Home-grown hospitality group Tipsy Collective looks to grow business following co-founder’s death

SINGAPORE - A month after its co-founder died, home-grown hospitality group Tipsy Collective has said it is accelerating plans to expand the business.

Mr Derek Ong, who co-founded the group with close friend David Gan in 2018,

died suddenly on Aug 26 at the age of 35.

It was about a week before the duo were to launch their most ambitious venture yet – a Sentosa beach club.

Mr Gan, Tipsy Collective’s executive chairman, said Mr Ong’s death was a setback, but it has renewed the group’s drive to grow the business to “carry on Mr Ong’s memory”.

“We are a man short, a co-founder short... but things haven’t changed, though the circumstances have,” said Mr Gan, 31, who was speaking to The Straits Times in an exclusive interview at the beach club last Friday.

Tipsy Collective runs 12 restaurants and bars here, and is known for its heartland gastropubs that have live music.

The collective’s islandwide menagerie of creature-themed outlets includes Tipsy Bird in Paya Lebar, Tipsy Bunny in Jurong, Tipsy Panda in Woodlands, and Tipsy Flamingo at Raffles City.

Mr Ong’s death led the group to push back the official opening of its

mega 19,000 sq ft Tipsy Unicorn beach club on Sentosa’s Siloso beach

from Sept 1 to Oct 11. The club, which opened to the public in September, is currently in a soft-launch phase.

Mr Gan said plans to expand in the region remain on course.

The group plans to open its first outlet outside Singapore in Kuala Lumpur in the first quarter of 2024, and is also looking at expanding to other parts of the region in the future, he said.

“Of course, we’ve had to regroup on some things since (Mr Ong’s) passing... but our vision of continuing to be the leading home-grown lifestyle hospitality operator remains the same,” he said.

Tipsy Collective opened its first gastropub Tipsy Penguin at NTUC Income@Tampines Junction in 2018, and has grown to become a well-known food and beverage brand, employing over 250 staff.

On the local front, Mr Gan said the group will focus on getting its two most recent openings on their feet – Tipsy Unicorn and

cocktail lounge Wallich Manor

at Sofitel Singapore City Centre.

Mr Gan also said that he and Mr Ong had discussed leadership renewal at the start of this year, and agreed to bring someone on board to handle the operational side of the business.

In July, about a month before Mr Ong’s death, they hired former Zouk Group chief financial officer and country head of Singapore, Mr Alex Phua, 39, as Tipsy Collective’s deputy chief executive officer and group chief financial officer. He is now the group’s acting CEO.

“Instead of taking six months to a year to do the handover – where Alex would take the lead while Derek and I would take more of a back seat and more strategic role – we accelerated the plan,” said Mr Gan.

When asked, the group declined to disclose what would happen with Mr Ong’s shares.

With Mr Phua on the team, the group has segregated its businesses into two divisions – a lifestyle division focused on the larger entertainment-centric venues, and a restaurant and bar division, which will focus on the other Tipsy and food and beverage-centric venues.

Tipsy Unicorn is its biggest venue to date. It takes over the space previously occupied by Wave House Sentosa, and cost over $5 million to build.

The venue, which Mr Phua calls a “Las Vegas-style day club with an Asian heart”, is packed every weekend, with tables and day beds booked a month in advance.

The beach club, with its lavender and pink tones, carousel-like stage and cloud-shaped sunken pool, would not look out of place in “Barbieland”.

Financial adviser Hilda Tan, 30, who has been to Tipsy Unicorn every weekend since it opened, said: “I go to other beach clubs, but this is quite different from the rest... it’s got pool parties and is a bit more high energy.”

Mr Gan also said the group will refresh its older venues, starting with its first outlet Tipsy Penguin, although he did not give specifics.

“We have a lot of ideas for the place, and we’re not just here relying on regulars and taking that for granted,” he said, adding that the five-year old brand will continue to innovate.

“I always ask myself, in 10 years’ time, will Tipsy still be around? I don’t want it to be a Tipsy that I no longer recognise, that’s just another drinking spot – that’s not something we want to happen.”