Ya Kun Kaya Toast

Ya Kun Kaya Toast
亚坤加椰面包

The logo of Ya Kun Kaya Toast contains Chinese calligraphy of the company name.
Type	Private
Industry	Food and Beverage
Founded	Telok Ayer Basin, Singapore 1944; 73 years ago (1944))
Founder	Loi Ah Koon
Headquarters	237 Alexandra Road, Singapore
Area served	Cambodia, China, Indonesia, Japan, Myanmar, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, Philippines, United Arab Emirates
Key people	Adrin Loi (Executive chairman) Algie Loi
Products	Kaya Toast
Number of employees	300 (As of 2012)
Website	Official website

Coordinates: 1°18′N 103°48′E / 1.3°N 103.8°E / 1.3; 103.8

Ya Kun Kaya Toast (Simplified Chinese: 亚坤加椰面包) is a Singaporean chain of mass-market, retro-ambience cafes selling toast products (notably kaya toast), soft-boiled eggs and coffee. Founded by Loi Ah Koon in 1944, Ya Kun remained a small family-run stall for decades, but have expanded rapidly since Loi's youngest son headed the business in 1999. They have over fifty outlets, mostly franchised, across six countries, and are a Singaporean cultural icon, known for their traditional brand identity and conservative, people-centric corporate culture.

In 1926, Loi Ah Koon (黎亚坤) emigrated from Hainan to Singapore, where he worked as a coffee-stall assistant, then started a stall selling coffee, crackers and toast at Telok Ayer Basin, together with two other immigrants, who later dropped out, leaving him to run the stall alone. He married while visiting relatives in Hainan and after his wife settled down with him in Singapore, she suggested cutting each slice of bread into half and combining the toast with her homemade kaya, which created their signature kaya toast. Registered in 1944 as Ya Kun Coffeestall (Ya Kun being Ah Koon in Hanyu Pinyin), the stall gradually developed a reputation for delicious kaya toast and friendly service. The couple, their eight children and seven other families lived in a three-storey shophouse across the road, where the Hong Leong Building now stands, and as the children grew up, they helped stir the kaya, run errands, charcoal-grill the bread and eventually, manage the stall.