Food + Drink

#BUROSupportsLocal: How Malaysian cafe owners are staying afloat this F/MCO

13.06.2021

By Adelina Tan

#BUROSupportsLocal: How Malaysian cafe owners are staying afloat this F/MCO

These are tough times for everyone—including local cafe owners, who are feeling the pinch despite being able to stay open. Revenue from takeout and delivery is dwindling, while overhead costs remain high. For those who’ve weathered the many MCOs since March 2020, it’s also been a long and tough challenge to stay afloat.

With this in mind, we checked in with a few cafe owners in Kuala Lumpur and Selangor to find out how they’re adapting to MCO 3.0—lockdown and all—and what keeps them going.

Robbie of Milligram Coffee & Eatery and Kiara Cakes

 

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A post shared by Milligram (@milligram_coffee)

As a cafe owner, how are things like this F/MCO? What’s different in terms of how you’re handling the situation this time around?

“MCO has not been good to the F&B industry, as we rely heavily on walk-ins in order to keep business afloat. With the current implementation of MCO 3.0, we’ve lost a lot of regular patrons and just depend on deliveries to cover the overheads. The Cafe business is also about providing a space where patrons come to chill and relax, so the hit is harder [on us] compared to restaurants and hawkers.

“For the previous lockdown of MCO 1 and 2, a lot of people were taken by surprise with this new norm—we saw a surge in deliveries, which was good enough to sustain the business. But now, we are facing the struggle of consumers knowing what to expect—this has meant we have dwindling [delivery] drivers and orders. However, we have to find new doors of opportunity to send our food and coffee out. So this MCO, we decided to do it ourselves.”

How do you take care of your mental health? What keeps you going on the toughest days?

“During down days, we try to keep ourselves sane by keeping the crew busy with training and cleaning. For them, when we’re busy with orders, they are happy. For us cafe owners, we try to use this time to invent and reinvent new menu items, and [strategize] how we can do things better for a small-scale cafe. Hopefully, this lockdown will be over soon. The F&B industry does need help before we see widespread closure of businesses.”

Xiao-ly Koh of Xiao by Crustz and Tanuki by Crustz

 

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A post shared by xiaoly koh (@xiaobycrustz)

As a cafe owner, how are things like this F/MCO? What’s different in terms of how you’re handling the situation this time around?

“Well, as we enter in and out of MCO, we have to be flexible to switch things from dine-in to more online-concentrated [revenue streams].The items or packages we offer replicate the dine-in experience for our customers who are dining at home. Most importantly, we wish to still spread joy and happiness to recipients who receive the treats from us.

“This round, the team could make the shift relatively easily and fast, as we have had experience from the previous times. But to continue to engage our customers, we have updated our online content via social media, with more photos and videos to keep our followers in the loop. My team is also more ready in terms of switching menus to meet our customers’ needs during this lockdown.”

How do you take care of your mental health? What keeps you going on the toughest days?

“Oh, I’m doing relatively OK mentally I think, hahaha. I try to keep my creativity alive and try new things or recipes; that keeps me going. Also, my supportive team members and family help me through the difficulties.”

Datin Christine Bong of Brickhouse Group—Pokok, Daun, Ello! Pita, and The Grounds

 

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A post shared by POKOK (@pokok.kl)

As a cafe owner, how are things like this F/MCO? What’s different in terms of how you’re handling the situation this time around?

“Sales are a fraction of what we usually generate. However, the team is familiar with the rules of previous MCOs and the implementation of new SOPs—and marketing, this round, is a lot faster and smoother. Being a destination cafe, it is still hard to achieve previous revenue.

“However, during this MCO, we have recently launched a brand-new gourmet pita delivery called Ello! Pita. This new baby offers the freshest ingredients delivered right to your doorstep within KL /Selangor. As an entrepreneur, we have to keep pivoting and keep things fresh.”

How do you take care of your mental health? What keeps you going on the toughest days?

“Maintaining a positive mindset and keeping active is essential to overcoming such huge challenges to the business. We have to juggle finances, the well-being of our staff, and pray hard that we can survive this MCO. This slow period is also a good time for self-reflection and evaluating areas of the business which we can work on and improve and—if the situation permits—expand eventually!”

Pokok: Instagram | Facebook

Daun: Instagram | Facebook

Ello! Pita: Instagram | Facebook

Chan Su Yin of Yin’s Wholefood and Yin’s Sourdough Bakery

 

 

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