Comparing Two Chicken Rice Businesses

FNBE MARCH INTAKE 2015 | TAYLOR’S UNIVERSITY | ENGLISH ASSIGNMENT
MODULE : ENGLISH 2 [ ELG 30605 ]
TITLE : A Comparative Analysis of 2 Businesses of
Similar Industry in Different Geographical Locations
NAMES:
CRYSLYN TAN ZHIA LYN (0324249)
BRANDON LIAW JUN QUAN (0323467)
PUI CHUN SHIAN (0323470)
DIXON KEE TET LUN (0323944)
CH’ING PHEI WOON (0323842)
LAU HUI MING (0323827)
LOON JING WEI (0322074)

CONTENT
KEY SUMMARY………………………………………..
DESCRIPTION OF HISTORY……………………….
DESCRIPTION OF BUSINESS……………………..
COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS…………………………
SUMMARY TABLE…………………………………….
RECCOMMENDATION ……………………………..
BIBLIOGRAPHY…………………………………………
APPENDIX ……………………………………………….
PICTURE…………………………………………………..
QUESTION&ANSWER…………………………......
ATTACHMENTS………………………………………..
REFERENCE……………………

KEY SUMMARY
In this assignment,we are required to write a 2500-3000 words report of
2 businesses of the same industry. We chose businesses which are in the
food industry, specifically, selling chicken rice. In a group of 7 members,
we did research on the two shops both located at two different states.
One in Selangor,West Malaysia,and the other in Sarawak, East Malaysia.
They both sell not only chicken rice but haveother dishes that represents
the state itself.Both restaurants have similarities and also differences in
many aspects. We went for an interview and did research through
newspapers online.

Description of the history of the trade/business and
what it involves
The recipe for the dish is adapted from earlyChinese immigrants
from Hainan Island,off the southern coast of China.Back in Hainan,locals
call the dish "Wenchang chicken". They use a particularfowl that is bony
and fibrous,and serve the chicken with oilyrice. A ground green chilli dip
rounds off the dish.The cooking method hails backto its Hainanese roots.
The chicken is steeped in boilingwater or blanched till it is fullycooked,
before soakingit in cold water to ensure the meat remains tender.In a
local twist, the chicken can also be roasted or braised in soya sauce for a
different taste.
It is, however, the rice and chilli sauce that can make or break the
dish.The rice, cooked in chicken stock with ginger and pandan leaves,
with just the right amount of oiliness.And the chilli must have the right
blend of spiciness and sourness.

Brief Description of the Businesses
Prosperity Bowl Restaurant, Selangor:
The founder of this business is Mr. Roger Khoo. Mr. Roger Khoo was
actually an employee in a packaging industry. Mr. Khoo’s motives for
startingthis business is because he like to cook since young, but he don’t
have that much capital to open a restaurant until the year of 2012.
Prosperity Bowl Restaurant currently only have one outlet only which is
located in No.19, Jalan SS2/30, 47300, Petaling Jaya, Selangor and they
are planningto open a new one on this year. Their main selling items are
their Kampung Chicken Rice’ and their Kuey Tiow Soup’. He choose Kuey
Tiow Soup to sell because it is some kind related to chicken rice. They also
provides other dishes such as, Pork Ball Soup, Fried Beansprout and etc.
The prices of the items did not increase when GST was implemented
because Mr.Khoo said most of his customers were old customers and
would not like to lose them. Theiroperation houris from 7 in the morning
until 5 in the evening. Most of the customers will come and eat on the
afternoon, that is the time where the restaurant is very packed. At first,
everyone did not support his dream of openinga restaurant,even his kids
because they said it would not be successful. Today, it is the most
successful chicken rice shop in Selangor.
Singapore Chicken Rice:
The founders of the business are Mr. Jimmy Tan, Mr. Johnson Tan and
Mr. Hoo. The business was founded in the year 1987. The first branch is
still located at Jalan Song. The first branch of Singapore Chicken Rice
initially was a coffee shop before it was renovated to a restaurant in
2013. Singapore Chicken Rice currently has expanded throughout the
whole East Malaysia. Their motives for starting the business is because
chicken rice is one of the most common and famous food. Chicken rice,
regardless of any religion in Sarawak, can be accepted. The main
headquarters is located at Lot 7488-7489, G/Flr. Block 16, Taman
Timberland, 3rd Mile, 93200 Kuching, Sarawak, Malaysia. Singapore
Chicken Rice currently have 52 branches and around 20 employees in

each branch. Their main products sold are the chicken rice with two
different flavors which are the roasted and the steamed chickens. They
also provide side dishes such as noodles and kueh tiaw. Besides that, the
company’s recent development is called “value-meal restaurant”. It
means that they try to reduce the cost of their product without
jeopardizingthe qualityofthe food. They also reduce the volume of each
drink, for example from 450ml to 350ml, which save the cost price of
their product.The prices of all items were increased last year due to the
implementation of GST. The company targets to release at least one
product monthly,but it is based on the approval of the Director’s Team,
or they so called ‘In-House Team’. Until the quality of the food is
accepted, the release of the product will be delayed. Singapore Chicken
Rice’s open houris on 10am to 10pm. Most of the customers will come at
afternoon and evening because people their seldom eat chicken rice as
their breakfast. They started off with just a small shop without air-
conditioning and now have over 52 branches including franchises.

Comparative Analysis of the Businesses’ Competitive
Traits
Since the market trend is changing, especially the downfall of the
economy, most of their loyal customer prefer to eat at a coffee shop to
save cost. But in Kuching, the biggest competitors for this company are
fast foods. Sugarbun is one of their biggest competitors because they
have the same equivalent standard of their operations. Sugarbun is a
companythat specialized in sellingfried chicken, but also side dishes such
as chicken mushroom soup, ‘nasi lemak’ and many others. Sugarbun can
be said to be one of the famous fast food restaurant in Kuching. To
compete with their customers,the first thing that Singapore Chicken Rice
did was to bring down their operation cost, that is to minimize
unnecessary manpower. Secondly, they train and improve their staff’s
productivityto provide service, food quality and to regain back their lost
customers.Based on the interview, Singapore Chicken Rice set their gross
profit 50% and above. Singapore Chicken Rice also provides more choices
of dishes in Malaysia such as Thai food, Indonesian food and Vietnamese
food in one of their recent restaurant which goes by name ‘Singapore
Food Street’. It is also one of their latest development and strategies to
compete with their competitors. The nature of this market is actually
monopolistic competition. Although this company have many franchise,
but there are some chicken rice company that have franchise too.
Prosperity Bowl Restaurant, Selangor:
The onlycompetitorthat Mr. Roger Khoo had mentioned was Restaurant
Kar Heong, which has 3 branches located in SS14, SS4 and Setia Alam.
Restaurant Kar Heong also sells mainly chicken rice, kueh tiaw soup and
pork balls.Mr Khoo stated that he didn’t really care about competitions
because what matters to him is only the quality of his food. Since Mr.
Khoo was alreadyinterestingin the food industry,he actuallymanaged to
invent his own chicken rice recipe by using organic chicken and stewing
his chicken soup for 2 hours every day before it is ready to be served. He

also stated that if his food quality is maintained or improved, he would
definitely obtain more loyal customers. He mentioned that he wouldn’t
use any advertising strategies unless it’s free. He says that the best
advertisement is the promotion bytheir loyal customer about their main
dishes chicken rice, and it’s free. In the year of 2013, The Star Newspaper
titled ProsperityBowl Restaurant the best chicken rice in SS2. It’s also on
the website everywhere. At the end of story,he didn’t use any money on
it. He also says that the only action that he would take to compete with
his competitors is to expand his business by opening a new branch.
Regarless of 67 years old, he still has the motivation to expand his
business. In food industry nowadays many young businessman didn’t
manage to invent the recipe of making delicious food themselves but by
hiring chefs and manager to operate the restaurant. The obstacles they
faced are that their customers and revenue isn’t going to maintain like
the first 3 month they operate. People nowadays like to try new things,
but it will get worse eventually because they are lack of experience in
food industry and would’nt manage the restaurant like what Mr Roger
Khoo did. The foods that they served nowadays are way too
commercialized which makes the food taste bad. The nature of this
market is actually monopolistic competition because it has many
competitors which are the other chicken rice shop.
Based on ouranalysis,Singapore Chicken Rice is more successful because
it has more branches. It is also known widely in Malaysia compared to
Prosperity Bowl Restaurant. Besides that, Singapore Chicken Rice has
expanded throughout the whole Easy Malaysia while Prosperity Bowl
Restaurant has onlyone single branch. Singapore Chicken Rice has also 12
franchises while Prosperity Bowl Restaurant has none.

Summary Table of Similarities between Singapore
Chicken Rice and Prosperity Bowl Restaurant
Summary Table of Differences between Singapore
Chicken Rice and Prosperity Bowl Restaurant
Singapore Chicken Rice Name Prosperity Bowl
Restaurant
Yes Franchise No
10 Workers 5
Expand until it
becomes
internationally
recognised
Future plan Opened second brand
as soon as possible
52 Current branches 1
Yes Halal No
Singapore Chicken Rice Name Prosperity Bowl
Restaurant
Chicken Rice Main products Chicken Rice
Emphasize a lot on the
quality of the food.
Quality of Food Very particular about
the qualityofthe food.
Yes Sell Side Dishes Yes
High Cleanliness High

Recommendation
Based on ouranalysis regarding two restaurants, Singapore Chicken Rice
and Prosperity Bowl Restaurant, we have proposed a few
recommendations to further improvetheircompetitiveness in the future.
Prosperity Bowl Restaurant:
There are a few current areas of improvement needed to be taken such
as the ambience of the shop. It is not really well ventilated which results
in a stuffy feeling. The paint on the walls are also peeling off. Our
recommendation is that they should improve the ventilation by opening
more windows or installing air conditioning. They should also do a small
renovation such as repainting the walls and cleaning them. This way,
customers would feel more comfortable while eating. Another area they
need to improve is the number of workers hired. There are only 5
workers, 3 in the kitchen and 2 as waiters. As the shop is very busy during
peak hours,2 waiters are not enough to accommodate everyone’s need.
We recommend that Mr. Khoo hire at least 2 more waiters, so that there
are enough to wait on tables and also clean up after the customer leaves.
Another issue is that there are very limited array of food. Besides chicken
rice, they should have more choices to satisfy the palate of more
customers. We recommend that they should have more variety of food
such as different kinds of meat like beef and pork.
There are also various areas which this restaurant should improve on
such as the services of the waiters. The workers do not pay much
attention to the customers. Although there are enough workers, a few
customers feel dissatisfied by their service because they are quite slow.
We recommend that they should be more organised and pay more
attention to customers when they need attention.More trainingcould be
provided to the workers. Other than that, they are not very consistent
with the quality and quantity of their food. The amount of food on the
plate is not consistent during times. We recommend that more training
should be provided so that workers can have a better estimation of the
quantity of food to put on the plate so that it is more consistent.

Bibliography
Prosperity Bowl Restaurant
http://my.openrice.com/klangvalley/restaurant/restoran-prosperity-
bowl-petaling-jaya-north/224983
http://constance-ant.com/2013/12/klang-valley-lunchy-restoran-
prosperity-bowl-ss2/
Singapore Chicken Rice (SCR)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SCR_(restaurant)
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Singapore-Chicken-Rice-7th-Mile-
Branch/136490046404892

Appendices: Pictures at Prosperity Bowl Restaurant
Outer view of Prosperity Bowl Restaurant
The boss, Mr. Roger Khoo

The main dishes
Group picture with Mr. Khoo

Appendices: Pictures at Singapore Chicken Rice
Fried Wanton
Variety of Dishes

Inside of the Singapore Chicken Rice
SCR Xpress’ outer view

Interviewing Michael Sim, GM of Singapore Chicken
Rice

Appendices: Questions and Answers
Prosperity Bowl Restaurant:
Q: What is your name?
A: I’m Roger Khoo
Q: What is your position in this business?
A: I’m the owner and the founder of this business
Q: How old are you?
A: 67
Q: How long haveyou been workingin this industry?
A: 10 years until now
Q: What prompt you to start this business
A: I was actuallyworking in the packaging industry,and also I was already
interested in cooking. I also wanted to open the restaurant on my own,
but I haveno opportunityto.
Q: When did the business started?
A: It started on 2006
Q: Is the business open daily?
A: Our business closed once every two weeks on Wednesday
Q: What time did it open?
A: 7am to 9pm without breaks
Q: What is your signature dish
A: Our chicken rice and Kuey Tiow Soup
Q: Did you create the recipe or it was pass down from generation

A: I made the recipe myself with the help of some famous chef
Q: So, throughout this business,have you met some strongcompetitors?
A: Of course there is, but I doesn’t reallymatter to me because what I
care about is the qualityofmy foods.Whatever food I make, I do it with
sincerityso my customers would come back for more. That’s the most
important thingas longas the customers are happy.
Q: Did the cleanliness departmentunit giveyou any difficulties?
A: No, I manage to provide the requirements forthem. Its actuallyquite
simple
Q: Did the GST causes anyeffects towards your business?
A: It actuallyaffects on us but not ourcustomers. Because of this tax,I
actuallyabsorbs all the GST but not increasingthe price of my products.
Indirectlyspeaking,the cost of my products will be higher.Because most
of my customers are my loyal customers.Therefore, by implementingthe
GST, I’m afraid I will lose all my customers.
Q: So, with this company, what future development do you thinkit would
have?
A: I’m thinkingabout openinganother outlet.But I haven’t found a
suitable place to open because not all foods are favourable to the locals
in that area.I’m still planningforit because I’m waiting for my son to take
over my business.
Q: So, howold are yourson?
A: 30 and above, he’s still helpingin my packaging industries
Q: Except for this Chicken Rice business,do you have any other business?
A: Yes, I still a printingcompany. But I will stop this companyon this
March. Because I want to teach my son how to cook and he will take over
my business.Ifhe don’t know how to cook, it will be very difficult for him

to handle this business.Ifhe employed someone to cook, the taste will be
different from now, because they did not put anyefforts to cook the
chicken. So, we must know how to cook. But most of the restaurant’s
owner doesn’t knowhow to cook but onlyemployed someone else to
cook for the customers.I’ve worked at a printingshop forabout 40 years,
I’ve also faced some difficulties.But it is not on my business,it is because
I want to make my recipe tastier and also keepingthe tastiness ofit. So,
what I cooked everyday will have the same taste. If not, customers will
not be satisfied of my food. The strategies of this industrywill always be
like that,once ourcustomers felt ourfood is tasty, theywill bring their
friends to come and eat.
Q: Did you put any advertisement on anywhere?
A: No, but Star Paper helped me to promote my chicken rice last year. It is
for an event called Food Award. It contain 12 kinds of foods and we took
the best chicken rice in Klang Valley, because we are not usingordinary
chicken, we are usingorganic chicken. But organicchicken is more
expensivethen the ordinarychicken. In my business,the most important
thingis my customers,although my expenses are slightlyexpensive,but it
is okay if my customers are satisfied.I try to maintain myprice and not
like other restaurant that will increase theirprice duringChinese New
Year, because other restaurants are based on theirprofit to make their
business.Because the most important thingis to maintain mycustomers
instead ofmy profit.
Q: Is this your quotes?“Don’t Be The Biggest, But To Be The Best”
A: No, it is from the old owners that leave it here.
Q: Is this shop a restaurant before?
A: Yes, it is
Q: When is the time that the most customers come to eat?

A: It usuallymore busyon the breakfast time on the weekends instead of
weekdays, because this is not a livelyarea. You might know that there is a
resident area in front of my shop,and it is a remote area.Then my
children opposite me for openingmy shop in this area. I like this place
because there’s a parkinglot nearby, so if customers will be more easy to
reach my shop to eat. I will also ask my customers for the opinion ofmy
food to improvethe taste of it. If we didn’t knowhow ourcustomers feels
like after eatingmy foods, there will be no improvements and it will be
stayingwith the same taste of it.
Q: Do you have any new products?
A: I still havemore things that didn’t sell,such as BBQ pork and roasted
pork. But I’m just focusing on my chicken rice, if not the cost will become
higher and It also will become like a normal stall.
Q: How much is the estimated amount ofthe annual cost of the business?
A: The cost is different for every year. But for my business,the annual
profit for my business is increasing.ActuallyI can earn more but because
of the implementation ofthe 6%GST, my profits are then reduced
because I increase the cost price of my product to keep hold of my loyal
customer. Thus,I don’t reallyearned a lot.
Q: Are your workers foreigners?
A: I onlyhave 2 foreign workers.
Q: What advice do you have from your experience?
A: The food must be fresh before it is served. If you served it fresh, the
food will come out nicer. Cleaningthe food will definitelyproduce a nicer
taste of the food.If you cook and you don’t dare to eat yourown dishes,
then how can you sell it to your customers. Unlike other chicken rice shop,
I don’t add ‘ajinamoto’to improvethe taste. Instead,I started to stew the
soup for about 2 hours before it is served so that the chicken’s taste is
very strong.

Q: What is the biggest problem faced in this industry?
A: I don’t thinkthat there are problems.As longas you are sincere in
cooking yourdishes,then your food will be nice. You wouldn’t faced
problems as long as you havethat passion.Customer would definitelylike
your food.
Q: Why did you choose chicken rice instead ofothers?
A: I specialized in chicken rice. When, I first started my job as a chef, it
also requires me to cook chicken soup. So it is related.That’s why I chose
chicken rice.

Comparing Two Chicken Rice Businesses

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