Your favourite bar's favourite bar: Abhishek George on failing over and over again

Straits Times

09-05-2025

The Spiffy Dapper, Sago House and Oriental Elixir are just a few of the businesses serial entrepreneur Abhishek George has had a hand in making. ST PHOTO: TARYN NG
Your favourite bar's favourite bar: Abhishek George on failing over and over again
SINGAPORE – Over serial entrepreneur Abhishek George's career of two decades in food and nightlife, the only constant has been failure.
'I have built and failed in many, many businesses in my life,' says the 40-year-old, whose string of unsuccessful ventures includes premium chicken rice, coconut milkshakes, farming, a smokehouse, a curry joint and several cocktail bars.
Yet, amid these setbacks, Mr George has also built the award-winning bars Sago House and Low Tide (now closed), as well as long-running fixtures of Singapore's drinking scene, The Spiffy Dapper and Oriental Elixir.
His journey through a half-dozen different sectors began after he moved to Singapore in 2002 to pursue an engineering diploma.
To cover his school fees and accommodation, the Indian national started working in F&B, rising from bartender to co-owner of a bar at Clarke Quay during its heyday .
'I guess what makes a serial entrepreneur is an overall sense of naivety,' he says. 'I'm a hopeless optimist who always puts his hand up for any given opportunity.'
When burnout and business struggles led to a seven-year hiatus from the industry, he explored everything from telemarketing to web design to working at a record label before returning to the sector in 2012.
It was not until 2013 that he launched his most enduring venture – The Spiffy Dapper – initially as a hole-in-the-wall bar in a second-storey unit in Boat Quay.
Early to Singapore's speakeasy trend, The Spiffy Dapper would later relocate to Amoy Street before finding its current home in River Valley Road.
'It was built out of junk,' says Mr George. The sofas came from the street, the signboard was a packing case he stuck a piece of vinyl on, and the bar was cut out of a nearby restaurant that happened to be closing at the time.
This do-it-yourself approach would become a signature of his later ventures. 'I designed and built all those venues by hand,' he says, explaining how his background in engineering and a failed attempt at launching a co-working space taught him construction and carpentry skills that would prove invaluable.
In 2019, he opened Oriental Elixir, a speakeasy specialising in Asian flavours and bespoke drinks, deliberately reclaiming a historically derogatory term for Asian people through the bar's name and concept.
The space features vintage finds and second-hand items, creating an aesthetic that resembles 'the store you can find in every part of South-east Asia'. The bar also stands out with its quirky instant noodle programme and a soundscape of the oldest recorded music in various Asian languages, evoking 1920s and 1930s Asia.
'Pretty much every drink here, I'm making it for the first time,' he confesses.
Then came Sago House, a space he spent six months building with co-founders Jay Gray and Desiree Silva from recycled materials – costing a total of $40,000 over six months, which Mr George considers a steal by Singapore standards.
Although the bar faced immediate challenges – 'the first day of lockdowns hit on the day we were supposed to open and it just went haywire' – the bar persevered and became an awards darling for its low-budget, high-effort vibe.
A do-it-yourself and hands-on ethos sets apart businesses created by Mr Abhishek George, who is pictured here at Oriental Elixir.
ST PHOTO: TARYN NG
Sago House took 32nd place on the World's Best Bars list for 2023 and 15th place on the Asia's Best Bars list for 2024.
Weeks after clinching that first award, the bar had to relocate to its current venue in Duxton Hill after the owners failed to negotiate a lease renewal with the landlord.
Learning from 'being too young, too stupid'
Mr George says failure has been tough because of the many ways it can emerge.
Disagreements with business partners. Entering the market too early, as 'nobody wanted to buy $4 or $5 espressos back then'. High rental. Or, as he puts it, being too young, too stupid and not making the right choices.
When asked about the key takeaways, he says there were four big lessons.
'Raise enough capital, way more than you think you need,' he says. Despite his cost-cutting and DIY skills, Mr George acknowledges that he sometimes raised less money than he should have. 'You have to stop coming at it from a scarcity mindset at all times.'
The second lesson: 'Look for unfair real estate deals. And unfair deals can be found only in weird situations.'
Mr George notes that he was one of the first to get permits for second-storey speakeasy venues with The Spiffy Dapper in Amoy Street, sparking a trend in a city with prohibitive rental costs.
'I think the key reason all three concepts (Sago House, The Spiffy Dapper and Oriental Elixir) have succeeded is the fact we made great real estate deals,' says Mr George, who adds that rental costs at Sago House's first location came up to just $2,500 a month.
Mr Abhishek George says numerous failures have taught him tough lessons about running small businesses.
ST PHOTO: TARYN NG
Lesson No. 3 : 'It doesn't matter how good or bad a place is, what matters is the stuff inside. You should spend the least amount on the property, and the most on people and product.'
He observes a common mistake of business owners investing heavily in a beautiful, expensive venue to impress patrons, while skimping on labour and ingredient costs.
Finally, behind the 'cool' facade of bar ownership, Mr George stresses that success comes down to the fundamentals: 'The problem with the business is everybody thinks it's cool to own a bar, but the things that make a bar are really just discipline and cleanliness.
'All the cool stuff is cool, but it doesn't make the business work. Show up every day, open on time, close on time, have a clean place.'
These days, he is no longer looking to start any new concepts in the food or nightlife sectors. 'My view of the industry right now is rather dim. But you never know, another extremely unfair and ridiculous deal might present itself. Who knows?'
Instead, he is spending more of his time working on his current baby, Stash, a 'man cave' and traditional barber studio that also sells apparel, vintage bikes and music in River Valley Road.
Still, the nightlife veteran continues to have a soft spot for other owner-operated ventures like his. With that, The Straits Times asks Mr George about his favourite spots in Singapore.
What's your favourite bar in Singapore?
There are a lot of big-budget programmes, a lot of money being thrown around in this business, but there are some people doing amazing things with very little.
One of my favourite buildings is in Club Street. It has Club Street Laundry, Hup San Social Club, Idle Hands and Nost. They are friends, but what I love is that pretty much everything in the building is owner-operated, small-budget places.
(Clockwise from left) Club Street Laundry, Hup San Social Club and Idle Hands.
PHOTOS: CLUB STREET LAUNDRY, HUP SAN SOCIAL CLUB, IDLE HANDS
It i s nice to sit in the daytime, the product is reasonably priced and they're just nice people.
Nost does great small plates and drinks, Idle Hands does excellent cocktails, Hup San Social Club does intimate drinks in the basement and Club Street Laundry does modern Australian food. In short, honest hospitality.
What's a new venue that's caught your eye?
One of the place s that has impressed me with how well-put-together the whole thing is is Bar Bon Funk at New Bahru in Kim Yam Road. It is done by the Lo and Behold Group, so it is not a small programme. But Josiah Chee, who is leading the programme, is a champion.
Bar Bon Funk is a neighbourhood cocktail bar at New Bahru in Kim Yam Road.
PHOTO: BAR BON FUNK
Which of Singapore's closed bars do you miss the most?
One bar I feel Singapore needs is Analogue ( previously at Chijmes). Vijay Mudaliar's programmes have always been very interesting. They won 47th place in the World's Best Bars list for 2024 and then had to close the venue.
The blue, ocean wave-like structure of Analogue's bar top was 3D-printed from 1,600kg of recycled plastic.
PHOTO: ANALOGUE
It was accessible to drinkers and non-drinkers and, more than anything, it represented Singapore well. Everything Vijay has done so far represents Asia and Singapore in such a beautiful manner.
When he started Native (in Amoy Street), he could access only five or six spirits from across Asia, because that was all the continent had. He is an innovator and does not get enough props for how much change he has brought to the business.
Which bar in Singapore has the best vibe?
Mad & Midas and Brooklyn are two home-grown businesses sharing a building in Ann Siang Hill. Brooklyn is up top and Mad & Midas is down below.
Mad & Midas is an underground bar run by industry veteran Naz Arjuna.
PHOTO: MAD & MIDAS
Brooklyn is run by Mark Graham Thomas, a bartender for ages since the early days of Singapore's cocktail business. Then you have Naz Arjuna, who is an OG (original) in the business .
Brooklyn is where you will find the old hands hanging out. Mad & Midas has a great 1990s vibe. They are the industry's cocktail bars – owner-operated joints that deserve our love and support.
Brooklyn Bar styles itself as Singapore's first hip-hop cocktail bar, and features cocktails and street food inspired by its namesake New York City borough.
PHOTO: BROOKLYN BAR
What's the best post-work spot?
Dong Bei Da Chuan, or the Oriental Chinese Restaurant, at 199 New Bridge Road. That is where all of us 'sochi' (south of Chinatown) people go for our post-work meal.
At 4am in the morning, it is still open. We've been going there for decades. That is the epicentre of the bar industry.
Your Favourite Bar's Favourite Bar is a series where The Straits Times dives into the hidden gems and iconic spots that Singapore's top bartenders and bar owners love to frequent.
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