The F&B entrepreneurs behind Singapore’s popular Muslim-friendly eateries
The Black Hole Group has been quietly making waves in Singapore’s casual dining scene with restaurants and cafes such as Tipo, Working Title and The Great Mischief. This is their story.
It all began in 2012 with a single hostel. Former junior college classmates Mustaffa Kamal and Calvin Seah, who were both 27 years old at the time, had gotten together to open the now-defunct Shophouse, a five-storey backpacker hostel located in Arab Street.
The ground floor of the hostel was rented out to a separate cafe operator but when that agreement abruptly came to an end, the pair found themselves with an empty space to fill.
Within a month, they ended up opening their own cafe selling gourmet burgers and artisanal coffee, learning how to cook from scratch. They gave the cafe the temporary name of Working Title, which eventually stuck.
It didn’t matter that neither of them had any F&B experience. They were determined to make it work. To save on costs, the pair salvaged furniture from back alleys, repurposing them for use at the cafe.
