If you’re a regular visitor to Kilo Orchard, you might be familiar with Seraphina, who is a partner and general manager at our outlet in PACT. We’re sure that Sera would be more than happy to strike up a conversation with anybody who walks through the doors, but we thought we’d break the ice by sharing a little more about her.
Why and how did you decide to join the Kilo family?
I used to go to Raw Kitchen Bar in Bukit Timah (that was the original Kilo, of sorts) about five years ago, and at that point I had just come back from New York. I was in New York for about a year and I was meeting all these F&B people and really kind of getting into the food scene there. So when I came back I thought, “Yeah, that’s what I’ll do.” I wouldn’t say I was a frequent diner at Raw — I went there quite sporadically, I think once every two or three months, but it was actually through a mutual friend that I met Javier. I told this friend that I kinda wanted to get into F&B, and he said, why don’t you speak to Javier? And so he put me in touch. The original plan was for me to maybe work at Kilo, when they were just starting up, for about three months, and then I would go to culinary school back in New York.
So you have a passion for cooking, not just eating? You’re interested in the preparation and everything that goes into cooking?
Yeah. I mean I am, but I never really pursued that, you know? Some part of me wishes I did, but don’t ask me to make any food if you want to survive! So after that I eventually ended up just staying at Kilo Kallang, and this space at Orchard Central came up and Javier said, do you want to work on this? Of course I jumped at the chance, and so here we are today.
What are some of the challenges you’ve faced during this journey, and how did you overcome them?
F&B is not easy, you know! It’s really tricky and I think one of the hard things that we faced at Kilo Orchard is the fact that we have so many partners within Pact, so it’s about gelling that together with all the other brands to come up with something. I think we went initially went through a lot of struggles with that, but eventually what we really want to focus on now is Kilo and just strengthening the brand here.
To you, how is Kilo Orchard different from Kilo Kallang?
It’s very different, I think in terms of the crowd and location. It’s in the city so you get a very different kind of crowd here. We definitely have a focus on the day crowd, but I also feel that the space changes at night, in terms of how it looks when the light is dimmer and everything; it’s more relaxed and chill. So we do still channel Kilo Kallang, in a way. But I’m hoping to see how we can change up the space a little bit, and see how we can make it a bit more different from Kilo Kallang; maybe offer people different things.
Basically how do you want people to feel when they step into Kilo Orchard?
I think it has to be very welcoming, very chill, very casual. If you come here on the weekends you see a lot of people dressed in shorts and slippers; they don’t have to feel that this is town and you have to dress up. It’s just very casual and I think that’s Kilo in general, that kind of vibe. So yeah, basically just feel like they’re in their own space to have some good food and good vibes.
What is Kilo to you, personally?
Good music, good conversations, good food, you know — just fun times with your friends!