Looking at the spacious East Coast Road shophouse Kim Choo Kueh Chang occupies, it's hard to imagine that this home-grown business started in the humblest way - under a tree.

In 1945, Mdm Lee Kim Choo sold home-made rice dumplings (also known as kueh chang in Peranakan culture), mixed rice dishes and Nyonya kueh at the cross-junction of what is now Joo Chiat Place and Everitt Road.

The tenacious matriarch set up her stall despite rain or shine "due to poverty and to provide for her family", says her grandson Edmond Wong, Director (Business Development & Corporate Social Responsibility) of Kim Choo Kueh Chang Pte Ltd.

Similarly, The Ice Cream & Cookie Co., founded by former magazine journalist Natasha Chiam in 2012, also kicked off outdoors. Using a hand blender, the home baker began selling her ice cream cookies at the Loewen Gardens Farmers Market.

Their determination, hard work and passion have all paid off today. Singapore foodies flock to Kim Choo Kueh Chang and The Ice Cream & Cookie Co. which are now recognised with the Made With Passion mark. This is a marketing initiative of the Singapore Brand Office and Singapore Tourism Board, supported by Enterprise Singapore that encourages everyone to support local lifestyle brands - for their signature kueh chang and ice cream cookies.

Made With Passion highlights home-grown brands that have built an enduring (and also endearing) reputation based on hard work, passion and reliable products. In this way, Singapore consumers know that they are doing their part in supporting and sustaining the local industries, from fashion to F&B.

Motivated by this, both companies have expanded their product lines. The former now also offers pineapple tarts and pandan love letters, while the latter sells award-winning vegan ice cream.

Rice dumplings using the same recipe from 76 years ago

The values of determination, ambition, optimism and resourcefulness are at the core of everything Mr Wong and his siblings do for their third-generation family business.

They manage 30 employees between two central kitchens and two stores. The one along East Coast Road sells kueh chang and Nyonya kueh, cookies and snacks. It also has a Singapore Visitor Centre that pays tribute to the rich Peranakan heritage of the neighbouring Katong enclave, as well as a boutique selling Peranakan clothing and accessories, including batik face mask and porcelain homeware. The other is in Joo Chiat Place and sells kueh chang and other bestselling food treats.

The recipe for the famous rice dumplings is still the same one Mdm Lee used 76 years ago. The family buys the spices and other ingredients from the sources Mdm Lee used and which are known only to the siblings. They even clean and dry the blue pea flowers to extract the vibrant blue that you see in Nyonya kueh chang. Skip this time-consuming, crucial step and the colour will be wrong, stresses Mr Wong.

"We want to continue as a heritage business and safeguard our identity and traditions. We will lose our uniqueness if we compromise," he says.

Whenever possible, he tries to improve the techniques. Now, a compressor cooker cooks 800 dumplings in one hour instead of the usual two hours needed to cook 400. The process of producing kueh chang, however, cannot be fully automated, says Mr Wong. "Every rice dumpling must be wrapped in bamboo leaves by hand."

The hard work is worth it as customers continue to associate Kim Choo Kueh Chang with tradition and culture. He says: "We are cultural ambassadors because every food has a story to tell. Our Made With Passion label reminds customers that they grew up with us. This national effort encourages and reassures us that we are doing the right thing and our perseverance is paying off. We want to preserve our grandmother's legacy."

From making ice cream at home to enjoying it in SIA's first-class cabins

Family is also a great inspiration and motivator for Ms Chiam's business. When her then-boyfriend, now husband, couldn't find the ice cream cookies he used to eat in the US here, she started The Ice Cream & Cookie & Co. at home with only three flavours.

She currently offers nine cookie sandwich flavours and 18 pint flavours. In 2017, hers was one of the first Singaporean companies to launch a vegan ice cream range, also inspired by her husband, who suffers from egg and dairy allergies.

"Personal needs have always inspired our R&D process," says the mother of two, who has since also launched a low-sugar, egg-free line of muffins, brownies and cookies as her son is allergic to eggs.

However, the road to success wasn't smooth at first.

Even though serving ice cream cookies to customers at a farmers market was easy, distributing the same products to cafes and restaurants meant stepping up her game.

"Ice cream is highly scientific, despite its appearance. Not all artisanal products make excellent packaged products. I couldn't control when and how someone consumed my goods. The hardness of the ice cream was also beyond my control. Because of that, I became more serious about R&D."

There is also the ongoing process of creating new flavours like Vegan Dark Chocolate and Onde Onde to continue enticing existing and new customers. Even the simplest, such as vanilla or chocolate, undergo up to about 20 trials because they are very pure tasting and require the right mix of ingredients. Trickier flavours include Bubble Milk Tea Gelato which requires a certain level of scientific finesse as "the mochi bubbles must remain soft and chewy even after the ice cream has been frozen," explains Ms Chiam. "Our customers can taste the effort that goes into our products."

To date, her proudest moments include having her brand served in Singapore Airlines' first-class cabins.

Following that, Ms Chiam did not anticipate the Covid-19 pandemic and the 2020 circuit breaker period. Her wholesale business "dwindled to almost zero" when restaurants and cafes temporarily closed.

"Thankfully, our do-er attitude has made a difference. We just rolled up our sleeves and got to work. A product is one thing, but the people make the company, and no task is too small or beneath us."

Fortunately, The Ice Cream & Cookie Co. saw a significant increase in supermarket and online sales during the circuit breaker. Its website received up to 400 orders every day, with customers telling the team on its Instagram account that the ice cream was a great reward for those stuck at home after a long day of Zoom meetings.

Ms Chiam knows, however, that success doesn't just end here. Next year, her company will move into a new factory to improve operational standards, and she is constantly motivating her R&D team to come up with new flavours.

Made With Passion couldn't have come at a better time for her. "It shines a light on small and medium-sized enterprises with inspiring stories that are building their business from the ground up. It is great that we are getting the support we need now."

Shop Made With Passion brands at krisshop.com/madewithpassion and shopee.sg/m/mwpshopee, or discover more at visitsingapore.com/madewithpassion.