Despite scoring straight As in junior college (JC), Jody Ang wanted to take some time off before university to explore her interests.
Having always been drawn to sweets and baking, she bought her first oven during the break and spent countless hours experimenting in the kitchen, soon uncovering a natural flair for it.
In 2011, at just 21 years old, Jody launched Grin Affair, a café that may have been the first in Singapore to introduce jar cakes, setting her business apart from the wave of new cafés emerging at the time.
Two years later, she handed the business over to her brother to focus on her university studies. Yet even after returning to school in 2013, baking remained top of mind.
Hence, after graduating in 2018, she returned to entrepreneurship once again with Folks and Stories—a business that, like her first, continues to flourish.
Folks and Stories’ early days
Folks and Stories is best known for its cookies—soft-baked with lightly crisp edges and irresistibly chewy centres.
But it didn’t start out that way. The brand’s early days were centred around a very different product: handmade granola bars, crafted with a strong emphasis on natural ingredients.
The inspiration came from Jody’s university exchange in Europe, where she travelled extensively with her then-boyfriend (now husband). Surrounded by fresh local produce, the couple immersed themselves in cooking, going as far as buying a food processor to make their own nut butter and baking granola from scratch.
While this experience planted the early seeds for the business, the granola bars unfortunately didn’t take off in Singapore’s market.
Hence, they pivoted to cookies in 2018—an idea sparked by Jody’s partner’s love for the sweet treat.
Maintaining their focus on health, Folks and Stories’ cookies are baked using natural ingredients free from chemicals and additives, and crafted with premium components like chocolate couvertures and browned butter.
In addition to its soft-baked cookies, the brand also offers other desserts such as brownies and sablé cookies (French butter cookies). All of its offerings are baked and sold on the same day to guarantee freshness.
Going viral one year in
Jody initially launched Folks and Stories as an online business, selling her cookies from a central kitchen. To grow her client base, she pitched her cookies as wedding door gifts at venues like CHIJMES, helping the brand gain early traction.
After about a year of steady growth, Folks and Stories went viral when influencer Cheryl Wee tried the business’s offerings. The surge in demand prompted Jody to open her first physical outlet in 2019 under an HDB block at Stirling Road.
From then on, the business has continued to grow, relocating several times over the years due to various factors. Currently, Folks and Stories is based at Anchorpoint.
Over the years, Jody has handled almost every aspect of the business, from baking to even marketing, though she has now passed daily operations to her trusted team.
“Baking and cooking isn’t rocket science, but running a business is—it has so many moving parts,” she said.
Keeping up with demand & rising costs
Coming from a non-F&B background, Jody has pressed on with Folks and Stories because she loved the craft. But the journey hasn’t been without challenges.
Occasional hiccups, such as printing errors, can be especially tricky since the brand handles many custom orders tailored for gifting.
Special occasions, like Christmas, can bring overwhelming demand. During her first festive season, the bakery ran out of its signature six-cookie boxes and had to improvise by upgrading customers to premium three-cookie boxes, ensuring no compromise on presentation.
In addition, global economic headwinds have impacted the business, with supply chain disruptions—partly driven by ongoing global conflicts—pushing up the cost of key ingredients such as dairy, flour, and eggs.
In 2023, Jody also felt the heat of the global chocolate shortage, which further added to rising costs. At one point, the shortage was so severe that she even had to resort to sourcing chocolate from Amazon just to fulfil holiday orders.
To cushion the blow, she introduced a slight price increase to help the business stay sustainable amid mounting ingredient costs.
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Despite these challenges, Folks and Stories has continued to perform well.
During peak periods, Jody claimed that the business sells over 10,000 baked goods a month, with its highest single-day record exceeding 1,500.
Looking ahead, she hopes to expand further into the heartlands, bringing her handcrafted treats to a wider audience.
And for aspiring F&B entrepreneurs, Jody offers this piece of advice:
If you have the luxury to try out something and you have a bit of money saved up already, then go for it—but really do it. Just start with small steps like baking at home and gain feedback about the food from friends and family.
- Find out more about Folks and Stories here.
- Read other articles we’ve written on Singaporean businesses here.
Featured Image Credit: Folks and Stories/ Ms Wong via Google Reviews
