Steven Tan: ‘2025 is going to be a good year for us, I’m declaring it’
I’ll say ‘Kung Hei Fat Choi’ and you will say you receive so you’ll receive the fortune, the luck,” said Conrad Manila’s executive Chinese chef Eng Yew Khor.
We were at China Blue by Jereme Leung for a special lunch hosted by Steven Tan, president of SM Supermalls. “I’d like to greet everyone a Happy New Year. Kung Hei Fat Choi! 2025 is going to be a good year for us, I’m declaring it,” Tan told his guests, a mix of tenants and members of the media.
This Chinese New Year gathering has become an annual tradition for Tan and his team. “It’s an opportune time magkamustahan, to ask, ‘How’s business?’ Since it’s the start of the year, if they have plans and programs, they could share it with us and we can also share our plans with them,” he told Lifestyle.
Tan had exciting news for everyone. “We have a lot of new projects that we will be launching. We are opening three malls, one in La Union, which is going to be very different. We’ll also be opening in Laoag and we’re putting up a big one in Zamboanga.”
He continued, “Mall of Asia is already at the tail end of redevelopment, where you would have a FIFA-sized football field with pickle balls and tennis courts. Mall of Asia has already completely changed from when we opened last 2006.”
This year, invited tenants include Sharyn Wong, country general manager of Estée Lauder; Xandra Ramos-Padilla, vice president of National Book Store; Miguel Celdran, managing director of Green Tee Inc., the official retailer for Nike in the country; Ana Lorenzana de Ocampo, CEO and president of the Wildflour Group; Eric “Cheeno” Dee, COO of the FooDee Global Concepts, whose brands include Tim Ho Wan, Mesa, Kam’s Roast, Hawker Chan, Llaollao, and more; Quito Lopez, vice president, store development of Starbucks Philippines; Annabelle and Peter Chua, chief finance officer and chief executive officer of HTCG Premium Food Concepts. Inc, who run Lugang Cafe, TuanTuan Chinese Brasserie, and TuanTuan Kitchen; and Kai Lim of Suyen Corporation, the company behind Bench, Human, Kashieca, Cotton On, and other brands.
Prosperity toss
All the guests gathered around tables for the Prosperity Toss. Chef Khor prepared the Yu Sheng or Yee Sang, explaining the meaning of each ingredient as he added it to the colorful salad. Fish, so everything will be smooth. Peanuts with sesame seeds because it looks like gold sand. Onion oil means no problems, everything can be fixed. Crackers for celebration. The chef wielded two ang pao envelopes—one containing five-spice, the other white pepper powder, also symbols of good things. Then he drizzled Yu Sheng sauce over everything. He talked as he poured, sharing that it’s sweet and sticky, so everyone will stick together and be happy.
It was time to toss. “Wish for everything you would like,” the chef said.
Chopsticks in hand, we tossed the Yu Sheng as high as we could, as Khor said “Lo hei!” and “Kung Hei Fat Choi!” and repeated our wishes: good health, wealth, good sales, more fortune.
Then we got some of the Yu Sheng and brought it back to our seats on little plates. Oh yes, this salad isn’t just auspicious, it’s delicious, too. And it was just the start of our beautiful meal at China Blue.
For appetizers we had deep-fried seafood dumplings that were shaped like pineapples; dumplings stuffed with steamed shrimp, mushroom kuchay, and salted egg; and vegetarian goose rolls. The tasty double-boiled coconut soup with wintermelon and seafood came in a halved coconut shell. The meal continued with stir-fried beef tenderloin with fresh bamboo shoots and assorted fresh mushrooms in a garlic XO sauce and also steamed cod fillet with black olives, garlic, and golden signature sauce. Then we had signature seafood XO fried rice with sakura.
Forecast
As we dug into our dessert—peach sorbet with guava jelly and peach gum—geomancer Patrick Lim Fernandez presented his forecast for the Year of the Wood Snake.
“There was a big race years ago. The emperor told the animals, ‘The order in which you arrive will be the order I’ll put you in the zodiac.’ No. 1 was the rat, no. 2 the ox, no. 3 the rabbit. The snake and the horse have an interesting story.”
Fernandez shared that the snake looked around its competition and realized it could not outrun them so it decided to wrap itself around the leg of the horse. “Just before it got to the finish line, the snake jumped, the horse was startled, and the snake finished no. 6 and the horse no. 7. What does this teach us about this year? This year is all about collaboration.”
Fernandez said that in 2025, we would find luck through working with others. This year, it’s also important to be flexible and adaptable. Focus on deep and long-term thinking. “Don’t just plan for the next six months, 12 months, think about the next three years, five years, 10 years,” Fernandez said.
He continued, “The last thing is about patience. Not everything will happen right away. Things will take time, and one of the traits of the snake is patience. So don’t be frustrated if things aren’t going quite as fast as you want it to.”
The water and metal industries will be particularly lucky this year. “Under the water industry are hospitality, travel, beverages, supermarkets, trading and logistics and sales, anything that has to do with aquatics, hygiene, cleaning, analytics, anything where you’re able to use your analytical mind to solve problems that will also be useful. Metal industries are banking, finance, the automobile industry, machinery, jewelry, the armed forces, beauty products, medical and dental.”
Wealth and success
Fernandez then gave the forecast for the animal signs, handing out citrine stones, a symbol of wealth and success, to one person of each sign. Tan is a Rooster, and Fernandez said, “It’s going to be a good year for him career-wise because a lot of the things he’s worked on for the past years, even decades, will come to fruition this year.”
Roosters have the General Star this year as well, which symbolizes power, authority, and influence.
Hanna Carinna Sy, SM Supermalls’ assistant vice president for special events and tenant marketing, was born in the Year of the Pig. “Make sure your passport is up to date. This is a good time to travel,” Fernandez said about her sign.
Sy told Lifestyle, “Steven reacted [when he heard that] because he and my dad have been pushing me to go to China. So that’s going to be part of my 2025.”
Sy is the daughter of Hans Sy, chairman of SM Prime Holdings, and it was her dad who also convinced her to join the company. She had been going to university in Australia and was on a break in the Philippines when the pandemic started. She was going to be stuck in the country for a while so her dad said—why not go to work? “My first day of work was March 16, 2020. Then, the next day, lockdown na,” she recalled.
Almost five years later, she’s still working at SM Supermalls—and she loves it. “Ever since I was a kid, I would tag along with my dad. I’ve always seen what he does, and I always told myself, ‘you know, I can see myself doing that.’ I love it. I love the work that I do. In marketing, I get to do events, I get to meet people, I make things happen. I get to meet the tenants and all our partners. It’s fun.”
This year, she will also be exploring new things at work, she said. “I’m also expanding my role to mall operations.” And yes, she will be going to China. She also plans to spend time with friends and family. “I studied abroad so I was away for around seven years. In the last few years, I’ve slowly been reconnecting with people.”
Double-digit growth
2024 had been a great year for SM Supermalls, Tan told Lifestyle.
“We had a double-digit growth the whole year. We’re very happy about it and we’re very optimistic about 2025 as well.”
The upcoming elections will mean a lot of spending, something that’s good for retailers, Tan shared. He’s excited about the opening of the three new malls and the launch of Mall of Asia’s football field which will happen in a month or two.
We asked: What else excites him about 2025? “SM Supermalls will be celebrating its 40th anniversary. The brand is already 67 years old because it started as a small shoe store, but the first mall opened in 1985—SM North Edsa.”
They have exciting things planned for this milestone. “We have important global speakers that we’re flying in. We’ve arranged a lot of things to celebrate our 40th year,” Tan said.
He’s grateful for everyone who has supported SM Supermalls through the years. “We wouldn’t be here without the support of our shoppers and our tenants. The mall is nothing without the tenants, it’s just four walls and a roof. The tenants are really the soul of our shopping center.”
This Lunar New Year, Tan has a message for everyone: “I want to wish everyone Kung Hei Fat Choi. May the Year of the Snake give you good health and prosperity.”
