Sakae Sushi logo as explained by Sakae Sushi CEO/Founder, Mr Douglas Foo

I attended a Breakfast Talk at my work place the day before yesterday.. It was a sharing session given by Sakae Sushi Founder, Mr. Douglas Foo..

Besides telling us about his life story, he explained the story behind his logo.. so i did an animation to illustrate what he had explained.. please don't sue me..

i wanted to summarised his life story.. but i'm not good with words, so i googled for his story.. and found this from NLB's Infopedia.. it's like what he told us.. so i quoted Mr. Douglas Foo's life story as below.. (Mr. Douglas Foo is CEO or founder of Sakae Sushi)

Douglas Foo

By Subramaniam, Shivaranjani written on 2009-04-30
National Library Board Singapore

Comments on article: InfopediaTalk

Douglas Foo (b. 1969, Singapore - ), is the Chairman, CEO and founder of Apex-Pal International Ltd., a public listed food and beverage company which owns and operates Sakae Sushi, one of the leading kaiten (conveyer belt) sushi chains in Singapore. The success of Sakae Sushi has won the company accolades such as the Enterprise 50 Award in 2002, the Singapore Prestige Brand Award (Regional) in 2006 and the Singapore 1000 Award in 2007. In recognition of his entrepreneurial spirit, Foo was awarded the Rotary-ASME Entrepreneur of the Year in 2002.

Early Life
Foo, the eldest of three children, was born in Singapore in 1969. His father, an immigrant from Hainan, China, worked as a mechanical and electrical consultant. Foo received his early education at the Red Swastika Primary School where he was both a top student and prefect. He went on to study at Dunman High School and Victoria Junior College. In college, he was active in sports and participated in long-distance running, laser sailing and windsurfing.

After his "A" levels, he served his National Service with the Air Force. During his military service, Foo would read on topics relating to radar and electronics in order to understand the workings of the missile systems. It was then that he discovered that his interest did not lay in engineering. Though he had already secured a place with the engineering school at the Nanyang Technological University, Foo decided to make the switch to study Business Administration. However his grades did not qualify for the university's business school. So, aided in part by funds from his parents, Foo enrolled in the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology in Australia for his degree in Business Administration (Finance), where he graduated with distinctions in 1994.

The Value of Money
Foo was taught the value of money from an early age. Once, when he was ten, Foo called his father to ask for a lift home because he was running a fever. His father, instead, chided him for wasting 10 cents on the phone call, and told him that their house was within walking distance from school, and that he should make his own way home. Foo was also given a modest monthly allowance of $50 for his food, transport and outings.

To supplement his pocket money, he would give tuition from 8 am to 11 pm on weekends, earning up to $5000 a month. He also worked during the six months vacation before his National Service. His typical day then involved taking turbine readings at Pulau Seraya in the mornings, giving relief teaching at Pin Yi Secondary School in the afternoons, and conducting door-to-door market surveys in the evenings. He also worked briefly as a baker at Delifrance, where he met his wife. When Foo was studying in Australia, he continued to earn his pocket money by selling shoes at the Queen Victoria Market in Melbourne.

Early Career
After Foo returned from Australia, he worked as a marketing executive with the real estate arm of Tokyu Group. In the course of his work, he formed friendships with a number of Japanese clients, some of whom who traveled to Singapore to buy garments for the Japanese market. Through these networks, one of his Japanese business contacts approached him to start a business to manufacture garments in India for sale in Japan. Foo decided to take the plunge despite an attractive counter offer from his employer and his lack of experience in the fashion business. He invested $100,000 from his savings and registered Apex-Pal in 1996. The trading office was located in International Plaza, and a factory with fifty workers equipped with reconditioned sewing machines from Taiwan was set up in India. The business turned in profits in the first year.

The Beginnings of Sakae Sushi
With the success of the garment manufacturing and trading business, Foo began to explore various ways to diversify the business. He looked at the basic needs of consumers and decided that the food business would be a good industry to venture into. He conducted a survey and found that Singaporeans were becoming more conscious of their health and what they eat. Among the various cuisines, Japanese food was generally considered to be one of the healthiest. However, at that time, it was also a relatively expensive dining choice for the masses. Hence Foo came up with the business proposition to offer Japanese food at affordable prices. By targeting the middle-class masses, the company would be less vulnerable to economic downturns. Foo's price consciousness also stemmed in part from his strict upbringing. But his Japanese partner was reluctant to take on this new venture due to the Japanese economic slump. In the ensuing months, Foo faced the uphill task of raising funds to buy out his partners share and to set up the sushi business as well.

In planning for Sakae Sushi, Foo made trips to Japan and Hong Kong to study the operations of conveyor-belt sushi joints. He decided to implement a single price for all colour plates (with the exception of delicacies on red plates) because he felt that the various colour plates (indicating the different prices of sushi dishes) used in Japanese restaurants deterred customers from ordering more. He also created a dining concept for Sakae Sushi to differentiate the restaurant from other Japanese dining establishments. Sakae Sushi has a conveyor belt system to deliver its sushi, and customers have their own water taps to make their tea as well as interactive menus to place their orders. Over time, the company added innovations such as sushi-making robots and portable conveyor belts for catered dining.

The first Sakae Sushi outlet opened at the OUB Centre at Raffles Place in the midst of the Asian financial crisis in September 1997. Despite the weak economic situation, the business took off. Today, there are Sakae Sushi outlets in Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Philippines and China, and Apex-Pal has added ten other brands to its portfolio.

Personal Awards
2008: Commendation, Singapore Youth Award
2007: Public Service Medal, National Day Awards
2007: International Management Action Award
2005: Health Leader (Excellence) Award by the Singapore Human Resource Institute
2004: ASEAN Youth Award
2003: Singapore Youth Award
2002: Rotary-ASME Entrepreneur of the Year (joint winner)
2002: Top Outstanding Young Person Award by Junior Chamber of Singapore
2002: Merit, Yazhou Zhoukan Chinese Entrepreneur Award

Hobbies
In his free time, Foo enjoys tennis, long-distance running and swimming.

Family
Wife: Koh Yen Khoon
Children: Donavan, Dominic, Donahue, Donaghan



Author
Shivaranjani Subramaniam

Reference:
1. Singapore Infopedia by NLB - Douglas Foo