For Christmas this year, she designed cute penguins wearing scarves, snowmen, reindeer and a jolly Santa. Her busiest season is December, when her Christmas orders are packed from November till the end of the year.
Seah’s occasion boxes run from sweet birth announcements to raunchy bachelorette parties. These “very naughty boxes” of chocoberries are decorated with chocolate private parts, made with moulds she shipped from overseas.
“We thought people were only ordering it for bachelorette parties but we’ve had ladies sending it to each other for a laugh!” A box starts from S$60 for six berries, including delivery.
Last Valentine’s Day, BerryBar created two options for lovers. Option 1 featured sweet messages like ‘Will you be my Valentine?’. The other had a “Netflix and chill” message, complete with raunchy decorations like a lingerie-clad buttock.
The most interesting part? “A customer ordered these two different boxes for two different girls. He put in both orders back-to-back – and that was how we realised that it was from the same guy,” laughed Seah.
MAKING HER MENTAL WELLBEING A PRIORITY
While Seah is in the business of cheering people up with her sweet treats, she has learned that she must also prioritise her own mental well-being.
For the first two years, she barely took any time off. She worked long hours, had a wide job scope, and constantly worried about how to sustain her business. “Even when I was not in the shop, I was constantly thinking about the business: What I need to do, who I need to meet, what can I improve on, am I going to be able to make rent this month and so on.”
In October 2021, amid hiring her first staff and sorting out licenses, renovation and equipment purchase for the shop, her mother was suddenly struck by a brain aneurysm. Doctors told the family that there was a 50-50 chance of recovery.
