“Music is one part of my life, but now I’m a premium fruit specialist,” Olinda Cho tells us earnestly. We never expect the Singapore Idol alum to utter this. After all, she first shot to fame as a 24-year-old finalist in the inaugural season of the singing competition in 2004, and has never stopped singing. In 2017, she joined Chinese contest Sing! China and impressed Jay Chou by belting out a powerful rendition of his song ‘Secret’.

Now 40, Olinda is finally ready to take on other things besides music. “I lepak-ed a lot in my life,” she confesses in a chat with 8days.sg. “But in the past few years I felt like, hey, I’ve this adulting thing down pat. I need to grow in other areas too. I indulged in music for too long, and I don’t want to be known only as Oli the singer.”

When the entertainment industry slowed down at the start of the Covid-19 pandemic last year, Olinda decided to partner her friend Freda Poh (right), 30, to set up a home-based business hawking fruits.

The concept is not exactly random, as Freda is a third-generation fruit seller; her grandfather, mother and aunts were all in the trade before they stopped running their stores in Siglap. “I met Fred when she was a manager for one of my shows. During the Circuit Breaker period there were no shows, but I felt I needed to do something ’cos I was so bored at home,” recounts Olinda.

The duo quickly set up their online shop called 888seasons, which specialises in premium fruits like Shizuoka melons. The produce is mostly imported from Japan, Korea and Taiwan, and targets a market niche of well-heeled gourmands like Olinda herself. “I used to travel to Japan and spend a lot of money on fruits. So now if you cannot go Japan, I bring Japan to you. But at a reasonable price lah!” she exclaims. There are some non-premium fruits too, which Olinda says are offered based on seasonal availability.

Initially, she worked quietly behind the scenes picking fruits, packing them and sending out orders (well, until 8days.sg discovered her new career). “I never wanted to associate myself with 888seasons. Like, ‘Look, look, I opened this’. There’s no point in doing that, ’cos music and fruits tak connect lah!” she guffaws.

But the one link between making music and selling fruits is that they both allow the gregarious Olinda to “connect with human beings”. And you’d want her to metaphorically hold your hand as you consider a $280 bunch of Ruby Roman grapes, a ping pong ball-sized Japanese varietal that’s prized for its intense sweetness and low acidity.

“There are some crazy prices here,” quips Olinda candidly, though she doesn’t recommend newbie customers to go straight for the Ruby Roman. The journey to savouring expensive fruits, it seems, is kinda like wine appreciation. “I tell them to take it slow. Don’t buy the $280 grapes first. Start with [the relatively lower-priced] $18 grapes, and once they can appreciate its smell and taste, they can enjoy the process [of eating $280 grapes] more,” she explains.

Olinda prides herself on being honest with her customers, something which she learnt from her father, a businessman. “I did ask my parents if I should start [888seasons]. They have their own businesses, and they were very encouraging. They said I’m never too old to learn something new. My father always told me to do an honest business, and my mum told me to always work hard,” she shares.

She reckons honesty is the best policy when it comes to dealing with difficult customers. She muses, “I don’t believe in yelling and shouting. I believe everything can be resolved. If it’s my fault, I’ll replace the goods right away. But if you buy oranges and leave them out there for five days [before making a complaint], then I cannot help you lah.”

While Olinda strives to offer the best fruits, she’s also forthcoming about falling short sometimes. “If you eat a $90 strawberry and a $4 one and they all taste the same, then I have failed you (laughs). But I try my very best. I take care of my customers and the trust is there,” she chirps.

888seasons did well enough that Olinda and Freda opened a spacious physical store three months ago. “We didn’t expect things to reach this scale, but the timing felt right and the numbers made sense,” says Olinda. The insta-worthy space, located in an industrial building in Hougang, is all done up in pink.

There’s also a rest area in the shop, which serves as a relaxation zone for Olinda and her customers. If you’re feeling uninspired, you can engage Olinda’s ‘personal fruit shopper’ service, where she helps you curate a list of fruits that match your palate and budget. “Oranges and strawberries are my favourite. If you want to know about citruses, ask me! I’m the expert!” she laughs. She also occasionally brings in Mao Shan Wang durians, but “only if I can secure a good batch, and not just ’cos it’s in season”.

Orders have been so brisk over the CNY period that she has been ending work at 2am every day. “It’s a happy problem. I don’t mind working overtime. It’s my own business, my baby. I wouldn’t be so obsessed otherwise,” she shares.

An avid baker, she uses the Japanese bananas she sells to make banana bread. “I’m very obsessed with my baking. If my weighing scale is off by 0.01g, I’m like oh no, it’s all wrong. The standards I have for myself are very high,” she says. But she has no plans to sell her baked goods for now. “It’s hard to put a price on it,” she explains. “If people tell me it’s not nice, I’ll be very sad (laughs). It’s not like selling fruits, ’cos I didn’t grow those fruits from scratch.”​​​​​​​

Back in 2004: Olinda during her Singapore Idol days in a photoshoot for 8 Days magazine.

She’s still very self-disciplined about her music, and practises singing a list of songs across different genres every night. “I’d check if I can still hit all the notes. It doesn’t matter if I improve only by a bit, but I keep at it consistently. I don’t just chiong and flatline (laughs),” she quips. She’s also still in touch with her fellow Singapore Idol contestants, like “Maia [Lee], Beverly [Morata], Daphne [Khoo], Christopher [Michael Lee] and Sylvester [Sim]”.

Next, Olinda is planning to open an outlet for 888seasons where customers can savour fruits on the spot. She says, “It’s not a cafe, though I want to explore that. Then I may sell my famous banana bread!”

888seasons, #01-01/02 Primax Building, 22 New Industrial Rd, S536208. Tel: 9794-8289. Open Mon-Sat 11am-7pm. www.888seasons.com.

PHOTOS: OLINDA CHO/ 888SEASONS