It all started with the Summer Blossom Spreeze.

Hello, I’m Nicole, the owner of Prox Coffee. Rather than to draft something very ”corporate” for this page, I thought I’d write in first person because it was a culmination of personal reasons that led me to run Prox Coffee.

The funny thing is – I didn’t even use to drink coffee. Tea was my beverage (and my ex-colleagues will tell you, my entire personality).

In 2021 when I was still deep in the postpartum haze with my daughter, I came to know that a cafe called Aroma Coffee & Co was opening at Northpoint City, which was near where I lived then. Because of severe sleep deprivation, I tried out their ”Spreeze” drinks, which was tea-infused lattes.

Boom. The Summer Blossom Spreeze became an addiction. The presence of tea was my gateway into the world of coffee. I started drinking regular lattes/cappucinos too. I became a very-regular customer at the cafe, and loved how friendly everyone working there was, even though it was just a takeaway spot in the basement of a large mall.

Fast-forward to end-2023. I just moved away from the North of Singapore, and started to really, really, miss the coffee I used to get every other day. Without any decent cafes within the proximity of where I lived, I started to explore the idea of opening my own branch, near me.

With my daughter getting bit older, I was also inspired to build a business that is tangible and that she can understand and see (vs only seeing me crouched over my laptop, sending emails and attending Zoom meetings). This became even more important to me as I witness the rise of AI and technology. I felt the urge to be contrarian and to go into one of the most fundamental businesses in history that can never be replaced: the sale of food & beverage, along with hospitality.

But what the heck do I know about running F&B? And was I going to invest 6 figures just to open a franchise because I missed the coffee? Irrational.

After ruminating with the thought for ages, my therapist quipped: ”Just ask if they are even franchising lah. What’s the worst that can happen?”

So after signing up for LinkedIn Premium (”It’s free for the first month right? You don’t even lose anything”), I reached out to the founder of Aroma Coffee & Co, and found out that they were looking to sell the business – only the outlet at Frasers Tower though, as the outlet at Northpoint City was closing (due to a massive rent increase).

One thing led to another and on 1 May 2024, I officially took over the business.

On the surface, nothing much has changed. Same menu, same staff, same everything. After getting a closer look at the business, I realised that we were not going to be sustainable with just one outlet. And besides, I knew that what I really wanted to do was to run a neighbourhood cafe (ideally my own neighbourhood). The CBD outlet is great for goodwill and ”brand-name address” purposes, but there wasn’t much I could do there on weekends.

Within a month of taking over operations, I starting looking for Outlet #2. I started out looking at locations near where I lived to open a cosy takeaway, but there were simply no viable units.

(Why takeaway? I believe in having our great specialty drinks in under-served neighbourhoods, or what I call ”Coffee Deserts”, but based on my own observations, such neighbourhoods cannot sustain a full sized cafe. There might be demand for great coffee and matcha, but it is probably not enough to sustain complex operations with significant manpower requirements. I deliberately chose to be ”disciplined” about keeping my concept very lean, so takeaway it is. Many have expressed opposing opinions over this take but as someone who still works a full-time job and is also a parent, I really didn’t want to bite off more than I can chew.)

I stopped looking for a bit, and focused on the operations at Frasers Tower. Many things had to be managed/fixed. There were always fires to be put out. It was rather overwhelming.

But some time in July, I felt the urge to check out CommercialGuru again, and immediately I saw the shophouse unit at 36 Jalan Selaseh. Arranged a viewing, and fell in love with it.

It took sometime for us to get it up and running after I signed the lease but I genuinely had so much fun designing the space, coming up with the menu, and getting it to be what it is right now. A cafe for our neighbours, for our community.

We might not be the most ”viral” or ”trendy” cafe out there, but I take so much pride in seeing our regulars come back again and again, and building relationships with the members of my team.

Would there be a Prox Coffee #3?

If it’s meant to be, it’s meant to be.