Bob the Baker Boy isn’t your typical cake shop. If you took a quick glance through their catalogue, you’d likely stumble upon some of the most unusual yet undeniably creative cakes.
From bubble tea cakes you can actually drink, to 3D-sculpted instant ramen cakes, and even a severed fish head cake—you name it, they probably would have done it.
They’ve also most recently made headlines for their Labubu cakes, which had blind boxes stored inside of them.
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Image Credit: Bob The Baker Boy -
Image Credit: Bob The Baker Boy
They have plenty of normal-looking cakes as well, but they’re best known for their custom creations, which, admittedly, can be quite pricey, with some costing over S$1,000.
That said, most of their cakes hover around the S$150 to S$300 range, which I personally think is well worth it, especially considering the craftsmanship and intricate designs that go into each creation.
Behind these unique cakes is 31-year-old Mayee Fong, who first began baking as a hobby. Here’s how she managed to turn her passion into a full-fledged business.
Baking wasn’t an obvious career choice
Mayee’s love for baking began at the age of 12—back then, she’d often accompany her mother on supermarket trips and assist her in the kitchen.
“We baked everything, from pizzas to marble cakes and buns, and she had a collection of recipe books that I loved to explore.”
This hands-on experience ignited her passion for baking, but it remained just a hobby at the time.
She never considered turning it into a career—that is, until she realised that a traditional career in accountancy (the degree she was pursuing at the time at NTU) “wasn’t the right path for her.”
Thus, she sought an apprenticeship at a bakery near her home, earning S$1,500 monthly. On her days off, she tried her hand at crafting her own bakes, experimenting with different ratios of butter, flour, eggs, and sugar in each recipe.
“It took three years of home baking and lots of hard knocks to self-learn how to create recipes. There were many failures; I even remember sitting on my balcony in tears at times,” she said.
Over time, she perfected a chocolate cake recipe and began selling it online to her friends through Facebook and Instagram.
As her cakes were “well-received,” she made the decision to leave her bakery job and launch her own cake business—Bob the Baker Boy—in 2016, which she named after her favourite comedian, Bob Lam.
Fresh into entrepreneurship
Mayee’s home-baking days were some of the “most challenging moments” of her entrepreneurial journey.
She worked 16-hour days, handling “every aspect of the business by herself,” from “fulfilling orders and meeting deadlines, to coming up with new products and responding to customer inquiries.”
I was fresh into entrepreneurship and not yet mentally prepared for the stress that comes with running a company.
Mayee Fong, founder of Bob The Baker Boy
Mayee recalled a particularly difficult moment in 2018, when she designed a log cake for Christmas with a custard filling—only to discover that the filling wasn’t stable enough to hold the roll together.
“The cakes ended up melting. I had so many customer complaints to handle, and I ended up re-doing everything myself on Christmas Eve.”
Despite these setbacks, Mayee remained resilient—she refined her baking skills and learned how to customise and decorate cakes. She also chose to specialise in customised bakes after realising that “no one would travel all the way to remote Yishun,” where she lived, for an ordinary cake.
Eventually, Mayee managed to build a “loyal customer base” and steadily grew her orders to around 40 per week.
From home-based to brick-and-mortar
It was at this point that Mayee realised she was ready to take the next step in her business journey.
Using the funds she had accumulated from the past three years of home baking, she moved into a 600 sqft space and expanded her team, hiring two full-time employees and two interns.
“I stayed in that space for about three years—then, COVID-19 hit,” said Mayee. While some of her orders were cancelled, it was during this time that her newest recipe for molten lava cookies became an unexpected hit.
According to Mayee, they went viral, and her team of bakers were on their feet from morning to midnight to meet the demand.
Our bakers came in at 6 a.m. every day, and for many nights, we worked until midnight. As the demand grew, so did our team, and we eventually moved to a space three times larger.
I spent another three years there, leading a team of 30. Eventually, we outgrew that space, and now our central kitchen is in Pandan Loop.
Mayee Fong, founder of Bob The Baker Boy
Today, Mayee claims that the business is now in the “seven-figure revenue range,” with a team of about 45 to 50 people, including delivery drivers. They’ve also seen a spike in corporate orders and have baked for companies like Disney, Nestle, and Coach.
Scaling her business
Looking ahead, Mayee remains keenly aware of several key challenges facing Singapore’s F&B industry, particularly in managing expenses.
“The cost of doing business in Singapore is high, so managing expenses is critical. If you’re not careful, margins can become very tight,” she shared.
Additionally, Singapore’s small market presents its own set of challenges, especially for niche businesses like Mayee’s, which specialises in customised cakes. “There’s [only so much] we can scale before needing to diversify or explore new verticals to keep growing the business.”
This led her to explore alternative ways to expand the company, which led to the inception of Pinch Bakehouse in 2024—a halal sister brand of Bob The Baker Boy.
Throughout the years of operating Bob The Baker Boy, Mayee frequently received requests for halal options to accommodate customer orders.
With Pinch Bakehouse, she is now able to fulfill these requests and has gained significant popularity among companies, hospitals, and schools for their gifting and catering needs.
As for Bob the Baker Boy, Mayee is looking to expand her reach and appeal to a broader audience by offering even more choices for her customers.
“You can expect more product innovation from the business, including new cookie varieties and a diet-friendly range of bakes, including sugarless, dairy-free, gluten-free, and high-protein options, as well as more giftable items.”
- Learn more about Bob The Baker Boy here.
- Read other articles we’ve written about Singaporean startups here.
Featured Image Credit: Bob The Baker Boy
