SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE, BUILDING AND DESIGN FOUNDATION IN NATURAL BUILD ENVIRONMENT PRESENTATION TITLE: Comparison of Porridge Business in Melaka and Klang Valley GROUP MEMBERS: Names Presentation / Research Report Roles. Cherilyn Chia Qiao Xin (0321986) Compilation, about the trade, description of businesses, interview questions & answers Chan Yi Fung (0323057) History of rice porridge, nature of market, comparative analysis, appendices Chin Shee Wei (0322499) Hon Kee’s competitors, summary table, comparative analysis, presentation slides Kok Xuan Ying (0322929) Key summary, recommendation, presentation slides Soo Yon Li (0322821) Long Fatt’s competitors, comparative analysis, conclusion Yang Jing Loo (0323066) Comparative analysis, minutes of the meeting, artistic cover, video editing ENGLISH 2 (ELG 30605) LECTURER: CASSANDRA WIJESURIA SUBMISSION & PRESENTATION DATE: 25 th November 2015 Taylor’s University I SABD I FNBE 0115/0815 I English 2 I Research Report 2
Transcript
SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE, BUILDING AND DESIGN
FOUNDATION IN NATURAL BUILD ENVIRONMENT
PRESENTATION TITLE: Comparison of Porridge Business in Melaka and Klang Valley
GROUP MEMBERS:
Names Presentation / Research Report Roles.
Cherilyn Chia Qiao Xin (0321986) Compilation, about the trade, description of businesses, interview questions & answers
Chan Yi Fung (0323057) History of rice porridge, nature of market, comparative analysis, appendices
Kok Xuan Ying (0322929) Key summary, recommendation, presentation slides
Soo Yon Li (0322821) Long Fatt’s competitors, comparative analysis, conclusion
Yang Jing Loo (0323066) Comparative analysis, minutes of the meeting, artistic cover, video editing
ENGLISH 2 (ELG 30605)
LECTURER: CASSANDRA WIJESURIA
SUBMISSION & PRESENTATION DATE: 25th November 2015
Taylor’s University I SABD I FNBE 0115/0815 I English 2 I Research Report 2
TABLE OF CONTENTS
No. Title Page Number
1 Artistic Cover 1
2 Cover Page 2
3 Table of Content 3
4 Key Summary 4
5 Research Report
i. History of the Tradeii. Description of the Businesses
- Long Fatt Teochew Porridge- Hon Kee Famous Porridge
iii. Comparative Analysis
5-7
8-17
18-23
6 Recommendations 24-25
7 Appendices 26-44
8 Bibliography 45
9 References 46
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Key Summary
Placed into a group of six people, we are required to study and compare two
businesses of similar industry in different geographical locations, one in Klang Valley
and another in Malacca. Our group had selected to analyse porridge industry and the
chosen businesses are Long Fatt Teochew Porridge in Malacca and Hon Kee
Famous Porridge in Petaling Street. Both businesses have three-generations-history
but the type of porridge sold are different. The nature of their market, pricing,
customers, competitors and marketing strategies differ to one another.
Methodology
Preliminary research
Brief research on the background of the chosen industry and businesses were done
through printed materials and internet. This is done to obtain the general information
on the topic and to prepare an effective interview questions for each business.
Data Collection
Face-to-face interviews were conducted with both the third-generation owner of the
respective business during our visits to the shops, equipped with necessities such as
a camera for video recording and taking pictures, mobile phone for additional voice
recording and interview questions.
Data Analysis
After completing the interview and research from secondary sources specifically
books and internet, the data were further analysed, tabulated and arranged
accordingly. Each group members work on a certain sub-topics and compiled
together later on. Lastly, the report were edited as a whole to ensure that it contained
the most accurate data and error free.
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History of Rice Porridge
Rice Porridge, also knowng as congee, is famous among the Asian countries.
The famous Yellow Emperor (Huang Ti), is the first person that cooked porridge with
millet as the ingredient. It is the earliest porridge recorded in history. In China history,
porridge was served as breakfast, lunch and dinner depending on the family’s
income. Porridge is suitable for breakfast and late supper as it is a very light food. It
can be produced in a large quantity with small amount of rice. Low income families
have porridge for lunch and dinner, while medium and high income family have rice
instead of porridge.
Han Chinese came to Malacca in the early 15th century until the 1990s. The
culture of eating rice porridge was brought in when the third wave of Chinese
migrated here to work in mines and rubber estates.
In Malaysia, rice porridge is usually rice boiled with chicken stock and served
with chicken slice, century egg, and other side dishes. Porridge is rice boiled with
water for hours and with additional ingredients depending on one’s personal flavour.
Examples of these ingredients include chicken slices, seafood, minced pork, century
egg and salted egg.
There are numerous types of porridge cooking style, mainly Cantonese and
Teo Chew.
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The Cantonese style rice porridge is the most common in Malaysia.
Cantonese rice porridge called “Chog”. Cantonese rice porridge can be found in
Chinese restaurant “zhao lau”, Dim Sum restaurants and Chinese hawker centre.
There are three common cooking style of Cantonese rice porridge, which are boiling,
Dayton and steaming (steam rice porridge are rare to find). Cantonese rice porridge
are thicker in form compared to others. The Cantonese rice porridge we usually eat
is boiled with chicken stock and other ingredients. Dayton rice porridge can only be
found in Cantonese restaurant as it takes hours to cook. Cantonese rice porridge are
usually serve with dough, also known as “you tiao”.
Teo Chew rice porridge comes with numerous side dishes. The Teo Chew
rice porridge are simpler in terms of rice porridge. Teo Chew rice porridge looks like
a mixture of rice and water. The shape of the rice is visible in Teo Chew porridge.
Some porridges might contain sweet potato to make the porridge taste sweet. The
side dishes for Teo Chew rice porridge mainly consists of braised dishes such as
duck, pork (organ), egg, tofu. The soy sauce for braised dishes contain spices like
galangal, ginger, garlic cloves, cinnamon stick and star anises. They are also served
with pan fried fish, salted vegetables, spicy lala, etc.
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About the Trade
Porridge act as a commercial Chinese food in Malaysia. Even though it is
more associated with Teochew, different types of porridge are found to be brought in
by different varieties of Chinese, such as Cantonese, Foochow, Hokkien and etc.
As rice is the most important staple food in Malaysia, rice porridge becomes
popular as it is particularly suitable for the sick as a mild, easily digestible food. The
porridge business started out in Malaysia to be served as breakfast or late supper.
The importance and popularity of porridge in the Malaysian diet causes the growth of
the porridge business in Malaysia.
Currently, there are more than hundreds of porridge businesses in the
country, including individual stalls and even commercial shops. Chain restaurants
such as Porridge Time and Mother Porridge are also found operating in many
places. With the increasing number of porridge businesses in the country, many
competitions are created. This in turn increases the varieties of porridge dishes
available and also encourages the involvement of other ethnics into the business.
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Long Fatt Teochew Porridge
Location: 15, Jalan Kampung Pantai, 75200 Melaka.
Long Fatt Teochew Porridge was founded in 1930 by Mr Lim Lee Tai’s, the
current owner’s grandfather. The name ‘Long Fatt’ itself has an auspicious meaning,
where ‘Long’ in Chinese character means dragon while ‘Fatt’ means prosperity. Mr
Lim’s grandfather started this business to earn a living and support his family. The
concept of this business is to serve simple, homemade dishes to their customers.
Throughout the years, this business had changed a little here and there as
there were renovation done on the current shop back in 1971. Cooking by using the
usage of charcoal had changed to gas as well and back then, they used to serve
braised duck dish from live ducks and cook live bulls on the spot, utilising the
freshness of those ingredients. Now, they could not serve those dishes anymore as
they could not obtain fresh ingredients. The ingredients sold nowadays could not be
served to customers as the taste is different.
Long Fatt Teochew Porridge does not have any branches as it will be difficult
to maintain the quality and taste of food in the branch. Besides, the concept of
cooking varies for each person. In order to maintain the taste, they need to have
consistency in their cooking. The ingredients also differ depending on the supply.
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The cooking time needs to be flexible and changes according to the quality of the
raw ingredients.
There are a total of 5 employees involved in the business and most of them
are made up of family members. As the business still maintained its traditional
operating practice, a worker have to be in charge of a few duties each day, such as
buying fresh raw ingredients from the suppliers, cooking and serving.
The dishes sold includes salted vegetables, sardine fish, dried prawns, dried
anchovies and etc. Most of the dishes would be ready by 11am and it would be sold
out by 1.30pm. There are lesser dishes served before 11am as they are cooked and
served one after another. Estimated 200 customers visited the Long Fatt Teochew
Porridge daily. The number of customers are consistent as 70% of them are local
regular customers who dine here on weekly basis.
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Hon Kee Famous Porridge
Location: 93, Jalan Hang Lekir, Sri Petaling, 50000 Kuala Lumpur.
Hon Kee Famous Porridge was established in 1949 by Mr Wong Poon Wai.
Originated from China, he opened this porridge business for livelihood purposes.
Although he started the business with only a small stall, the business grew into it
current form after several years. Currently, Hon Kee Famous Porridge own 2
branches in Lot 10 and SS2, Petaling Jaya. There are around 30 employees in total.
Some of them are family members but most are hired employees.
Now, Mrs Lee, the granddaughter of Mr Wong, is in charge of the business in
Petaling Street while her brother manage the other branches. Her involvement in the
business is to continue maintaining her family business as it has been around for
more than half a century.
The dishes available include raw fish porridge, frog meat porridge, chee
cheong fun and more. The business start at 4am and ends around 2.30pm every
day. An estimation of 250 customers dine here daily and it doubles up during
holidays and festivals. The first batch customers are those who visit fir a supper after
their karaoke and night clubbing session. Later on, it will be students who came for
breakfast before class starts, as there are schools nearby followed by offices crowd
whereas most tourist will visit during lunch hour.
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List of Competitors - Long Fatt Teo Chew Porridge Restaurant
Res Porridge House
These are the few signature dishes by Res Porridge House
Taylor’s University I SABD I FNBE 0115/0815 I English 2 I Research Report
Figure 1 shows picture on the left is called the “Red Potato Porridge”. It’s very simple which it only contains congee and a carrot.
Figure 1
Figure 1.1 shows the “Sausage Fried Rice”. This is a dish with spice because they put in the chilli together with the egg, rice and sausage.
Figure 1.1
This picture above shows the outside of the restaurant named Restaurant Res Porridge House.
- Was owned by Mr Mai and his family- Located in Taman Melaka Raya, Malacca- Has operated since the year 1997- A cooking experience about 25 years by Mr Mai- He was interviewed in 2007 by a local reporter about this restaurant
11
Restaurant Chop Sam Guan
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Figure 1.2 is one of the best dishes which is called the “Ginger and Onion Fish Slices”. Many customers gave good reviews about this dish.
Figure 1.2
Figure 1.3 is the dish that maintain the business of this restaurant. Many customers who ordered this style of porridge gave a positive review about it. It is called the “Shredded Chicken Porridge”
Figure 1.3
Figure 2 shows the surroundings of the restaurant. It is obvious that the style of the shops are quite unique, so that we can know that these shop lots are there around 30-40 years ago.
Figure 1
12
These are the famous dishes by Restaurant Chop Sam Guan
Taylor’s University I SABD I FNBE 0115/0815 I English 2 I Research Report
Figure 2.3 shows a greenish vegetables on which was called the “Lightly Fried Kangkung” with minced pork. It is also known as water spinach or also known as morning glory at Thai eateries.
Figure 2.1 shows the restaurants signature congee. In this picture, we can see that the congee only contains sweet potato and the congee itself. The sweet potatoes are soft because it was boiled at suitable temperature and it is used for a flavour to the congee.
Figure 2.1Figure 2.2 is a picture of the restaurant's signature dish which is called "Kiam Chye", meaning salted vegetables.
Figure 2.2
Figure 2.3
Figure 2.4
Figure 2.4 shows the asam fish created by the owners of this restaurant. One of the reasons they created this food is because they thought about the diversity of food as well as the openness of Malaysian people to the foods.
Figure 2.5 is one favourite food by customers. This dish is frequently ordered by customers too. It is called the "Oyster Sauce Chicken". Customers tend to leave nothing on the plate when they are going to leave.
Figure 2.5
13
Restaurant Congee Rice Noodles
Several delicious dishes can be found in this restaurant which will be mentioned below
Taylor’s University I SABD I FNBE 0115/0815 I English 2 I Research Report
Figure 2.6
Figure 2.6 is the traditional dish called "Steamed Minced Pork with Salted Egg"
Figure 3 shows the exterior of Restaurant Congee Rice Noodles. It is located on the second floor. The restaurant is located near Res Porridge House.
Figure 3
Figure 3.1
Figure 3.1 shows the famous type of congee. The ingredients are made up of prawns, squids and crab meat.
Figure 3.2
Figure 3.2 is a picture of its signature dish which is the “Curry Fish Head”. They use their traditional recipes and spices for the dish.
14
Taylor’s University I SABD I FNBE 0115/0815 I English 2 I Research Report
Figure 3.3
Figure 3.3 is a green dish called the “Four Heavenly Kings”. It is one of the most popular vegetable dishes in the restaurant.
Figure 3.4 shows a dish with dark sauced pork, called the “Tung Por Pork”. The bun at the side is used to eat with the pork.
Figure 3.4
Figure 3.5 shows one of Malacca’s traditional food, called “Nyonya Chang”. It is made out of sticky and chewy rice.
Figure 3.5
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List of Competitors – Hon Kee Porridge Restaurant
Kim Lian Kee Chee Cheong Fun
Taylor’s University I SABD I FNBE 0115/0815 I English 2 I Research Report
Located next to Restaurant Hon Kee Porridge.
Sells Cantonese styled dishes The stall is run by a friendly aunty who took
over the business from her father. The stall is hidden inside the street so
people may miss it while walking along the street
Famous for Chee Cheong Fun, but also serve Ba Bou Porridge
The stall also sells pork intestine porridge.
16
Loa Yau Kee Porridge
Fong Wah Teochew Porridge
Taylor’s University I SABD I FNBE 0115/0815 I English 2 I Research Report
One of the oldest Chinese porridge stalls in Petaling Street with several decades of history.
Situated in front of Soong Kee Beef Ball Noodle Shop
Traditional white plain porridge served with freshly-prepared side dishes.
Types of side dishes for porridge:-Mouth-watering Chicken-Pork Intestines-Sliced Raw Fish -Minced Pork Ball.
Porridge with freshly-prepared side dishes. Reasonable price
Sells Teochew styled dishes Gruel type porridge served
with a variety of dishes such as Pork, Century Eggs, Salted Fish, Salted Eggs, Salted Vegetables, etc.
Self-service business Expensive prices
17
Nature of Market
Long Fatt Teo Chew Porridge Restaurant
The nature of market for Long Fatt Teo Chew Porridge is Monopolistic Competition.
Even though the restaurant only have a few competitors but the other characteristics
of it is very similar to the economics concept Monopolistic Competition. Besides, the
barrier to entry is weak, causing the other firms to enter and exit the market easily.
Long Fatt Teo Chew Porridge sells a lot of differentiated side dishes and is weak at
their pricing power.
Hon Kee Porridge Restaurant
The nature of market for Hon Kee Porridge Restaurant is Monopolistic Competition
due to its surrounding competitions. This market is represented by a fairly large
number of firms but not more than 100. The pricing for Hon Kee Porridge Restaurant
is a little bit higher compared to the other competitors due to its fresh ingredients.
Hon Kee Porridge Restaurant did not charge a very high price due to the intense
competition it has and therefore the pricing for Hon Kee Porridge Restaurant is
weak. The Barrier to entry of this market is weak as well. The restaurant also sells
several differentiated product.
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Comparative Analysis of the Businesses’ Competitive Traits
Restaurant Long Fatt Teo Chew Porridge
Restaurant Hon Kee Porridge
3Number of
competitors 4
Affordable & cheaper than average restaurants- Lots of villagers nearby like to
visit them
Promotions during festivals- Chinese New Year- Deepavali- Hari Raya- Christmas
Pricing Sells at market price but slightly higher than the competitors’ price- Competitors sell normal porridge
at RM4, they sell at RM4.20
Reasonable & affordable- Main reason was the amount of
period they have been operating.
Non-verbal communication
Mass communication- Internet- Radio- Newspaper
Advertisement Mass communication- Have a Facebook page- Blog
Use verbal communication to advertise- Giving out flyers to the people and
promote
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Mixed braised pork- Fried & stew pork
Salted vegetables- Fermented vegetables using salt
Pan-fried fish- Put a few fishes to fry instead of
a lot of fish
Signature Dish Raw fish porridge- Cook raw fish by stirring in hot
porridge
Chee Cheong Fun- Rice noodle roll
Frog meat porridge- Use only fresh frog meat
Served with hygiene- Before cutting vegetables and
meat, they wash their hands and wear new plastic gloves
Fast & efficient- Never slack when working &
serve dishes once cooked
Quality of Services All ingredients bought are freshly prepared- Frog meat- Fish- Pork
Customers are able to have a view of the preparation of food after ordering - Tables & chairs are set up near the
kitchen
Verbal communication- Used when asking about the
amount of porridge ordered by the customers
Face-to-face communication- Asking for the customers’
desired side dishes
Different languages can be used to approach the customers- English - Mandarin- Dialects : Hokkien, Cantonese,
Teochew
Communication Most employees speak different types of languages, therefore it is easier to communicate with the customers- Mandarin- English- Malay- Dialects : Cantonese
Face-to-face communication- Telling the available dishes to the
customers
Verbal communication- Guide customers who wanted to
visit their restaurant
Weak- Doesn’t need licence approver
from the government - Doesn’t need high capital
Barrier to Entry Weak- Doesn’t need licence approver
from the government - Doesn’t need high capital
Less customers- Probably friends and families are
the only customers for the first few weeks
Lack of trust- Recently operated
Loss at the end of the month- Not enough money to cover
Obstacles faced by new businesses
Lack of customers- Stronger competition with the
older restaurants- Expensive meals
Make a loss instead of profit by the end of the month- Due to lack of customers
Insufficient trust gained by customers
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their costs - Started the business not long ago
Differentiated Products- Mixed braised Pork- Pan Fried Fish
Salted Vegetable
Differentiated or Standardized Products
Differentiated Products- Chee Cheong Fun
Chicken Rice
Price Taker- Must follow the market price
If the firm rise the price the firm will lose its customer
Pricing Power Price Taker- Must follow the market price
If the firm rise the price the firm will lose its customer
Summary Table of the Similarities between Both Businesses
Long Fatt Teochew Porridge
Similarities Hon Kee Porridge Restaurant
Porridge Main Product Sold Porridge
1 Number of Founder 1
For livelihood purposes Prompted to Start this Business
For livelihood purposes
Lead by the Owner Leader Lead by the Owner
ConclusionWhich business is more commercially successful? And why?
According to the aforementioned analysis, the business which is more
commercially successful will be Restaurant Hon Kee Famous Porridge operated by
Mrs Lee. This is because Hon Kee Famous Porridge has several branches and are
more likely to earn a greater turnover in a year compared to Long Fatt Teochew
Porridge, operated by Mr Lim which does not own any branch. By having branches,
the business could earn more in a shorter time. The market size in terms of
customers is also bigger by having outlets.
Besides that, Hon Kee Famous Porridge hire younger workers so they are
more efficient. In comparison, Long Fatt Teochew Porridge is managed by family
members and most of them are middle-aged so they are not as efficient as the
younger generation.
Last but not least, Hon Kee Famous Porridge is more commercially
successful as they advertises their business more through different medias such as
magazines, newspapers, social medias and flyers. Conversely, Long Fatt Teochew
Porridge does not publicize their business much, solely depending on reviews and
recommendations.
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RecommendationBased on our analysis on Long Fatt Teochew Porridge and Hon Kee Famous
Porridge, these are the recommendations we propose to improve their businesses’
competitiveness.
Both businesses had been around for more than half a decade so both
owners should keep detailed records of their business history. Based on the
interviews that we have conducted, the current owners does not have specific
knowledge of their own business history which is important for the future
development of the business.
Although both of the businesses are pioneers in porridge industry, they should
analyse their competitors. By analysing their competitors, they will get a better
insight of them as well as where their business stands at in the market.
Long Fatt Teochew Porridge
Areas for Improvement (current situations) Recommendations
Inefficient services Owner should consider hiring a few more employees
instead of just depending on family members to run
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the business. During peak hours, the services are
slower as the work load is too much t o be handled by
the current employees available.
Stagnant expansion of
branches
Owner should consider opening one or more branches
so that it is easier for the customers to try out their
Teochew style porridge which is unique and this will
increase the business turnover and customers not only
in Malacca.
Lack of online advertising Owner should create an official website or Facebook
page so that it is easier for people to find their
information online as the community nowadays are
driven by Internet.
Hon Kee Famous Porridge
Areas for Improvement (current situations) Recommendations
Cramped and unhygienic environment
Owner should refurbish their shop to a more effective layout so that it will be more spacious. Refurbishment is needed as the shop itself is old so it is unavoidable that it appear dirty and unpleasant.
Inefficient call services Owner should improve on their call services as the one available now is inefficient as it takes several times for us to contact them and their responses are rather slow. This will cause customers to lose interest towards them.
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APPENDICES
Interview Questions
1) When was the business founded? How many years of history does the business have?
2) Who is the key founder of the business?
3) Where does the business name came from?
4) What prompted (motivates) the founders to start this business?
5) Can you provide us a brief history of your business and its most recent developments?
6) Generally, do you feel it is easy or hard to enter this market? Why?
7) How much capital is required to start this business? What, if any, specialized field of knowledge do you need to run this business?
8) What are your main products?
9) Who are your customers?
10) What is the estimated number of customers who visit your business daily/monthly?
11) What is the business’ annual revenue figure?
12) How many branch offices/stores and employees do you have?
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13) Will there be more customers during festive seasons?
14) Do you have many competitors? Who are they? Who are your top 3 competitors?
15) Is the business constantly facing strong competition from other competitors? What strategies have they used to compete with you?
16) How often do you release a new product?
17) Are your pricing decisions and when to release new product strongly affected by your competitors?
18) What is the future plan for your business? Opening more branch? Advertising?
Interview with Hon Kee (Answered)Petaling Street Famous Porridge
1) When was the business founded? How many years of history does the business have?The business was founded in 1949. It has 66 years of history.
2) Who is the key founder of this business?My grandfather, Wong Poon Wai is the only founder of the restaurant.
3) Where does the business name came from?I don’t really know how my grandfather came up with this name. I guess it was a name which popped up in his mind then.
4) What prompted (motivated) the founders to start this business?Back then, my grandfather started this business to earn a living and support the family’s expenses. He thought of using his cooking skills learnt in China to start a restaurant business.
5) Can you provide us a brief history of your business and its most recent developments?The business started as a small stall in 1949. Then it grew into a restaurant, which is the existing one here. My brother did opened a few branches these few years.
6) Generally, do you feel it is easy or hard to enter this market? Why?I think it was quite easy to enter this market since there were less shops last time.
7) How much capital is required to start this business? What, if any, specialized field of knowledge do you need to run this business?
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I’m not sure how much is needed, but I guess it’s not too much as the pricing of the raw ingredients last time was not high. Some of the things I had to know to run the business were the analysis of the market and the technique to maintain the food quality.
8) What are your main products?We sell a variety of porridge and chee cheong fun. The significant ones are the raw fish porridge, frog leg porridge and the chee cheong fun.
9) Who are your customers?My customers were made up of students from the nearby schools, office crowds and tourists.
10) What is the estimated number of customers who visit your business daily/monthly?The average number of customers we had was around 500 per day.
11) What is the business’ annual revenue figure?I’m sorry but I don’t think it would be appropriate to disclose the amount to you.
12) How many branch offices/stores and employees do you have?We had 2 branches and about 30 employees in total.
13) Will there be more customers during festive seasons?Yes, of course. Our business would double up during festive seasons and also the weekends.
14) Do you have many competitors? Who are they? Who are your top 3 competitors?We do have a few competitors in this area, mainly the Loa Yau Kee porridge, Fong Wah Teochew porridge and Kim Lian Kee that also sells porridge.
15) Is the business constantly facing strong competitions from other competitors? What strategies have they used to compete with you?We did face competitions from other competitors. Since some of the competitors sell less choices of porridge, their prices are slightly lower than us.
16) How often do you release a new product?Special deals or products are only available on weekends.
17) Are your pricing decisions and the time to release a new product strongly affected by your competitors?Not really, as our pricings were quite reasonable.
18) What is the future plan for your business? Opening more branch? Advertising?I’m not sure whether my children would want to take over the business, but I’m currently training the workers to handle the business. We already had advertisings through the internet and most of our customers spread our business through the word of mouth.
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Interview with Long Fatt (Answered)Melaka Famous Teochew Porridge
1) When was the business founded? How many years of history does the business have?The business was founded in 1930. It has 85 years of history.
2) Who is the key founder of this business?My grandfather is the sole founder of the restaurant.
3) Where does the business name came from?My grandfather named it that way as it had an auspicious meaning to it. The ‘Long’ in Chinese character means dragon while the ‘Fatt’ means prosperity.
4) What prompted (motivated) the founder/s to start this business?My grandfather started this business for livelihood purpose.
5) Can you provide us a brief history of your business and its most recent developments?The business started as a shop here in 1930. Then, we renovated the shop in 1971. Last time, we had braised duck dishes and live goose being served in the restaurant. Now, we don’t serve these dishes as we couldn’t get fresh supply of ducks and geese. We also used to use charcoal to cook our dishes, but we changed to using gas later on.
6) Generally, do you feel it is easy or hard to enter this market? Why?
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I think it was quite easy to enter this market as it was quite demanding and there are only a few simple, home cooked businesses left.
7) How much capital is required to start this business? What, if any, specialized field of knowledge do you need to run this business?I’m not sure how much capital was required. For me, I think some of the most important knowledge I had to know are the techniques to maintain the taste of the food and overcome the problems of different quality of raw ingredients.
8) What are your main products?We sell porridge and rice with side dishes such as salted vegetable, sardine fish, dried prawns, dried anchovies, etc.
9) Who are your customers?My customers were made up tourists and the locals.
10) What is the estimated number of customers who visit your business daily/monthly?We had around 200 customers per day.
11) What is the business’ annual revenue figure?Now, we earn less, around RM6000 to RM7000 monthly.
12) How many branch offices/stores and employees do you have?We do not have any branches and we have only 5 workers.
13) Will there be more customers during festive seasons?Yes. Even so, our restaurant is normally closed during major holidays as we couldn’t meet up with our suppliers. We depend on them on a daily basis to obtain fresh ingredients.
14) Do you have many competitors? Who are they? Who are your top 3 competitors?Not really, but there are a few porridge restaurants around the town area. We had less competitors as it was difficult to maintain the taste of the food. It also requires experience to overcome the problems of different quality of raw materials.
15) Is the business constantly facing strong competitions from other competitors? What strategies have they used to compete with you?Nope. I’m not so sure about that.
16) How often do you release a new product?We seldom come out with new products as our aim is to maintain our quality of food.
17) Are your pricing decisions and the time to release a new product strongly affected by your competitors?No. This was because our foods’ pricings are considered cheap and affordable. The pricing for each dish is RM0.70, while a bowl of rice or porridge costs RM0.70.
18) What is the future plan for your business? Opening more branch? AdvertisingI plan to hand over my business to my son. If my son takes over, I hope he can improve our business’ operation by increasing the number of workers in order to run the business more effectively.
Taylor’s University I SABD I FNBE 0115/0815 I English 2 I Research Report 30
MINUTES OF THE MEETING
DATE: 20th October 2015TIME: 11.30 am – 12.40 pm VENUE: E3.08
NAMES OF GROUP MEMBERSChan Yi FungCherilyn ChiaChin Shee Wei Kok Xuan YingSoo Yon LiYang Jing Loo
Selection of places to visit
NO. ACTIVITY ACTION TAKEN BY1. Discussion
- Suggestions of places to visit- Decide to study on the businesses
about restaurants - contact owners for interviews
Chan Yi FungCherilyn ChiaChin Shee WeiKok Xuan YingSoo Yon LiYang Jing Loo
Taylor’s University I SABD I FNBE 0115/0815 I English 2 I Research Report 31
MINUTES OF THE MEETING
DATE: 30th October 2015TIME: 2pm – 5pm VENUE: Jonker Street, Melaka (Restaurant Long Fatt)
NAMES OF GROUP MEMBERSChan Yi FungCherilyn ChiaSoo Yon LiYang Jing Loo
Interview
NO. ACTIVITY ACTION TAKEN BY1. Interview at Long Fatt Restaurant
Interviewee: Mr. Lim Lee TaiChan Yi FungYang Jing Loo
2. Video taking for interview Soo Yon Li3. Note taking Cherilyn Chia4. Study on the competitors nearby Restaurant Long
FattChan Yi FungCherilyn ChiaSoo Yon Li Yang Jing Loo
Taylor’s University I SABD I FNBE 0115/0815 I English 2 I Research Report 32
* Travelchinaguide.com, (2015). Chinese Laba Festival, Rice Porridge. Retrieved 15
November 2015, from http://www.travelchinaguide.com/essential/holidays/laba.htm
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References i'm saimatkong,. (2014). Chee Cheong Fun 豬腸粉 @ Petaling Street
èŒ¨å» è¡— (Chinatown) - i'm saimatkong. Retrieved 19 November 2015, from http://blog.saimatkong.com/food-beverage/chee-cheong-fun-%E8%B1%AC%E8%85%B8%E7%B2%89-petaling-street-%E8%8C%A8%E5%BB%A0%E8%A1%97-chinatown/
Malaysia Food & Travel Blog,. (2009). Melaka Food | Jonker 88 Desserts @ Jonker Street - Cendol & Ais Kacang - Malaysia Food & Travel Blog. Retrieved 22 November 2015, from http://www.vkeong.com/2009/03/melaka-food-jonker-88-desserts-jonker-street-cendol-ais-kacang/
Melaka Top 3: Recommended Jonket Street Food,. (2015). Recommended Jonket Street Food. Retrieved 17 November 2015, from http://www.melaka3.com/2012/04/recommended-jonket-street-food.html
OpenRice Malaysia,. (2015). 10 Best Chinese Porridges in KL & PJ | OpenRice Malaysia. Retrieved 17 November 2015, from http://my.openrice.com/klangvalley/article/10-best-chinese-porridges-in-kl-pj/788
Porridge, F. (2015). Fong Wah Teochew Porridge @ Off Jalan Pudu - Malaysia Food & Restaurant Reviews. Food.malaysiamostwanted.com. Retrieved 21 November 2015, from http://food.malaysiamostwanted.com/venues/fong-wah-teochew-porridge-changkat-thambi-dollah-off-jalan-pudu
Seabury, C. (2008). 9 Tips For Growing A Successful Business. Investopedia. Retrieved 23 November 2015, from http://www.investopedia.com/articles/pf/08/make-money-in-business.asp
Tripadvisor.com.my,. (2015). Fong Wah Teochew Porridge, Kuala Lumpur - Restaurant Reviews, Phone Number & Photos - TripAdvisor. Retrieved 20 November 2015, from https://www.tripadvisor.com.my/Restaurant_Review-g298570-d1205048-Reviews-Fong_Wah_Teochew_Porridge-Kuala_Lumpur_Wilayah_Persekutuan.html
Teochew Braised Duck or Lor Ark (潮州卤鸭） | GUAI SHU SHU. (n.d.). Retrieved 18 November 2015, from https://kwgls.wordpress.com/2014/10/08/teochew-braised-duck-or-lor-ark-%E6%BD%AE%E5%B7%9E%E5%8D%A4%E9%B8%AD%EF%BC%89/
Ancient World History: Yellow Emperor (Huangdi, or Huang Ti). (n.d.). Retrieved 14 November 2015, from http://earlyworldhistory.blogspot.my/2012/01/yellow-emperor-huangdi-or-huang-ti.html
Porridge - China culture. (n.d.). Retrieved 13 November 2015, from http://kaleidoscope.cultural-china.com/en/8Kaleidoscope48.html
Taylor’s University I SABD I FNBE 0115/0815 I English 2 I Research Report 47
Heng Long Teochew Porridge 兴隆潮洲糜 | The Bonding Tool. (n.d.). Retrieved 13 November 2015, from http://thebondingtool.com/2014/07/14/heng-long-teochew-porridge-%E5%85%B4%E9%9A%86%E6%BD%AE%E6%B4%B2%E7%B3%9C/
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