If you’d a chance to venture into the unknown, would you? Three Taylor’s Law alumni share their experience of starting a business in the food industry.
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25 Mar 2022
7 Min Read
Ailyn Low (Editor)
If you’d a chance to venture into the unknown, would you? Three Taylor’s Law alumni share their experience of starting a business in the food industry.
Graduating and starting your career may seem daunting to a regular graduate. Throw in the COVID-19 pandemic along with the uncertainty of getting a job into the mix and you’ll end up with even more stress than you started off with.
Rather than waiting for the pandemic to end, these three Taylor’s Law School graduates decided to venture into the food and beverage industry when their Certificate in Legal Practice (CLP) exams was postponed back in 2020.
With the mission and vision of fostering curiosity on how a simple bao could be seen as an alternative to traditional fast food, Dominic Chou, Lucas Isaac Seneviratne, and Marc Wong, decided to venture into a completely new field post-graduation and founded The Bao Guys — even though its conception came with many question marks.
“We started a business, grew three outlets, and we still have yet to sit for our CLP exams! Jokes aside, I believe it was the right decision to start something rather than waiting for the whole pandemic to be over,” Lucas, who’s in charge of marketing for The Bao Guys, explained. “I can imagine how graduates across different fields feel with these two years of waiting and being forced into a hiatus. For us, it was a natural decision to take that leap of faith and start a business.”
While each of The Bao Guys pursued a law degree for different reasons, there was one thing that bound them all together — to have a university life that’s not only focusing on studies but also building lasting friendships. After all, that’s how they got to know one another and eventually became good friends!
Lucas shared, “Dominic’s from Johor whereas Marc and I are from Ipoh — even though we’ve never met before joining Taylor’s! Taylor’s really became a place for us to make friends so our university journey would be a lot easier for us.”
“Lucas and Dominic both had different groups of friends and we eventually all hung out with each other. That’s how I met both of them. From there, we just clicked and formed our own trio,” added Marc, who heads the kitchen operations and flavour profiling for The Bao Guys.
Recollecting their degree years, Lucas shared, “It may sound a little odd but it was during the exam season that we all grew closer to each other and soldiered on to get through every semester. The sharing of notes, late nights at our friend’s place, going to the exam hall looking like we hadn’t slept for days, even the late-night crazy parties! It was the bond of the Taylorian community that we built through the seasons that made university life all the more enjoyable.”
Fun Fact: The first-ever bao sold was the Cluck Norris — a fried chicken bao with Japanese egg mayo and gherkins. It was bought by a friend and fellow Taylor’s classmate who supported The Bao Guys the minute he found out they were selling baos.
The trio not only strengthened their bonds by studying and playing together, they also joined a variety of clubs and hosted different events. Being involved in the different activities, both inside and outside Taylor’s Law School, allowed all three of them a chance to hone their skills and identify their working dynamics together.
“Every semester, we’d find the three of us working together whether it’s organising the law ball, conferences with the law school, or activities for the moot club which we founded. Being involved in the different clubs and societies along with the community definitely helped when we started our company. We knew very early on our different strengths and weaknesses which made it easier for us to complement and work with each other,” Lucas shared.
Who says you need a business degree to run a successful company? Evidently, The Bao Guys proves that statement wrong. Even though all three alumni didn’t have prior experience running a business, their law degree has helped them in more than one way.
“We didn’t choose a business elective at that time, unfortunately, but the law subjects really helped with starting the company. For me, Company Law and Intellectual Property aided us in understanding our brand’s worth and how to protect it,” Dominic, who heads the finance department for The Bao Guys, shared.
“Additionally, we had an advantage because we also have knowledge on how to read and skim through contracts gained during our degree and internship experiences.”
Lucas also shared how pursuing a Degree in Law helped in building his work ethic. “In a nutshell, Taylor’s Law School created a work ethic that we carried forward throughout the business. Before we do something we strategise, plan, then reassess.”
“Law school taught us to always be prepared before we do something. Everything is carefully thought out and it’s not something that we just wing, which I feel a lot of new entrepreneurs do. But this often causes one to put the blame on external factors when something fails within the brand or business.”
While a business degree could help in the growth of the business, all three concurred that they wouldn’t have changed their decision on pursuing law.
“I really enjoyed my law degree years because of the doors they opened for me and the different activities I got to participate in because of Taylor’s Law School. I really feel that it propelled and helped me in starting the business,” Dominic explained.
On the other hand, Lucas shared that the opportunity of pursuing an elective outside of the law programme would have helped. “I believe it would’ve provided me with the understanding of the business dynamics better. It’s beneficial for most law students to expose themselves to other programmes as well because, upon graduation and stepping into the legal world, the different knowledge you gain would help with the industries you end up dealing with. So choosing the elective really depends on what you ultimately are interested in.”
Regardless of the degree you choose, all three founders of The Bao Guys agree that one’s university life goes by really quickly and to enjoy it to the fullest while you can.
“To all law students out there, remember this: whether you’re studying law or in the legal industry doing your internships, be open to trying new things that expand from your legal career. You wouldn’t know where it might bring you,” Dominic shared.
“Just go out and interact with as many people from different degrees. That’s when you’ll find new interests. For us, if we didn’t have that discussion together, I don’t think we’d ever think about venturing into the F&B industry,” Marc added.
The Bao Guys’ business journey started off because of the postponement of their CLP exams. Now that the exams are just around the corner, you’d think that they’d rush to sit for it. Think again!
“We were supposed to take the coming CLP exam but, to the disappointment of our parents, we’ve collectively decided to postpone our sitting to the next one because we actually have 3 new outlets opening in the next 3 months,” Dominic shared.
Lucas continued, “I’d love to be exposed to the legal industry at some point in the future. I’d want to finish my CLP and become a lawyer but instead of practising law, I’d probably want to contribute my legal expertise and legal knowledge in a particular industry.”
While all three do look forward to one day contributing to the law industry, they’re currently focusing on where The Bao Guys will take them in hopes of changing the world one bao at a time.
