More than sixty years ago, two brothers Chew Choo Keng and Chew Choo Han left their village in Fujian, China in their late teens to come to Singapore. Full of aspirations and eager to eke out a living to support their family in China, they found work in a local biscuit factory.

However, their happiness was short-lived as the Japanese invaded Singapore soon after, forcing the two brothers to seek refuge in Perak, Malaysia where they made biscuits by hand for sale until flour and sugar could no longer be sourced. There was a market demand for salt, so they turned to making salt from sea water to sell. As soap was also in short supply, experiments to make soap from ashes were done until they also had soap to sell, all in an effort to continue their war-time livelihood.