Benjamin Yong, the CEO of The BIG Group, is widely credited for transforming Malaysia’s F&B scene by introducing a new restaurant concept with his innovative Delicious restaurant back in 2004, inspiring a surge of homegrown cafés and restaurants, and re-energising the industry.

Yong has a strong background in retail—his father was one of the main driving forces behind the Metrojaya department store while his mother is the founder of Ms Read. Inspired by Melbourne’s multi-cultural restaurant scene and his love for café culture from his student days, Yong’s first foray into the F&B was a humble café in his mother’s clothing store.

Encouraged by the positive feedback for his moist carrot cake, scones and chocolate cake, he opened his first standalone restaurant, Delicious, which did roaring business. After selling the Delicious chain of restaurants, he formed The BIG Group in 2011, and steadily rolled out more innovative food concepts like Plan B, BEAST, Ben’s General Food Store and Ben’s Bake Shop. In 2011, he even went into the grocery business, which he later sold to focus on the F&B side of the business.

The serial entrepreneur is married to Elizabeth Lee, and together they have two children.