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"Every business has it's story" - I wonder if I came up with this or I heard it from somewhere else. Oh well...

This is the year that the government began propagating entrepreneurship. And thus, many used this given opportunity to give it a go and make their dreams a reality.

This marks the beginning of Pitstop Cafe...

Pitstop Cafe is co-owned by, Margaret Lin, Chia Weekee, Evelyn Hu, and Timothy Boay - "The four brave, ambitious partners"! And yes, all four of them still in their youths! In fact, one of them happens to be my primary school, 'best friend'. Unfortunately, I'm not going to reveal he/she is. I'm leaving you to guess.

Errr, where did I stop? Ahhh... Yes! The cafe.

Though it's a rare opportunity, the cafe isn't their sole priority. Apart from Pitstop, all four partners have their own commitments to fulfill, be it work or studies.

Timothy Boay and Margaret Lin, for example, are undergraduates from the National University of Singapore (NUS). And as students, the competition to meet the mark, is somewhat, hell! To add further to that stress, they are also, MOE teaching scholars! It quite difficult to image the kind of expectations that are place upon them.

Neverthless, the two of them, like the rest of us commoners, had a dream. They wanted to achieve and learn something more before they step into their no-return career in teaching.

Sadly, like I mentioned, they are MOE teaching scholars. This somewhat means after studying, they'll be starting their career in teaching. The chances of exploring beyond their occupation would be quite tedious. Just try to imagine 30-40 students, with my character, for you to teach? Get my drift?

It's now or never!

So, with the determination to succeed. There and then, they started constructing their full-prove concept plan, and the birth of Pitstop came to be...

Is this starting to should quite frictional? In case it is, just to let you know, this isn't a "make believe story" but I might be over doing it a little, or not.

So, how did Pitstop get its name?

Well, apparently, the inspiration for the name, Pitstop, arose from the television program, Amazing Race. These four 'TV addicts' wanted the cafe to be used as a pit-stop in which people could hang out and interact.

Meaningful isn't it? Maybe I should start...

Opps! There I go again. Pardon me, I somewhat have this habit of daydreaming. Oh well... Where did I stop? Oh yes...

Starting a business isn't 'kids play'. Cautious planning, load of effort, and not forgetting, time, is an important essence. Let's not forget, this 'combo' consist of working and studying 'adults'.

To actually achieve this goal they set out for, they would have to break out of their comfort zones and jiggle between school/work, pleasure and business.

Can they manage it?

I believe they can.

It shouldn't be too tough for these smart-asses. After all, they are equipped with the basics of doing housework. And housework is one of the NEED-TO-KNOW to keep the cafe neat and clean.

Imagine if their as spoilt as I am? I'd probably have to fork out additional $$$ to engage a maid! I am a Princess, you see.

How does Pitstop attract their crowds?

This is easy to answer. The use of social media and something that all of us have, our mouths!

To set up the place, it already cost them a bomb. Thus they only had limited financial resources to play around with. So, their 'marketing scheme' had to be something practical yet effective.

Bare in mind, they are youths, and what is the trend nowadays? - Blogging!

I'm sure many of you know the exploding effects of blogging in the recent days. Basically, they do too.

A blog used to be meant like a personal space for you to whine and bitch stuff you like or in some case dislike. But as the growth of blogs increased, blog has evolved and became a source of social media.

It's like a collection of individuals' opinions/prospective towards various issues. The four of them, knowing the potentials of this medium, leveraged on it, and created their blog site - http://pitstopcafe.blogspot.com.

But of cause, just a blog isn't enough. The use of 'word of mouth' is still very important and powerful. Just yesterday, while 'lunching', out of the blues one of my friends mentioned Pitstop. Didn't I tell you that the 'word of mouth' is a powerful tool?

We've gone through the roots of how it began as well as how "it" became known, so what's next? I hoped I mentioned that Pitstop is a cafe right?

We know what a cafe is, it not as classy as a restaurant, yet not exactly a fast-food outlet nor a food court stall. Basically it serves food, deserts and drinks.

Great Food
Pitstop serves a variety of great tasting western food. Mouth watering foot long fish and chip, juicy spring chicken is some of the yummy delights you can expect. Of course we can't forget to mention our popular yummy snacks like seaweed chicken, crispy fish-lets and those overweight jumbo chicken wings!

Premium New Zealand Ice Cream
Need a sweet treat? Try our ice cream sundae. Using only premium New Zealand ice cream, it is difference you can taste! With new flavors every month, every visit to Pitstop Cafe can be a really sweet surprise.

Gourmet Coffee
Coffee is a sensory experience. Coffee beans are ground and espresso extracted only upon preparation. Milk is foamed and steamed to enhance and elevate the sensory experience of espresso. Our in house Picassos bring this experience even further with their abstract latte art!

Great presentation as well as great taste. That is the essence to a successful dish.

Anyway, we, boys and girls, love to chat. We love talking/whining about our interesting events or boring lives to our friends while we feast on a meal. But wouldn't it be nice to have something else to do apart from just blabbering?

Ahhh... But there is!

Here we have games.

Now to summarize - There's food and drinks, there's entertainment and ...

Well, don't we humans love to take photos? That's another feature that is somewhat unqiue at Pitstop. The people there love taking our photos (as in the 'paying customers') and paste them on the walls! And they also allow us, to destroy their walls with graffiti!

PS: even though we have the right to do so. But if you know you can't draw and/or your handwriting basically CMI. Try to be a little considerate, and spare us the disgust.

What else can you ask for from a cafe?

Good food, drinks and deserts (for me it's the coffee). You can play board games with your friends and/or challengers. You can draw, write, and paste your faces (the photos of your faces, of cause) on the walls.

It somewhat feels like home, or does it not?

Pitstop Cafe
14B Circular Rd
Singapore 049370
Tel: +65 6535 5383
Service rating:

_{Operating hours:}
5pm to 11pm (Mondays to Thursdays)
12noon till late (Fridays & Saturdays)
12noon to 9pm (Sundays)

PS: This is just an overview, one of these days, or with *ahem* is willing to give me a treat at her cafe, I'd do an actual review? *Hint*