to find now. It's a traditional Fuzhou dish and our own oyster cake recipe was passed down from mother to daughter for generations.' Madam P. Hoon, 54, who helps her mother run the famous Maxwell Fuzhou Oyster Cake stall at Maxwell Food Centre. She said she would be happy to sell her oyster cake recipe for $50,000

After seeing the last weekends games, I could only sum up one thing about the Reds (Liverpool & Man U) are, they are wasting million of pound on 2 flops........ Liverpool : spending 20 million pound on Robbie Keane for running around aimlessly and shooting like secondary school boys playing for their school in inter school soccer competition ........ . Few times caught him passing to no man lands.... and doesn't click well with Torres until Babel came into the field. Man U : spending 30.7 million pound on Dimitar Berbatov who is just as aimless as RK throughout the game against Chelsea. He even help to block a shot by Darren Fletcher in the opening 10 minutes from inside the penatly box. I was hoping that he will be replaced but instead, Park was replace by John O'Shea and Carlos Tevez was warming the bench. Poor Rooney had to play in midfield and at times help in defence (receive a yellow) where he is a striker by nature. Where is Berbatov SAF weird....... But should give both of them full marks when they were in Spurs as 2 aimless strikers combine well just like the scientific term - 2 negative add together gave positive results... ...... So now split the 2 and they are lost...... Why Liverpool pay 20 million pound on a 28 yrs old striker and refuse to pay 17 million pound on a defensive midfielder Barry........ RB another weird...... My 2 cent worth of commence........