Food Barn, one of the longest serving retail tenant at Alexandra Technopark (ATP), is celebrating its 20th year anniversary this year!
The humble café, known for its signature breakfast, The Big Barn Starter, has been serving freshly brewed coffee and gourmet sandwiches to executives at ATP and beyond since 1998.
It recently moved its operations from ATP B to The Hub, where it introduced a fresh dining concept at its new 45-seater outlet.
We caught up with the Food Barn Teamsters, as they call themselves, to find out more about its brand and what customers can expect!
1. Tell us more about Food Barn and its concept
We started Food Barn on a whim! We wanted to create a cheerful ambience for folks to hang out over food and drinks. We love the idea of wide open spaces and envisioned what it would be like living in a barn amidst the rolling landscapes.
Most of the wood décor here is recycled from our first outlet at Block B and the rest are sourced from sustainable farms. We also love the high ceilings and how the windows allow natural light to flood our new space here.
Having lived in the US, the founders of Food Barn were also inspired by American diners that offer generous portions of foods served with warm hospitality.
2. What is different at this new outlet? How are you and your customers enjoying the new outlet?
The interior of the cosy 45-seater cafe
When we first opened, we were just a small hole-in-the-wall café at our outlet at ATP B. Despite our size, many executives from different companies from both ATP A & B used to crowd in our standing-room only space to trade wise-cracks! We have a fantastic team here and continue to have a great bunch of customers at ATP that patronise our outlet regularly.
Our new outlet has evolved into a full-fledged 45-seater café with an extensive menu and an emphasis on healthier food options. Customers can now sit, relax, and take a break from work while enjoying their meal or even have quick meetings here.
Also new to our menu is our made-to-order, hand-crafted, Neapolitan-style pizzas. Despite these changes, we have stayed true to our mission to provide real and honest food.
We also love being surrounded by greenery at our new outlet! We’re glad to be a part of ATP where there are initiatives in place to create a nicer environment and cultivate a more balanced lifestyle for its tenants. The weekly exercise sessions and pop-up community events have also brought more life and vibrancy to the area, which we love.
The Big Barn Starter is served during breakfast hours from 8am – 11am
3. With your wide range of menu items, what is your most popular breakfast item?
That would have to be the Big Barn Starter! Consisting of chicken sausages, pork bacon, eggs, greens, and multi-grain bread, it has all the wonderful breakfast components to kick start the day.
The Philly Cheesesteak is available around the clock
Another popular meal is our Philly Cheesesteak. The classic sandwich comes with griddle cooked sliced prime beef that is mixed with mushrooms, capsicum, onions, and topped with Provolone cheese.
4. With many businesses going-digital, is Food Barn also investing in digitalisation?
We have adopted digital solutions to help us become more operationally efficient to cater to our customers’ needs. Our point of sale systems is programmed for quick order transactions and are equipped with modern payment methods. It also integrates into our kitchen displays to present our chefs a live feed of customers’ orders, thereby reducing the time lag.
With the increasing popularity of food delivery, we have also teamed up with third-party delivery services such as Deliveroo, honestbee and GrabFood to cater to customers are that are unable to come down to our outlets.
If you’re ever craving for a hearty meal or looking for a place to take a break from the work place, come and visit Food Barn at Alexandra Technopark!