In business together for four years and married for six, this entrepreneurial couple draw on each other’s wisdom and knowledge when it comes to running their burgeoning culinary legacy, Empire Eats Groups, which counts 12 brands under their banner including Standing Sushi Bar, Tanuki Raw, Salmon Samurai and The Secret Mermaid. While they consider their company to be their first baby, Howard and Hui Nan are also parents to two young children.

What do you love about working with your spouse?
Howard: “I think one of the best things is that on the good days when you’re working together, and on good days I mean when you’re not fighting for example, you have someone who does truly understand exactly what you are going through because they are right there going through it with you, together.”
Hui Nan: “It’s exhilarating to work with my husband and just seeing how his mind works. It’s quite fascinating to find out about all these ideas that he has inside of him and being able to help him execute them.”

What’s the hardest part?
Hui Nan: “I think the hardest part has been trying to find a balance between our interactions as partners in business and as partners in marriage. It’s inevitable that our business life will spill over into our personal lives especially when there’s a disagreement, but over the years we’ve learnt to fight better.”
Howard: “In business, there are always a million different things that can make you feel frustrated. When you are frustrated and you’re interacting with someone a lot, your frustration is bound to come through even when that person is totally innocent of whatever is happening. Being married, because you’re so close you don’t try to temper or mask those feelings as much as compared to a friend when you think you should still have a modicum of politeness here.”

Do you think you’ve learnt more about each other through working together?
Hui Nan: “The business, especially over the last two years, has pushed me into situations where I’ve had to step out of my comfort zone and it’s reassuring to know that he’s there alongside me in this journey. To realize just how resilient I’ve become through these trying times, that’s been nice to learn. Seeing him grow as well, I feel so fortunate to be married to this person who’s placed his family’s needs, our needs, before his own.”
Howard: “I think our core strengths are very complimentary. She is a very detailed-oriented and specific kind of person who likes to be hands-on in the restaurant, measuring things, talking to the team, and mapping out things in an exact way. Whereas I’m more of an ‘ideas’ person. Nan is able to take that and figure out exactly what needs to be done to translate this feeling or idea that I want. She’s very good at that.”

What would you like to say to them to express your love?
Howard: “I love all the support she’s provided and especially through the times when things have gotten really stressful, it’s been incredible to find out how she responds to that, which is hard as iron.”
Hui Nan: “I think back a lot to the time when he uttered his wedding vows to me and he is truly living up to what he said to me, promising me a life of excitement. Thank you for bringing me on this journey.”

It was not love at first sight for Dr Kim when she met her future hubby as an undergrad at the University of Melbourne. Theirs was a love that grew out of friendship first, which has bode them well once they started their own veterinary practice, The Visiting Vets. Having tied the knot in 2014, the duo added a newborn into the mix last year, compounding the challenges they have to deal with as partners in work and marriage.

What do you love about working with your spouse?
Dr Huang: “I think it’s good knowing that you have a partner that you can truly trust and you don’t have to worry about getting cheated or that they’re not doing something in the best interest of the business, and that they have your back.”
Dr Kim: “That at the end of the day we still want the same things. We want our business to do well, we want to take care of our patients and our clients, and that our interests are still aligned so it’s good that way.”

What’s the hardest thing?
Dr Kim: “I think it’s hard to find time to just be a family. We’re just always discussing work, at home or at the clinic and we work pretty long hours at the clinic. Our child comes with us to the clinic quite a lot, most days actually. We spent a lot of time at work and talking about work, and I guess that’s difficult finding separate time to switch off.”
Dr Huang: “You can’t just treat them as just another co-worker. Sometimes that can be a bit tough because you can’t speak to your wife in a loving manner at work, you have to be a bit brusque. Also, you’re already spending so much time at work but you still have to make time for your relationship. So it does take some extra effort.”

Would you recommend that other couples try to start a business together?
Dr Huang: “I would say it’s very, very tough. It’s a great challenge unless there’s a very clear leader and follower in the relationship, which we have not achieved. So, it’s tough.”
Dr Kim: “I would say don’t do it. I’d say that you’d really have to know each other really well. I wouldn’t recommend it for a new couple, because it can really test your relationship but if you do, make time for each other. Take a step back when you really need to and make time for yourselves as a couple.”

What would you like to say to them to express your love?
Dr Kim: “I’d say that he’s doing a really good job as a father and it has definitely impressed me even though I don’t always say that I appreciate it enough. But definitely he’s done a great job and he’s been a really, really incredible support to me.”
Dr Huang: “For the sake of our relationship, we’ve both had to readjust our priorities to put family first so I do appreciate her although I sometimes don’t say it that often.”

Bankers by trade, Robyn and Dhylan left their cushy jobs to take the daring leap into retail when they decided to launch Le Petit Society, a lifestyle clothing brand that focuses on delivering chic but affordable apparel for the whole family. While they exchanged vows in 2012, the pair have since exchanged triumphs, tantrums and numerous tests as they attempt to juggle entrepreneurship with raising a brood of three kids.

What do you love about working with your spouse?
Robyn: “The best part is when you realise that you have a partner in life that is on the same wavelength as you. We can agree on things fairly quickly, which makes the whole process so much easier. We also have the flexibility to plan our work around our personal schedule. So if we aren’t that busy and want to go for brunch, it’s possible. We set our own time and own targets so that’s nice.”
Dhylan: “Many people think that if you work together you get angry at each other all the time but that’s not true. Most people don’t get the luxury of spending so much time together, we do. I’m not saying we don’t need our own personal space but it’s nice to be together and not have to take leave or go on holiday to do that.”

What’s the hardest thing?
Dhylan: “We chose to start our own business so that we could spend more time with our kids but the funny thing now is that we’re so busy, we’re actually spending less and less time with the kids so we’re trying to figure out how re-establish that balance.”
Robyn: “We literally see each other 24/7. There’s no such thing as a time out. For a lot of people who work together – be it friends or boyfriend and girlfriend – it’s a challenge to stay together but when you’re married, the threshold for breaking up is much higher. We really treat our business seriously and that’s because we’re married. There’s more to lose if it doesn’t work out.”

Would you say working with your spouse is a benefit or burden?
Robyn: “We’ve managed to build a family alongside a business and I think we’ve been fairly successful on both fronts. So there’s definitely a sense of achievement when working with your spouse, maybe not so in terms of money because retail is honestly quite tough. But would I choose to do it again? Maybe in a different business, though I can’t imagine myself doing anything else other than Le Petit Society despite its challenges.”
Dhylan: “One of the things that intrigued me about Robyn when we first met was her intelligence and when it comes to business, she is able to handle a lot of decision-making. I can really see my wife making intelligent, strategic moves every day so I get to see her at her most beautiful every day. That’s definitely a benefit.”

What would you like to say to them to express your love?
Dhylan: “When we got married and had to say our vows to each other, the most memorable line for me was saying ‘Robyn makes me the best man I can be’. That’s something that always makes me strive to become better and better every day. I can only do that because of her support and understanding.”
Robyn: “He takes on a lot of the things that I can’t do or don’t want to do but at the same time he’s as hands-on at home as he is at work. I love the father that he’s become. He’s the husband that I thought he would be but I would never have imagined how good of a father he could be until he became one. I know I made the right choice in choosing him.”

Photos: Tan Wei Te
Art Direction: Ivy Choong
Styling: Karin Tan
Hair: Kenneth Ong
Makeup: Audrey Wee & Jane Lau