At this new cafe for pets and their owners, a young baker with autism serves his goodies made with love

At new cafe Bailey & Patch, pets have equal standing with humans as there’s a menu just for them, including items like a doggie “economy rice” – and they can even get a bath and a blowout at the same time.

But, that’s not all that’s warm and fuzzy about the 100-seater located at Enabling Village.

Bailey & Patch is the first establishment in Singapore to combine a pet-friendly cafe and pet grooming centre with training opportunities for persons with disabilities.

At the on-site grooming centre, which opens May 1, basic training courses will be offered for persons with disabilities. They will perform bathing and drying duties under the supervision of certified groomers, who will then handle the grooming in a separate room, said founder Kevin Chee, 50, who named the cafe after his two dogs.

Grooming services are offered not just for canines and felines but also for rabbits, guinea pigs and birds.

Chee added that many people with disabilities have spent their whole lives being taken care of by others, and when they in turn get to take care of an animal, it is empowering. Even if only a small percentage of students complete the course, he considers that a success.

The opportunity to open the cafe came along when he learned that Enabling Village had an available space. “We felt that being a cafe alone would not drive a lot of traffic here, so we needed to turn it into something a little bit different,” he said, adding that these days, many people are putting a lot of time, effort and money into their pets.

He also felt that serving affordable Asian food was the way to go. Bailey & Patch’s menu for humans has items like Ayam Berempah Nasi Lemak (S$10.80), Tornado Curry Chicken with Rice (S$9.80), Sesame Oil Claypot Chicken (S$12.80) and local kopi and teh.

What’s not to be missed are the sweet treats by “Baker Ben”.

Benedict Tein is a baker with autism who leads the cafe’s pastry programme. He personally bakes walnut brownies, biscoff brownies, chocolate tarts with matcha ganache, cookies in various flavours and even doggie cookies here at the cafe.

Baking “is therapeutic and I enjoy it”, he told us. He also loves dogs and wants to have one of his own in future.

Tein, who will be turning 20 later this year, is at the cafe almost daily – he has one day off per week – and does his baking job with the support of his mother, Elvina Lee, 55, who is also working there in a part-time role until he finds his footing.

The young baker told us, “I need to earn a living to take care of papa and mama when they are old.” Turning to his mother, he said, “I want you to be rich and have a lot of money.”

At the age of six, Tein started baking with his mum, who tried out an easy recipe for cupcakes so he could take them to school to share. “I started to learn baking and cooking for his sake: I learned about what not to eat, preservatives, colouring, reducing sugar and using natural ingredients,” Lee said.

At first, “He had a lot of sensory issues – he thought it was too hot in the kitchen, and sticky, and he felt everything was dirty,” she recalled.

But, she thought it was important to help him learn to use kitchen equipment so he could prepare food like prata, hash browns and fish fingers on his own.

When he entered Secondary One, she noticed he was enjoying kitchen work more and more.

Now, “he can cook three dishes and a soup. He can make curry, pork ribs, braised pork belly and all kinds of vegetables. He can even scale a fish better than I can.”

She explained: “He’s not very good academically, so I think life skills are more important for him. That's why I’ve trained him a lot since he was young – I get him involved in everything at home, from cleaning up to ironing and cooking. He is better at folding clothes than I am.”

She can tell he loves baking as after several years, “he still continues to bake, staying in the kitchen for hours”.

And, because he enjoyed baking, “he learned to overcome a lot of things”, she said, such as aversions to certain foods and rigidities in preferences.

In 2021, she started an online business for him called Bakes By Ben. “I thought, ‘If he can't study, what else can I do to teach him self-reliance and the ability to be independent when I'm not around? I’d better start now, while I'm fit.’”

Supporters rallied. “We got many orders, especially at Christmas and Chinese New Year,” she shared.

It was also a growth opportunity as “I trained him in in packaging food, measuring, payment, cleaning up, throwing rubbish away, flexibility and doing everything by himself from start to finish”. She also had him make handwritten labels for customers, which helped him develop more awareness.

But, it was challenging, as she had to take care of all aspects of the business including marketing.

Working at a cafe is “a good platform for him to interact with more people”, she said. “He can also learn to serve customers. In the years to come, I think that will help him gain more confidence. And having a network is very important for his future.”

She added: “We are not doing this not because I want him to be a baker. It’s about life skills. In baking, how you measure, plan and execute is very important. I think baking and cooking have really helped him a lot in being adaptable to many things, and in reasoning, planning and executive function.”

He’s only had one mishap in the kitchen: When he put some ganache in the fridge and it spilled when he opened it again later. “I always teach him about safety in the kitchen, like knife placement and how to manage hot water. He can do it all by himself. So, the confidence is there, which leads to him being more in control. I think he’s very calm; he hardly has meltdowns.”

Still, “There’s a long way to go. He’s just 20 years old,” she said. “He’s a very caring boy. He knows how to take care of me. If I need medicine, he knows how to bring it to me. If I want a coffee, he knows how to make me one.” He can even do latte art.

“My worry is, after I pass on, who will take care of him? Is he able to be independent? Especially when it comes to money – even if we leave him a lot, can he manage it? I want him to get a stable job and employment because then you’re able to connect with society; be part of society, and be within a community. It really helps with mental wellness. Even normal people can’t stay at home forever.”

Bailey & Patch is at 20 Lengkok Bahru #01-17, Enabling Village Academy Block.