All regarded candy on the surface, however the proprietor of Cafe Lilac was burning out internally
When Chanel Li misplaced her job as a cabin crew member throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, baking turned her escape. What started as a passion quickly went viral, and in 2022, she took the leap to open takeaway-only bakery Whisking Bakes, earlier than changing it right into a full-fledged dine-in Café Lilac.
The enterprise thrived—a lot in order that Chanel even baked for Korean pop icons like Tremendous Junior and IU. From the surface, the whole lot regarded excellent. Which was why it got here as a shock when, simply months after we featured her and the café in Apr 2025, Chanel introduced that the café would shut when its lease ends in Might 2026.
However behind the expansion and accolades, burnout had quietly crept in. Vulcan Submit catches up with Chanel to learn how the burnout manifested through the years and the lesser-known psychological challenges that entrepreneurs face to maintain their companies alive.
Burnout turned her pleasure right into a chore
Beginning a enterprise may be exhilarating, however the identical spark that fuels it could additionally eat. Café Lilac was open seven days per week, with Chanel overseeing each job, from baking to advertising. The relentless grind quickly took a toll, and he or she finally determined to rent extra workers to share the workload.
That alternative eased the bodily calls for however shifted her duties to the components of the enterprise she loved least—funds and administration. “Truthfully, I simply don’t take pleasure in that,” she admitted. “So operating the enterprise turned extra unfun.”
Even buyer interplay, as soon as her favorite a part of the job, started to really feel draining. With workers dealing with routine enquiries, Chanel discovered herself coping with the hardest and nastiest complaints—even on her days off.
On a visit to South Korea together with her mom, Chanel spent an hour on the Gangnam bus terminal fielding insults from an irate buyer over a cake order. “My mother needed to sit in a café and wait whereas I stood there with my baggage, speaking on the cellphone,” she recalled. A partial refund resolved the scenario, however the sting lingered.
Encounters like this weren’t uncommon. Within the F&B business, the each day accumulation of sad clients can weigh closely. But, enterprise homeowners additionally know they will’t merely shut their doorways when they’re exhausted. Consideration is available in waves, and income throughout busy seasons typically retains them afloat in slower months.
“When you consider a job or profession, typically folks would say to do one thing you like, proper? Flip what you like into one thing that you’ll earn you cash, and also you received’t really feel such as you’re working a day. However I want to refute that.”
“I don’t suppose that’s actually true as a result of sooner or later, when the factor that you just love turns into the one supply of earnings for your self, and when it’s at some extent the place it’s additionally the supply of earnings for different folks, and you’re liable for that, then it’s very completely different.”
A lonely weight to hold
Because the boss, Chanel had nobody to show to when issues went improper. At 23, most of her friends had been nonetheless in class or working company jobs, unable to narrate.
“You [also] can’t complain [to your staff] and say ‘oh this month we’re not doing as effectively, I’m feeling confused, are we going to have the ability to make sufficient cash?’ as a result of you may’t trigger panic with them.”
Even making certain the café continues its clean operations piled on strain. Housed in an outdated HDB block at Lavender, the unit’s defective wiring precipitated weekly energy journeys, typically mid-service. Chanel invested 1000’s in repairs, however when the issue endured, the city council and her landlord stopped helping her.
“The subsequent step is to essentially like cease operations, tear out the ceiling and redo the whole lot, which would require yet one more large sum,” lamented Chanel.
The mounting stress pushed her to search for new areas, however the search was disheartening. After a number of rejections and a disastrous unit viewing, she lastly reached her breaking level.
“It turned some extent the place the quantity of revenue I used to be incomes from the cafe was not definitely worth the quantity of stress I must bear.”
“It’s both I take the danger and go someplace that may value much more, which signifies that the stress will enhance extra on me as a result of I must then make sure that I can’t slack off. I’ve to maintain working more durable to make it possible for the gross sales will be capable of cowl no matter prices we now have. And in relation to that time, it feels very dreadful.”
Even with help from her husband and long-time workers, Chanel felt responsible about closing. “It felt like I had no proper to surrender,” she confessed. In desperation, she turned to an unlikely outlet—ChatGPT.
“I used it like a therapist,” she laughed. “It advised me ‘I suppose you already know the reply in your coronary heart already. It’s simply that the cafe has at all times been your security internet. So do you wish to proceed with a life simply residing in security or do you wish to take the braveness to step on the market?’”
That perspective gave her readability, and with sufficient financial savings put aside, Chanel gathered the braveness to formally announce Café Lilac’s closure in the beginning of Sept.
Discovering the fitting steadiness
Trying again, Chanel has no regrets. She nonetheless loves baking and low, simply with out the relentless strain of operating a café.
Her priorities have shifted too. In her early 20s, safety meant chasing most income. Now, as she approaches her 30s, she appears to construct a household and dwell a slower-paced life together with her husband.
For different entrepreneurs, Chanel stresses that keenness alone shouldn’t be sufficient, and there must be emotional boundaries set to stop one from being over-consumed by their ambition. “I believe our society now, we are sometimes advised that doing extra is healthier than doing much less. So I believe everybody can be certain to face burnout.”
Chanel advises considering fastidiously about easy methods to construction your online business so it really works for you, not the opposite approach round. That may imply cutting down hours, simplifying choices, or limiting peak-season commitments to make the operation extra sustainable.
Delegating duties, even ones you dislike, can can help you give attention to the components of the enterprise the place you really add worth. “Should you’re at some extent that you just’re already burnt out, however the enterprise nonetheless must proceed, then you should settle for much less in different areas to have extra for your self, like extra time and relaxation, however much less income and earnings,” stated Chanel
Since asserting the closure, Chanel has paradoxically seen orders surge and a rise in folks visiting her cafe. Greater than 20 enterprise takeover gives additionally got here in, however as an alternative of speeding, she’s taking her time.
For as soon as, the timeline is hers to manage, and that has helped her regain the happiness she had misplaced.
After spending her 20s constructing Whisking Bakes and Café Lilac, Chanel is prepared for the following chapter outdoors of the F&B business. And for different entrepreneurs, her story is a reminder that generally, figuring out easy methods to tempo your self is one of the simplest ways to maintain what you like.
Be taught extra about Cafe Lilac right here.
Learn extra tales we’ve written on Singaporean companies right here.
Featured Picture Credit score: Cafe Lilac
