Today, Ya Kun is run by Ah Koon’s children. But it is no longer a one-stall business, having grown to 30 outlets in Singapore, with a presence in six other Asian countries. To its credit, Ya Kun has tried to retain the traditional feel of its first coffee stall by furnishing its outlets, wherever possible, with charming old-school wooden stools and tables. Menu-wise, nothing much has changed, save for additions such as ice-blended drinks to cater to today’s fads.

Visit the Ya Kun Kaya website though, and you will find it, um, as dry as toast.

The home page starts off interestingly enough, showing three posters done in the style of vintage French posters. One carries the cheeky headline, “Screw the French press, we’ve got the sock.” The hand of the younger generation of owners is evident here, as you would hardly expect old Ah Koon to dream up such posters. Here, the company could have provided an insight into Yakun’s traditional method of making coffee using a cheesecloth strainer shaped like a long sock. The posters are clever but incongruous with the staid, corporate feel of the website—which has maroon-colored page borders and offers the usual corporate information of "History," "Vision & Mission," "Accolades" and such.

Granted, a heartwarming story of Ya Kun’s history is in the "Genesis of Ya Kun" section. Photographs show Ya Kun’s early days in Telok Ayer Basin and of Ah Koon preparing coffee and toast. However, the blurry photographs used hardly do justice to the story, and might have been better used in a slideshow or even just displayed in a larger size.

The sections on Ya Kun’s menu and Ya Kun kaya also do not seem to have been given much thought. The photographs are simply not appealing to the eye. Visit almost any food blogger’s website and you are likely to find far more attractive photographs.

This is where one of Ya Kun’s competitors, Killiney Kopitiam, does one better. It has a glossary on its Menu page that explains its signature dishes and what goes into its kaya—very useful if you have never tried it!

There aren’t any news releases in the site’s "Press Statements" section. Instead, the section carries newspaper articles on the company. An opportunity to inform is once again lost as the articles are too small to read as they are, and were not saved in PDF format to enable visitors to click through to read them.

The "Franchise" section is quite comprehensive, though, giving you an idea who Ya Kun’s main target audience is. Here, interested parties can download a Franchise Enquiry Form in PDF format.

One can’t help but leave Ya Kun’s website hungry for more. It’s a good thing that a visit to an actual Ya Kun outlet satisfies every time.