2.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
No. Contents Page
1. Key Summary 2
2. Methodology 3
3. History of Steamboat (Hot Pot) 4 5
4. Brief Bio of the Businesses
3.1 Goh Huat Seng Restaurant
3.2 TupaiTupai Restaurant
6 11
5. Comparative Analysis of the Businesses’ Competitive
Traits
5.1 Table of Similarities
5.2 Table of Differences
12 18
6. Conclusion of Analysis 19
7. Recommendations 20 23
8. Bibliography 24
9. Appendices 25 32
10. Attachements 33 37
11. Reference 38
1
3. 1. KEY SUMMARY
In this assignment, in a group of 8, we would have to research and
then analyse the data regarding two businesses of similar industry in
two different geographical locations.
We chose steamboat restaurants as they are very popular among
Asians and can be easily find anywhere. Among the restaurants we
chose are: Goh Huat Seng Restaurant from George Town and from
Klang Valley we chose Tupaitupai Restaurant. Both restaurants have
similar characteristic of owning rather high reviews and the fact that
they are both family business as well.
We would study how they obtain the desired level of market share and
profits. This also includes the effectiveness of different strategies,
number of competitors, nature of product or services sold and the size
of the market. Lastly, we will compare and state which business is
more effective and successful both commercially and competitively.
After completing the analysis, we proved that Tupai Tupai Restaurant
is a better and more successful restaurant compared to Goh Huat
Seng Restaurant. We think that Goh Huat Seng should have more
improvements and we have recommended what changes Goh Huat
Seng Restaurant should make to be more successful.
We also have a better gained more knowledge on different kinds of
food and also how the market works. Not only that we understood that
competitions are everywhere, we also learnt teamwork and time
management in order to produce a fullyfledged report on time for
submission.
2
4. 2. METHODOLOGY
As mentioned before, in a group of 7 to 8, we are to:
i) Choose 2 businesses in the same industry for research
purposes.
ii) Conduct preliminary researches via books, internet, newspaper
etc. and to also gather information on our chosen businesses
before the interview.
iii) Prepare interview questions carefully and to consult our
lecturers to make sure our progress are going smoothly.
iv) Contact and obtain permission from the restaurants to conduct
a facetoface interview and onsite observations. Then, make an
appointment for the meeting,
v) Submit a 2500 to 3000 words research report based on the
chosen sites.
vi) Show all findings within 25 minutes during our verbal
presentation.
vii) The sources of information (interview, books or internet) should
be attached in the report.
3
5. 2. HISTORY OF STEAMBOAT RESTAURANTS
Hot pot is also known as
steamboat in most countries
near us such as Singapore,
Malaysia, Thailand and even in
the Philippines, as it is famous
among the East Asians. Typical
hot pot dishes include thinly
sliced raw meat, vegetables,
mushrooms, dumplings and
seafood. These raw food are to
be place into the pot while it is
still boiling with a soup of your
choice, normally placed in the
middle of the table. The cooked
food is then usually dipped with
a dipping sauce depending on the restaurant but peanut sauce is
the most famous.
In many years, hot pot meals are often eaten in the winter during
supper time by the Chinese and Japanese, and since we have
interviewed a Chinese steamboat restaurant, we would talk about
the Chinese history. The Chinese hot pot has a history of more
than 1000 years and seem to have originated in Mongolia and
Jurchen and slowly spread to southern China during the Tang
Dynasty. In time, it developed with different types of other
ingredients such as seafood. By the Qing Dynasty (AD 1644 to
1912), the hot pot became instantly famous throughout China.
Today, in many modern homes, even in the big cities and the rural
areas, this traditional coalheated steamboat or hot pot still
continues and has been replaced by electric, propane gas or
induction cooker versions.
4
6.
In Malaysia and Brunei, even the Muslims have start evolving their
own style for hot pot. They even made halal versions of hot pot but
still in a Chinese way. Tupai Tupai Restaurant is one of the halal
restaurants that are famous around KL. They used halal
ingredients and serve traditional malay cuisine as well. Even
nonMuslims can dine here to enjoy Malaysian food. Combination
of hot pot and barbecue is also very well known in most places. It
is just simply wrapping aluminium foil around the pan, add butter
as oil and viola, barbeque.
We all decided that we should interview a traditional restaurant to
maintain the custom and history of hot pot and a quite
sophisticated steamboat restaurant.
5
7.
3. BRIEF BIOGRAPHY
We have chosen to interview steamboat restaurants and among
the restaurants we found and managed to interview was:
i) Goh Huat Seng Restaurant, Penang
ii) Tupai Tupai Restaurant, KL.
6
8.
3.1 Goh Huat Seng Restaurant
(The shop sign of Goh Huat Seng)
It is currently located at 59A,
Lebuh Kimberly, George
Town, Penang. We managed
to interview Mr Ru Fa and
since this is a family business
from his grandfather, Ru Ying
Bao, this restaurant has no
branches at all and planned
to not have branches because he wants to maintain and keep this
business a small and limited onlyfamily business. Hence, there
are only a maximum of 10 employees during the peak hours. Most
of the employees are family members and only two are maids from
Vietnam that they trust and had been with them for a long time.
(Mr Ru Fa’s house)
Mr Ru and his family live just above
their restaurant and this makes
things so much easier and
convenient for them. The late Mr Ru
Yin Bao and Hwang Jia Ti decided
to start this business just below their
house to have a better focus and
concentrate on this restaurant. His
grandparents were motivated to open this restaurant because this
was the only thing that they could do to give their family a good
standard of living and to make ends meet. Since Penang is quite of
a traditional old Town, Ru family has been living in the shop house
above the restaurant since the early 1970s and only decided to
open a steamboat restaurant in 1977.
7
9.
As Malaysians, we all know that the extra 6% of government
service tax (GST) has a big effect on most businesses and for Mr
Ru Fa, the supplier charge him 6% of the ingredients such as fish,
pork and so on. Although the supplier charge him with GST, Mr.
Ru Fa did not charge his customer for the GST therefore the price
of the menu still remain the same. Also, the materials such as
charcoal and other utility charges are the only little changes.
(The goldsmithmade utensil for their
famous Teochew Fish Head Soup)
Penang has about 10 potential
steamboat restaurants, like the
famous Town Steamboat (火锅
之家) and the Yi Bing Qing
Fish Head Restaurant but Mr
Ru is thankful for what he has
and the little things he has
helped his family to achieve.
He said, ‘I don’t really mind
about the competitors, I can’t compare myself with the other
restaurants, my restaurant is a traditional and family business
while the others are big corporations and such.’ Goh Huat Seng
Restaurant’s most famous dish is what makes the customers loyal
Teochew Fish Head soup that is braised in a small golden spot
as seen in the picture on the right. This restaurant is not a halal
restaurant, as it serves pork balls and marinated pork sliced meat.
Mr Ru added that there are surprisingly not many customers in the
afternoon but instead, the restaurant will be packed with locals and
even foreigners.
There would always be Japanese tourists and Korean tourists to
come and dine here every night, that is why there are Japanese
8
10. writings in the latest menu. Besides that, the peak hours are also
during weekends and this is where the 10 employees come in
handy. There would even be reservations during weekends from
about 5pm to 8pm; roughly about 300 plus customers a night and
Mr Ru have seen Caucasians, Thai and even Indians from India!
He believes it is because of the tripadvisor.com.my that helps
promotes his family business as seen below. A customer of theirs,
Yagiza from Singapore gave a review about how much she loved
the food there.
Goh Huat Seng Restaurant has a Facebook page but it is not
active and Mr Ru Fa is confident that even if the page is not
updated, people would still come over and enjoy the delicious food
they serve. Mr Ru Fa have always live by the saying his great
grandpa’s motive of setting this restaurant ‘Keep the Teochew
tradition and this restaurant alive.’
9
11.
3.2 Tupaitupai Restaurant
It is in a spacious clearing of an old bungalow behind Dewan
Bahasa and the Pustaka building, this restaurant is one of the most
unique restaurant because of the beautiful design and coziness
that can change your mood once you enter the restaurant. It is at
551A & B Jalan Bukit Petaling, Off jalan Istana, Bukit Petaling,
Kuala Lumpur; a rather secluded area. Mr. Nizam, the owner and
also the son of the founders of the Tupai Tupai Restaurant, agreed
to allow us to interview him and to clear our curiosity.
We interviewed him, since this is a family business that was
founded by his father, it is up to him now to manage this
extraordinary steamboat restaurant. This restaurant has two
branches, the 16 years old and still running KL branch and the new
one that is located in Shah Alam and has been running for 6 years
now. The restaurant we went to is the first branch that opened 16
years ago.
10
12. Mr Nizam claimed that his parents’ purpose to start this restaurant
is because most steamboat restaurants are Chinese cuisine and
are not halal and their passion towards food and beverage
industry. They decided to take the risk and try something new, they
innovated steamboat but in a halal way, no pork. In this way,
obviously everyone even the nonMuslims can enjoy halal
steamboat too.
This Tupai Tupai restaurant does not only serve steamboat but
also alacarte food like their most famous Black Pepper fried rice,
well this is a mixture of Chinese and Malay fried rice; and not to
mention their Tom Yam with air kelapa (coconut water) that taste
really unique! Moreover, it is a better chance in business
investment and it is easier for them to succeed in the food and
beverage industry.
Mr Nizam does not only runs the restaurant but he is also the
admin of the Tupai Tupai Restaurant Facebook page. ‘Even
though I do not update the page, many customers still come and
eat here. Still pack everyday’, he said. We think this is because
halal steamboat is difficult to find and Tupai Tupai is unique in its
own ways; enough to attract people all over.
11
13.
4. Comparative Analysis of the Competitive Traits
i) Number of competitors
For the Goh Huat Seng steamboat restaurant located in Penang, it
has a total number of two competitors around the restaurant which
are Restaurant Town Steamboat and Yi Bing Qing Fish Head
Restaurant. For the Tupaitupai steamboat restaurant located in
Klang Valley, there is only one competitor around the restaurant
which is XMQ KL Steamboat Restaurant.
Figure 4.1
Figure 4.2
Figure 4.1 and 4.2 are the location of competitors near Goh Huat
Seng
12
14.
Figure 4.3
Location of competitor near Tupaitupai steamboat restaurant.
ii) Brief Bios of The Businesses’ Top Competitors:
Town Steamboat Restaurant is located at 63, Lorong Macalister,
10400 Penang, Malaysia. Their business hour for steamboat
business opens at 6pm daily. Their Dim Sum business hour opens
at 9.00a.m to 3.00pm during weekdays. For weekends and public
holidays, their Dim Sum business open from 8.00am to 3.00pm.
They serves a variety of foods such as seafood, fish balls, meats,
all types of sauces and a variety of veggies. They mainly serve
chinese cuisines. Yi Bing Qing Fish Head Steamboat Restaurant is
located at 16, Jalan Nyabor, Georgetown, Malaysia. Their
steamboat business hour opens daily from 6.00pm to 1.00am.
Their signature dishes are curry fish head, fish head soup and Tom
Yam soup. The average price for one person is from RM11Rm20.
Yi Bing Qing Fish Head Steamboat Restaurant is a restaurant that
serves chinese food cuisine. XMQ KL Steamboat Restaurant is
13
15. located at Jalan Maharajalela, 50150, Kuala Lumpur. Their
business hour is from 12.00pm to 12.00am. XMQ KL Steamboat
Restaurant is special for their Hunan Spicy Steamboat. They are
offering pork free cuisine.
iii) Strategies to compete with competitors:
❏Pricing
1. Goh Huat Seng Steamboat Restaurant:
The pricing strategies that Goh Huat
Seng Steamboat Restaurant used is
that they have more variations of
ingredients in the set menu but still
charge customers at a cheap price.
Their fish head soup are only RM60
with unlimited refill of soup. Even after
GST has been executed, they still
maintain the same price.
2. Restoran TupaiTupai:
Restoran TupaiTupai is an
“allyoucaneat” buffet steamboat
restaurant. The price for adults are
RM29 per pax and RM15 for kids with
age from 4 to 11. The price also
includes some other additional dishes
such as fried rice, fried noodles and
desserts. Their price rate for
weekdays and weekends are the
same.
14
16.
❏Food
1. Goh Huat Seng Steamboat Restaurant
The best thing about this restaurant is that the steamboat is
powered by charcoal and it can maintain its intense
temperature which keep the broth in high degree. According
to the reviews from www.tripadvisor.com.my, most of the
customer loved their fish head broth and their normal broth.
Other dishes that are strongly recommended are their oyster
omelette.
2. Restoran TupaiTupai
Restoran TupaiTupai serve48 varieties of fish balls, seafood,
meat, and stuffed beancurd, four types of mushroom, six
different vegetables and five kinds of noodles. The “ayam
kampung goreng” of the restaurant was quite wellknown as
well. Not just only steamboat buffet, they also serve a lacarte
mixed rice with variety of local Malaysian foods.
15
17.
❏Location
1. Goh Huat Seng Restaurant
Most of their competitors also located at Georgetown,
Penang. The location of Goh Huat Seng Restaurant is very
easy for customer to find because it was located in the centre
of George Town.
2. TupaiTupai Restaurant
Located in the middle of KL city. It is easy for the customer to
find the restaurant. The restaurant is located behind the
landmark Dewan Bahasa and Pustaka building and that is
why most of their customers that came to their restaurant are
those who work in the building.
V. Obstacles Faced by New Businesses:
Capital The obstacles that faced by new businesses is capital.
Restaurant owners need enough capital to run their business.
Owners should plan to have at least enough money to run for one
year. They need enough financial resources to cope with
unexpected costs and increases.Competition. Besides capital, new
businesses will face a lot of competition in the firm. New
businesses need to strive in order to survive in the firm. They need
to compete for customers with the other businesses. In the
meantime, they need to think of ways to maximize the profit.
16
18. VI. Nature of The Market:
Both the restaurants are monopolistic competitive firms, because
there are many sellers in the market. Besides the barriers to entry
are relatively weak. This means that new firms can enter and enter
and the market easily. Moreover, the businesses have weak
pricing power. Since there are many firms in the monopolistic
competitive market, the firms cannot change a high price.
Furthermore, the firms sell differentiated products to increase
pricing power and protect their profits from competitors.
17
19.
VII. Comparative Analysis Summary Table:
Competitive Traits Business A (Penang
Based)
Business B (Klang
Valley Based)
1. Number of
Competitors
1050 1050
2. Barrier to Entry Weak, business requires
less capital, has weak
advertising.
Strong, business
requires high capital,
has their own regular
customers, location is
close to crowded area.
3. Differentiated
or Standardized
Products
Standardized Product Differentiated
Products, Black
Pepper Fried Rice and
Tom Yam Air Kelapa
4. Pricing Power Price Taker, broth can
be made at home and
ingredients could easily
found in hypermarkets.
Price Maker, some of
the dishes are not
commonly found in
other restaurants.
5.Obstacles Fresh ingredients
are hard to find
Takes up a lot of
time for preparations
Limited parking
lots
6. Verdict Monopolistic
Competition
Monopolistic
Competition
18
20. 5.1 Table of Similarity
Goh Huat Seng Restaurant Tupai Tupai Restaurant
Type of Food Steamboat & alacarte
(Teochew Fish & Black Pepper Rice)
Opening Hours Few hours in the morning/more than 4 hours at night
Business
Strategy
Unique food that others do not have
Type of
Business
Family Business
Nature of
Business
Product variety & monopolistic competitive
Hygiene Level Fairly Clean
5.2 Table of Differences
Characteristics Goh Huat Seng Restaurant Tupai Tupai Restaurant
Established...ago 38 years 16 years
Location Georgetown Bukit Petaling
Operating Style Traditional Modern
Building Type Shophouse Open area
Customers Families, foreigners Office workers, friends
Number of Competitors
Nearby
5 1
19
21.
6. Conclusion of Analysis
We find that TupaiTupai Restaurant more successful compared
with Goh Huat Seng Restaurant.
Restaurant Goh Huat Seng had been established for many years
before Restoran TupaiTupai and maybe that is why it is less
successful than Tupai Tupai. People nowadays prefer restaurants
that provide different kinds of dishes and a more unique and taste.
It is rather sad to admit but in today’s world, not many people
appreciates the traditional food. Even for a few of us, we think
traditional food is somewhat boring and repeating.
Restoran TupaiTupai is also located at a more strategic location
which also provide parking lots for their customers as most of their
customers come for lunch break and could save their time looking
for parking spaces.
Moreover, Restoran TupaiTupai have more staffs that could
prevent the restaurant from having hectic situations and being
unable to take care of the customers’ orders and requests.
Restoran TupaiTupai also have a more arranged system where all
their staffs have their own specialised job.
20
22. 7. Recommendations
7.1. Goh Huat Seng Restaurant
Limited Access of Parking
The lack of parking spaces might
also be one of the main reasons
why customers are driven away
from the restaurant. There isn’t
much space for parking due to the
location of the restaurant that is
located by the roadside. It is
recommended for the manager to
provide parking spaces mainly for Goh Huat Seng Restaurant’
customers.
Better Appearance on The Menu & Place
On every restaurant, people
would always get excited in
looking through menus,
especially when the menu
are unique and fancy,
making customers to be
enthusiastic enough to eat.
But in Goh Huat Seng Restaurant, the menu was made from a
normal coloured A4 paper, unlaminated and only being stapled
together. They should improve the menu on laminating them and
maybe provide pictures for easier reference for the customers to
choose their meals.
The place was well spaced, but it was obviously seen that the
place have not been renovated for awhile. The walls were dirty and
some of the tiles and ceilings were rusty. Displaying the menus on
21
23. the wall with a piece of paper was also not a good idea. What they
should do is improve some of the main furnishings such as
changing the tiles to new ones, repaint the wall and add few
designs to attract more customers.
Provide Halal Ingredients
Steamboat restaurant can rarely be found around the area, making
Goh Huat Seng Restaurant consist of least competitors. Although
Muslims are not many to be found around the area too, but there
are maybe some that loves steamboat but wouldn’t be able to eat
because this restaurant is a nonhalal restaurant. They could
separate the menu providing halal ingredients and soup mainly for
Muslims.
7.2. Tupaitupai Restaurant
Promoting More From Social Networks
Mr.Nizam, the owner of the business and also a Facebook account
of Tupaitupai Restaurant, happened to have promoted their
business through online earlier when he first started the business,
but he is now rarely or never have been active in updating the
account. This will lead in decreasing their customers and other
Steamboat lovers wouldn’t have known the existence of their
restaurant, or even tourists. What they should do is to keep
updating their new menus or provide promotions on special events
to attract more customers. The last update on the website was 19th
July 2014 when one website called “Hungrygowhere.my”
represents Tupaitupai restaurant as Top 5 Malay dishes in Kuala
Lumpur.
22
24.
Closed on Public Holidays
As mention by Mr. Nizam during our interview, he stated that the
restaurant will be closed every public holidays, which I think is
necessary for the workers, but not for customers. Logically says,
during public holidays can have more customers than working
days, this can be unfair to those who have worked the same time
as Tupaitupai restaurant’ opening hours and wouldn’t be able to
have the chance to eat there. They should have not closed every
public holidays but instead, provide one off day for the workers at
least once a week, preferably during any weekdays, where less
people would go there.
Price Should Be Reduced
Mr. Nizam have said that
they have never been
changing the price since 3
years ago, even after
GST. But when we saw
the menu, we can say that
they are all a little bit pricy.
As for example, the
coconut drink cost about
RM 6, whereas in most restaurants, the usual price would be RM 3
or RM 2. This might lead to a conclusion of why his customers that
regularly eats at his restaurants were highincome workers. By
reducing the price at least to RM 2 to RM 3 they might have
increased the numbers of their regular customers where people
wouldn’t have to worry about the price, most recommended is to
make the price almost as equal as their competitors.
23
25. Improve Parking Lot
The parking lot was well spaced, except that they are not well
maintained as the screed has already cracked and feels bumpy.
They could improve the parking lot by paving it, so that customers
won’t have to worry about getting their tyres flat.
Provide Indoor space
According to Hungrygowhere.com (2014), Tupaitupai restaurant’
main attraction was the coziness of the unique outdoor feels that
allows people to feel the kampung environment in the middle of the
city. But not providing airconditioned room could drive away the
customers too. As Malaysia’s temperature can be a little bit fussy
sometimes, they should provide an indoor airconditioned room for
the convenience of the customers. Or at least provide an indoor
room, as for rainy seasons, the rain will definitely leaks around the
area, making customers uncomfortable to eat at TupaiTupai
Restaurant.
24
28. 3. What is your peak hours?
Saturdays & Sundays, even foreigners would come and eat.
4. Who are your customers?
Middle aged group are the most. About 60% are local and the
remaining are foreigners, from Japan and also Thailand.
5. What is the business’ annual revenue figure?
I prefer not to say, sorry.
6. Do you feel it is easy or difficult to enter this market?
All business would face difficulties but for this restaurant,
since my grandfather started this back in the 1977, the
struggling phase is over now.
7. How many branches do you have?
We do not have any branch at the moment but we do plan to
open one in the future.
8. What are the problems this restaurant face?
Workers especially, most of them are lazy and we need to
always keep our eyes on them. That’s why we do not hire
many foreigners.
9. Did GST affect this restaurant?
Yes, GST did somehow affect us, our customers reduced a
little.
10. What are your strategies to overcome this?
We absorbed the GST, which means we actually earned less
that before.
27
30. We often see most of them having promotion parties here!
5) Was it easy for you to enter this market?
Well, I am sure it was difficult in the beginning when my
parents started this. I took over Tupai Tupai about 3 years
ago and nope, there’s nothing much about having difficulties
to enter the steamboat market.
6) How many branches do you have?
1, this is the HQ (Bukit Petaling) and (Shah Alam) is the
branch that we opened up after we managed to successfully
cope with both places. You should go to the Shah Alam
branch, it has western cuisine there!
7) What are the problems you face?
Like most restaurants, I am sure employees are the main
headache. Most of them are lazy and they slack as much as
they can!
8) Who are your competitors?
Haha, the ikan bakar nearby and the restaurants nearby. I
don’t want to reveal their names here! But again, this is
business.
9) Did GST affected this restaurant?
It does, but we do not charge the customers. We have not
change our prices since 3 years ago and even after GST.
29
39.
11. References
1. Pride, W.M, 2008. Foundations of Business. 2nd ed. U.S:
South Western Educational Publishing.
2. Bhaskaran Raman. 2004. How to Write a Good Report.
[ONLINE] Available at:
http://www.cse.iitk.ac.in/users/braman/students/googreport.ht
ml. [Accessed 20th May 2015)
3. Khairi, I. (2012). menu restoran tupaitupai MySelera.com.
MySelera.com. Retrieved from
http://myselera.com/?attachment_id=505
4. Ridgers, B, 2012. Book of Business Quotations. 2nd ed.
Hoboken, NJ: Economist Books.
5. Galloway, P, 2009. The Little Black Book of Business. 1st ed.
Hoboken, N.J.: Wiley.
38
![SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE, BUILDING AND DESIGN
THE DESIGN SCHOOL
FOUNDATION IN NATURAL BUILD ENVIRONMENT
Assignment: Comparative Analysis of 2 Businesses of Similar Industry in
Different Geographical Locations
Group members:
Name Student ID
Abdul Qayyum 0320220
Audrey Ting Ming Fang 0320247
Chow Kah Yien 0320300
Fong Wen Ying Cynthia 0320499
Lam Wee Wee 0320129
Lim Zi Shan 0320372
Nurafiqah Zariful 0321196
Sim Chia Ting 0320932
English 2 [ELG30605]
Lecturer: Cassandra Wijesuria
Submission Date: 1st June 2015](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/englishreport-150611070251-lva1-app6892/85/English-report-1-320.jpg)
