FOCUS
She’s won an internationallyknown beauty pageant, made male
hearts race during her short stint at
MediaCorp, and is now lighting the
fuse to take her cupcake business
global. Meet the sassy Jaime Teo.
The
Queen
Words Farhan Shah
Photos Glenn Lim
Bakes Cupcakes
Let me preface this article by
mentioning that when I was young
and hormonal, I used to harbour
a mild crush on Jamie Teo, back
when she first burst into the public
consciousness with her win at the
2001 edition of the Miss Singapore
Universe beauty pageant. Thirteen
years later, while the ravages of
time decided to leave her porcelain
complexion unharmed, I bore a face
that sunk a thousand ships.
Along the way, the former beauty
queen launched a career in the
entertainment industry, got hitched to
radio deejay Daniel Ong, and started
a family. Oh, and she also picked up
baking. There was no catalyst for this,
although Daniel claims she picked
it up “to impress him”, an assertion
vehemently shot down by Jaime.
Rather, according to her, it was due to
equal parts boredom and fascination
– she was amazed that such simple
ingredients could be blended together
to form beautiful pastries.
I find that
we define
achievements
and capabilities
by gender
BAKING AN EMPIRE
Her accidental hobby would go on to
when it really
become Twelve Cupcakes, one of the
should be about giants in the local mini-cake field.
Today, the brand has a presence in
personalities.
six cities – Singapore, Jakarta, Taipei,
Kuala Lumpur, Hong Kong a nd Manila
with plans to open more flagship
outlets in Dubai, Japan, and the
most populous country in the world,
China. It’s an impressive feat, made
even more remarkable by the fact
that Twelve Cupcakes has only been
around for three years.
Jaime recalls the first few backbreaking weeks of the business, when
it was just her and Daniel preparing
and baking the cupcakes from 7
in the morning until the shutters
came down, meticulously putting
the finishing touches on each piece,
and tending to the hundreds and
hundreds of customers that never
seemed to stop coming. They ran out
of ingredients every other day and had
to close the store just to buy more
raw materials and bake even more
cupcakes. Daniel was thrilled; Jaime
was less so. “I really, really missed
Renee, who was a year old at that
time. I would be driving to work in the
morning, hear her toy squeaking at
the backseat, and suddenly just break
down into tears,” says Jaime. “When
I’m putting the icing on the cupcakes
and thoughts of her cross my mind,
I would start tearing up and have to
move away from the batch so that my
tears wouldn’t get into the cupcakes!”
She credits her husband for being
her rock during those difficult times.
He hired people to lessen the load on
their shoulders, cleaned up the store
at the end of the day so that she could
head home and be with Renee (“one
thing that many people underestimate
about working in a commercial
kitchen is the amount of washing
there needs to be done!”), and set into
motion the expansionary plan that
would see Twelve Cupcakes become a
household name.
Occasionally, their strong
personalities do get in the way, butting
heads over the issues that get thrown
on their baking trays the further ahead
12
Family & Life • Christmas 2014
Twelve Cupcakes forges forward.
However, they also understand that
they need each other and have learned
to agree to disagree.
Indeed, the combination of Daniel’s
business acumen and Jaime’s palate
has managed to crack Singapore’s
incredibly competitive food and
beverage industry. Their roaring
success spawned a slew of imitators,
all of whom hoped to cash in on the
cupcake craze.
In the spirit of good journalism, I
asked Jaime what she thought about
her competitors. She smiles, the
same grin that snagged her the Miss
Universe tiara, before doing diplomacy
proud. “There is enough cake to
be shared. After all, everyone has
different palettes.”
Fair enough.
THE CREATIVELY
BENEVOLENT
DICTATORSHIP
Jaime might look demure, but behind
that pixie face and impish beam
lies an artistic tyrant. The recipes;
the marketing initiatives; the layout
of each store; all of these sprung
from Jaime’s mind. She admits that
she doesn’t bother with faddish
flavours of the month, literally and
metaphorically, nor pander to current
fleeting trends. Rather, the cupcakes
the company produces is quite simply
something that Jaime enjoys eating.
“I know it sounds egotistical but
it’s tailored to my taste buds,” says
Jaime, laughing.
In the past, she was so adamant about
retaining creative control that no
one would be allowed to experiment
in the kitchen. Every flavour that
Twelve Cupcakes could be attributed
to Jaime. She’s mellowed though,
understanding that she’s only one
woman and that she has so many
talented people under her, who were