Owner of Haus Coffee apologises, steps down over late salary payment & mismanagement allegations

Following allegations of mismanagement, including repeated late payments of staff salary, the owner of Haus Coffee has apologised and announced in a Sep. 26 Instagram post that he will be stepping down from the business.

The coffee and streetwear shop, located in Golden Mile Tower, previously said in a Sep. 17 post that it will be closed temporarily to "sort out internal matters".

In the lead-up to the owner's apology, there had been murmurings on social media alleging mismanagement.

Apology

The apology was signed off by Tan Junyu, the owner of Haus Coffee.

In it, Tan admitted to his "reckless lifestyle and habits" which have caused "great inconvenience and disappointment" to the employees, customers and collaborators of Haus Coffee, as well as friends and family.

Tan also admitted to the late payment of employee salaries "despite several reminders".

"On several occasions, my employees even had to use money out of their own pockets to pay for stock, as I was irresponsible in making the appropriate arrangements to ensure the store had enough supplies to operate," Tan wrote.

Tan also admitted to late payment to parties who had consigned their goods at Rookies, which is described as a "clothing store" located together with Haus Coffee.

The owner then addressed complaints of poor service and apologised to customers.

New management, who will oversee everything from recruitment to finances, has been installed at Haus Coffee, he continued.

Tan also expressed regret, saying that he knows an apology is insufficient and that he would like to "make things right again".

Rumours

Prior to Tan's apology, allegations of late payment to staff and suppliers surfaced on social media, such as the Reddit forum.

Similar allegations were made by users on the Instagram post in which Haus Coffee announced its temporary closure.

One Reddit user alleged that most of Haus Coffee's staff had been students.

A screenshot, purportedly from a social media post by the owner's business partner and former girlfriend, also circulated online.

In it, she accused the Haus Coffee owner of "unethical business practices" such as passing off replica apparel as authentic ones.

She also accused the owner of cheating on "business trips" and misappropriating company funds, all while being unable to pay staff salary, supplier invoices and rent.

Haus Coffee was established in December 2024. Besides being housed at its Golden Mile Tower storefront, Haus Coffee had also made appearances as a pop-up store at events across the country.

Backlash on apology

Tan's apology, which has since been shared about 6,000 times on Instagram, received backlash.

Users took issue with the fact that he began his apology with "we f*cked up", with a number suggesting that Tan should not use the pronoun "we" if it was he alone who erred.

One user, who claimed to have consigned goods at Rookies, asked for clarity on next steps and who from the business to reach out to following the management change.

"Internal management change without a timeline isn't reassuring," the user wrote.