In Conversation with Yen and Celeste of The Butter Factory

If you are an avid clubber, there is no doubt that you would have partied the night away at The Butter Factory before. And even if you don’t club, I’m pretty sure you would have heard its name being tossed around by friends as party venues before. We managed to steal some time away from two of its four co-founders, Tay Eu-Yen and Celeste Chong, to have this interview.

Tell us in 3 words what The Butter Factory is.

Celeste: hahah how to answer in 3 words? “si be steam” “best night ever”

How did the founders of The Butter Factory get together to start the club?

Celeste: Yen and I have been best friends since we were 14. Bobby, Ritz & I met when we were working together previously at another small club in 2004-05. I developed a very good working relationship with Bobby & Ritz and one day when Yen & I were just hanging out over a few beers, we joked about opening our own club. I told her if we ever wanted to do that, we needed to get Bobby & Ritz in and we’d have a really good team. From that small joke, 2 weeks later, we had a business proposal draft ready.

What kind of research did you do before starting The Butter Factory? Did you scout the various local and perhaps overseas clubs, interior design houses for ideas etc.?

Celeste: I’ve been living in Singapore and clubbing since i was 15! (haha the clubs didnt use to be THAT strict then I guess) Bobby & Ritz are Singapore’s original club kids hahah and Bobby, as our Creative Director is the Creative force behind our interior. All of us have always clubbed overseas and I guess that was kinda our “research”.

Butter Factory founders. From left: Bobby Luo, Ritz Lim, Yen, Celeste

Celeste, tell us your life before The Butter Factory and how the club fits into your life for you.

Yen: I’d always wanted to be a lawyer. So no, I’d never thought I’d venture into the nightclub business. Having said that, I’ve always been interested in and curious about the entertainment industry so it is not a complete surprise that I decided to start a business like this one. The experience of legal studies and practice has lent an enormous hand to the business.