By Li YenEpoch Times Staff

Fancy eating cake from a jar? One unique shop in Singa-pore serves that. ‘Grin Affair’ is the first dessert shop in Singapore bringing oh-so-lovely cake in a glass jar, and Jody Ang is the young entrepreneur behind this well-known enterprise.

Charismatic and confident, 24-year-old Jody wants to bring joy to her customers – and that is precisely why she named her shop ‘Grin Affair’. Indeed, the rainbow-like jar cakes, rustic yet undeniably charming ambience, and the delightfully cute cake illustrations drawn by Jody easily brings a smile to your face when you walk in.

This cake-in-a-jar shop is tucked away in a quiet corner of Everton Park, an old neighbourhood estate where Jody spent most of her childhood days. She feels at home setting her shop in this new hipster enclave as her grandma lives just a few blocks away. “My grandmother lives around here. We are very close. My mom visits my grandma every day and I used to come here every day after school, so it is like a place with lots of memories,” explained Jody.

After her A-levels, Jody skipped the university route and spent the next two years working different jobs. It was during the third year of her working life that she decided to follow her interest to set up a cake shop.

She thought she would deplete her savings, but she did not have to, as the simple furniture and all the details of Grin Affair, including its menu and the welcome sign, were carefully designed and handcrafted by Jody and her father, who is a contractor. This helped Jody save on

start-up costs. “I don’t want to spend too much, because the focus is still on the desserts,” Jody said.

Jody is a creative inventor who likes to do things in an unconventional way. Seeking to give her customers a whole new unique experience when they visit her homely cake shop, she chooses to serve her cake in a jar instead of the con-ventional box.

Serving cakes in jars is also an envi-ronmentally-friendly method, which Jody embraces. Jars can be re-used as customers can choose to return the jars in exchange of a ticket. Customers can exchange 10 tickets for a drink, and 12 tickets for a cake. She said, “It is always a waste when you buy those plastic boxes, paper boxes and they cost money. So I started off and I just thought it looks quite cute in a jar, together with the paper liner, as well as the string; everything is com-pletely recyclable.”

Grin Affair has been quietly drawing a regular crowd since it started business in 2011. The unique cake-in-a-jar con-cept has slowly gained media awareness and attracted cake lovers after a popu-lar blogger blogged about her petite arti-san shop three years ago. Jody consid-ers herself ‘lucky’ as she has not placed much emphasis on marketing and pub-licising her shop, but through word-of-mouth and media coverage, the humble shop has received favourable attention in Singapore.

Diligence is the key to success and doing something from your heart does make a differ-ence, according to Jody, who sacrificed her social life, working from morning till midnight when she just started out. Her parents were doubtful at first, but later they got convinced after seeing how passionate she was in doing the business.

Jody values hard work and the pursuit of one’s passion. She has the following advice for young entrepreneurs: “Just do it. Just try it. A lot of people think and consider big projection, when am I going to cover my overhead, that kind of thing. I don’t think that is important. If you

have an idea, just go ahead. Diligence is very important. Make sure that you are ready to sacrifice your time, espe-cially on your social life.”

Jody is currently pursuing a business and social stud-ies degree. Due to her hectic school life, her brother and mother are presently baking and managing the busi-ness most of the time. She added, “For now, the shop is not about me anymore; it is my mom, my brother, it is a combined effort.”

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Inventor of Jar Cake in Singapore?

Founder of Grin Affair – Jody Ang (top left), her brother (top right), her mother (below left) and her cousin (below right).

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