Marcus Low

TABLE & APRON, restaurateur and FOUNDEr

The mark of a restaurant’s legacy isn’t judged by how delicious the food is, how great the service is, or the ambience of the restaurant. Those are signs of a restaurant operated well.

A restaurant’s legacy however, is determined by how it directly impacts community - from our team that works in the restaurant, to our guests that remain ardently loyal, to the purveyors that proudly supply us, and finally to those who are invested in its growth.

Marcus, our founder & restaurateur, wears many hats. Back-tracking to his younger days, he lived his early days as an engineer by day & a kitchen porter by night for a small restaurant. Swapping an engineering hat for an apron, he dived into the world of professional cookery, only to be drawn towards restaurant management after being tasked with everything else in addition to cheffing. 

In recounting his experience of running Table & Apron for 7 years, he reflects the lessons learnt along the way. “In our early years, we were fraught with an identity crisis; offering ourselves to be something for everyone”, says Marcus. The restaurant once offered a weekend brunch menu, an over-the-counter service with a bakery display up front, and at that time - shared plates, a style of food that seems all too familiar now, but very foreign at the start. To some, it was a cafe serving interesting food with brunch on weekends; to others, it felt like a Malaysian restaurant but not. It took a full 2 years before he came to rethink the basic premise of why a restaurant exists.

Scaling back on efforts, he listened to why our most ardent supporters returned again and again, and it was beyond just culinary wizardry. Marcus shared, “That moment of reckoning came when we asked ourselves - what would it take to become your favourite restaurant?” To us, it meant placing hospitality at front and centre of how we operated. Simple gestures of acknowledging presence, or calling our guests by name are one of many examples. He is immensely proud of the lesson learnt from those early days & now imparts it even in higher education, with his recent appointment on the external advisory board to Sunway University’s School of Hospitality.

“As we saw the restaurant flourish with that perspective change, our team grew in size that required a north star, a common purpose to latch on that they could personally own it. I understood the gratification that came with creating a dish that people loved, or that someone would mention my name when complimenting my service. It was my restaurant, but I now wanted it to be our restaurant - a compelling reason for our employees to own their craft. It was reason enough to realize that as much as we were in the business of food & service, we’re actually really in the business of people.”

Lastly, Marcus says that the COVID pandemic has also reinforced the restaurant’s role in communities, and how our employees & our guests can be real momentum for change through the restaurant’s lens. “The soul of a restaurant is captured in its’ aspirations, which inevitably ends up with how we make you feel when you dine with us!” exclaims Marcus. 

“My own sense of purpose as a restaurateur has evolved over the years, and I’m most fortunate to have the opportunity to work with like-minded leaders in my organization who are better than I am at most things.We’ve reached a point where we’re able to look forward to mobilizing the talents within our team beyond the four walls of our restaurant and that they can carry the culture of hospitality into the industry as a whole.”

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