Final english full report

1 | P a g e F N B E J A N U A R Y 2 0 1 5 I E n g l i s h 2 R e s e a r c h a s s i g n m e n t
I T a y l o r ’ s U n i v e r s i t y

SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE, BUILDING AND DESIGN
FOUNDATION IN NATURAL BUILD ENVIRONMENT
PRESENTATION TITLE: A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF 2
BUSINESSES OF SIMILAR INDUSTRY IN DIFFERENT
GEOGRAPHICAL LOCATIONS
GROUP MEMBERS:
NAMES STUDENT ID PRESENTATION / RESEARCH REPORT ROLES.
SAW E SEAN 0322003
-TEAM COORDINATOR
-INTERVIEW
-ARTISTIC COVER
-VIDEO EDITING
BRIAN KOH JUN
YAN
0322002
-BRIEF DESCRIPTION
-APPENDIX
-COMPETITOR
HONG SHI LIK 0322081
-PRESENTATION SLIDE
-PHOTOGRAPHER
-INTERVIEW QUESTION
KIU NGIN PERN 0322084
-RECCOMENDATIONS
-NATURE MARKET
-CONCLUSION
-GRAMMAR CHECKING
LE JIA LING 0322532
-VIDEOGRAPHER
-APPENDIX
-INTERVIEW QUESTION
POH WENG
CHUAN
0319951
-BRIEF HISTORY,KEY SUMMARY
-SUMMARY TABLE
-OBSTACLE
-COMPARATIVE OF COMPETITOR,STRATEGY
ENGLISH II / ENGLISH 2 (ELG 30605 / ENG 0205)
LECTURER: CASSANDRA WIJESURIA
SUBMISSION & PRESENTATION DATE: 26th NOVEMBER 2015

Table Content
NO. Title Page
1. Key Summary 1
2. Methodology 2
3. History of Nyonya Cuisine in Malaysia 3
Brief description of Nancy’s Kitchen 4
Brief description of Old China Cafe 5
Top 3 competitor for Nancy’s Kitchen & Old China Cafe 6-7
Competitive analysis summary table 8
Strategies that applied by Nancy’s Kitchen & Old China Café 9
Obstacles face by the business 10
Nature of the market business 11
Summary table of the differences and similarity between both businesses 12
Conclusion 13
Recommendations for Nancy’s Kitchen & Old China Cafe 14-15
Bibliography 16
Appendix 1: photos of Nancy’s kitchen & Old China Café 17-18
Appendix 2: survey and interview questions & answers for Nancy’s kitchen
& Old China Café
19-23
Appendix 3: social media and website for Nancy’s kitchen & Old China
Café
24-25
Appendix 4: Business Card 26-27
Appendix 5: Minute of the meeting 28-32
Attachment 1: Presentation slide 33-38
Attachment 2: CD 39
References 40

Key Summary
In this research assignment, we had to write a report based on our research and study of
two local trades that have been running for ten years and are still going strong. After much
analysis conducted, we decided to carry out our research about Nyonya food, and we decided that
the two local businesses that we have chosen were located in an area that attracted tourists. Our
choices were Nancy’s Kitchen from Malacca and Old China Café from Kuala Lumpur. Through our
research and interview, we had done much comparison in many different aspects to conclude their
differences and similarities in their respective trades.

Methodology
First and foremost, we confirmed on the trades that we wanted to research on. We started
by reading through some primary sources such as Travel guide and magazines for a general idea
and then we looked for places that were broadly open to many other food businesses, which we
concluded that both Malacca and Kuala Lumpur being the destination for our two trades had.
Generally because both of these places are filled with diversity of food culture and tourism. After
we had settled the location, we decided to call the owners to make an arrangement for the
interview. After we arrived at our destinations, we greeted and introduced ourselves to the owners,
and then we proceeded to our interview. At the end of the interview session we took some pictures
and gathered some information before we left the place. At the end of the day, we accumulated all
the information and summarized it in the report.

History of the Nyonya Cuisine in Malaysia
Variety of Nyonya dishes, from left to right: Nyonya Laksa, Chicken Pongteh, Pai Tee, Curry
Kapitan,Nyoya popiah and Nyonya kuih(Pulut Tai Tai)
Nyonya cuisine is one of the many famous food cultures in Malaysia. Perhaps, also one of
the oldest cuisines that have been passed down by Baba Nyonya culture. The dish itself earns its
name from the place where many Straits Chinese were born, which is Malacca. When the early
Chinese traders began to settle down in the straits of Malacca in the early fifteenth century, a
number of them married local Malay women to create an ethnic sub-group of Malay-Chinese. In
Malay, this group is called Peranakan, which means “half caste”, but they also refer to themselves
as Straits Chinese to distinguish themselves from the Chinese immigrant workers who came to the
Malay Peninsula later. The term Baba can be referred to the male Peranakan while the women are
known as Nyonya. In the olden days, young ladies or Nyonya had no access to formal education,
culinary skills were among the chief accomplishments necessary for a well brought up Nyonya and
thus, the food was prepared by the womenfolk and hence they learnt how to cook it best.
After Malacca was being colonized from the fifteenth century onwards, the architectures and
foods are much being influence by it. As result, the Nyonya foods that are being served today are
mixed with diverse cultures of ingredients. Many Peranakan entrepreneurs from Malacca took
opportunity to migrate to Penang and Singapore and expand their business. There are variations
of cooking style that exist in the Southeast Asia today, such as Penang, Malacca and Singapore.
The Penang style of Nyonya cuisine has been influenced in part by Thailand because of its
proximity to the country while the Malacca and Singapore styles are more Portuguese and Malay
influence.
Nevertheless, Nyonya foods are often spicy and hot. But a true Baba family recipe usually
contains sambal belacan, a pounded condiment of chili peppers and prawn paste mixed with lime
juice and served with almost every meal. There are few major dishes that are served in the
Nyonya food culture, such as curry kapitan, cincaluk, laksa, Penang laksa, nasi kunyit chicken
pongteh, ayam buah keluak rojak and Nyonya kuih.

Brief Description of Nancy’s Kitchen
Nancy Kitchen is a traditional yet heritage baba nyonya restaurant. It is located at Taman
Kota Laksamana, Melaka. Nancy Kitchen is one of the most prominent peranakan restaurants in
Malacca. This shop is owned by Nancy herself which she is the local peranakan.
This business first started off as Nancy provide home cook and catering. Her passion of
serving pernakan food never stoped her. Then, she generates her business into a baba nyonya
restaurants which was is established on 1999 at Jonker Walk, Malacca. However, due to the
previous condition of the shop being too small and the rental going up, she was forced to move
into a proper place which benefits both herself as well as her customer.
Nancy’s Kitchen is currently the only branch in Melaka. This famous peranakan restaurant
served their most famous dishes such as their sek bak (braised pork), sambal sotong petai
(sambal squid with bitter beans) and ayam buah keluak with white rice for the ultimate finger
licking- experience. Besides that, this restaurant also serves the famous Baba Cendol with the
generous amount of gula melaka (palm sugar) and santan (coconut milk) which definitely makes it
delicious. A note though; Nancy’s Kitchen is not a Halal eatery.
The most iconic and unique part of this shop was the numerous antiquities and ornaments
such as the old coins, jades, porcelain bowls and the classic furniture. Customers get to
experience the atmosphere of the peranakan culture in the restaurants. The estimate number of
customer that walk in and out of this restaurants during weekdays were about few hundred and
during weekend the amounts were doubled especially on Saturday.
The owner herself has took part in a cooking competition before, as well as being
interviewed by the media. In fact, Nancy’s Kitchen has been published in the Cook Book from
Australia. It is actually quite an astonishing career for Nancy.

Brief Description of Old China Café
Old China Café is a pre-war shop house that is located at 11, Jalan Balai polis, Kuala
Lumpur. At the beginning, Old China Café started off as the Selangor Laundry Association in the
early nineteenth century. It was an old guild hall that acted as an office to accommodate all the
members from the Selangor Laundry Association. Then in 1997, the building was founded by Mr.
Leonard Tee and his partner Mr. Johnny Wong. In the old building, they came across two antique
mirrors that could be used for decorations in traditional shop houses, which immediately gave
them an idea of turning the old building into a traditional old charm café. Old China Café was
named through their travel experiences and culture background. The main factor that motivated
their business to serve Nyonya dishes was, the relationship that they had with the caretaker
previously from Malacca, which mainly contribute a huge inspiration to them to create Nyonya
foods.
After they have opened the first outlet in Jalan Balai polis, they started to branch out to
Kuala Lumpur Central market followed by a Malacca outlet and finally in Penang. Both main
outlets and the Central market currently consists of thirty employees. The employees are mix,
which consists of local and foreign workers. The number of customers in Old China Café depends
on the season. Often, in the summer and holiday seasons the café is usually filled with customers
and majority being foreign tourists. During such times, the amount of customers are estimated in
the hundreds and above.
The café itself serves a variety of authentic Nyonya dishes such as Itik Tim, Nyonya Laksa,
Nyonya fried chicken, pork Pong The and Mee Siam. All this dishes are main favorites by the
cafes customers. The main dishes that are regularly sold in the restaurant is the old china Nasi
Lemak, Tom Yam seafood, Nyonya Laksa, Kari Kapitan chicken, honey pork ribs and beef
rendang. According to Mr. Leonard, all the dishes that they served are basically home cook food,
which bases its roots in the culture that he grew up in, thus he would like to share it with the
customers.
Throughout the long run it has been for the business, the obstacles that Mr. Leonard often
faces in his café are the staff members. As stated by Mr. Leonard, to keep the building in its
original state, it requires a lot of effort to maintain, and throughout their business development in
the recent five years, they have been constantly improving their staff workers ability to serve
people better. Furthermore, they have to keep their business status up to date to compete with
whatever that is in trend now.

Competitors of Nancy’s Kitchen
Amy Heritage Nyonya Cuisine Overview
This charming eatery is being
served by the ever so friendly Amy the
owner and her husband who usually
goes from table to table talking to
eager diners. This peranakan food is
noted as one of the best nyonya food in
Malacca. The dishes are cooked with
fresh ingredients and their authentic
home recipes. The most recommended
dishes include Nyonya Pai Tee (crispy
deep fried puff stuffed with vegetable)
and chap chai (mixed vegetables in
bean paste). Seriously, everything on
the menu is worth it and absolutely is
delicious. The shop is closed on every
Monday and opened from 11:30am to
10:00pm.
Restaurants Nyonya Mako Restaurant Nyonya Mako is the
strongest competitor. They bear quite
similar menus. Nyonya Mako is halal
and provides a slightly grander
ambience. This restaurant is located
along Melaka Raya and it does usually
can be a traffic madhouse during
weekends or even weekdays. Their
favourite dishes are Pong Teh Chicken
and Sotong Goreng Kunyit. These
dishes in particular are cooked with
fried calamari with turmeric. It’s open
daily from 11:30am to 9:30pm but
closed on every Tuesday.
Restaurant Ole Sayang Restaurants Ole Sayang is the
oldest baba nyonya restaurant in
Malacca which was established in
1983. They serve all the hall marks of
good baba nyonya dishes such as
Pongteh chicken, kapitan chicken, otak
otak and sambal chicken. Prices are
reasonably cheap, the food is excellent
and the service great. The shop is
open daily from 11:30am - 9:30pm but
closed on Wednesday.

Competitors of Old China Café
Ali, Muthu and Ah Hock Overview
Ali, Muthu and Ah Hock is
located beside of Old China Café
and it was established around the
year of 2012. The establishment
was set up by three partners, which
were Ernest Ong, Colin Soh and
Bruce Wong. They chose the name
Ali, Muthu and Ah Hock as to signify
the Muhibbah among the races in
this country. Their menu comprises
of Malay, Indian and Chinese
cuisines. The concept of their
restaurant is mostly based on the
traditional kopitiam theme. They
currently have established one
branch at Ara Damansara, which
has been running for two years
Malaya Hainan Malaya Hainan is a Hainan
restaurant that is located at section
24, Jalan Panggong. It was
established around 1983 in Kuala
Lumpur and it is a family business.
Their restaurant previously opened
in Kedah and was well- known as
Kedahan but then they decided to
sell the shop and move to Kuala
Lumpur. Their dishes are fuse in
Hainan and Western cooking styles.
The architectural setting is largely
based on 1960’s kopitiam and
currently they have no branches.
Kiam Liam Kee Restaurant kim Lian Kee is
located at Jalan Petaling, Kuala
Lumpur. It’s a family business and it
was proclaim that their restaurant
had been established for hundred
years. In the earlier days, the owner
started their business as a hawker
stall then later they expanded their
business to a restaurant. Their
restaurant offer a variety of
authentic noodle dishes, which
much base on Chinese cooking
style. Their signature dish is called
Hokkien mee. Currently they have
one branch, which is located not far
away from the current restaurant.
The design of the architect is much
more modern style.

Competitive analysis summary table
Competitive traits Nancy’s Kitchen Old China Cafe
Number of competitor
around the geographical
market
4 to 5 6 to 7
Barrier to entry low barrier to entry and exit low barrier to entry and exit
Market power The owner’s business has
total control over the terms
and conditions of exchange.
The owner can also raise the
prices without losing all its
customers. Additionally, The
firm can also lower prices
without triggering a potentially
ruinous price war with
competitors.
The owner’s business has
total control over the terms
and conditions of exchange.
The owner can also raise the
prices without losing all its
customers. Additionally, The
firm can also lower prices
without triggering a
potentially ruinous price war
with competitors.
Market structure Monopolistic competitive Monopolistic competitive

Strategies that applied by Nancy’s Kitchen & Old China
Café
Nancy’s Kitchen Strategy Old China Cafe
The prices are determined
by the size of a dish you
order. The prices are
range from average to
cheap.
Pricing The price of a single dish could be
ranged from cheap to expensive.
The foods are all very
authentic and have strong
flavor of different spices.
Additionally, the portion of
a meal is much depends
on the size you order.
Food quality The foods are all very authentic
and Each dish has a strong home
cook flavor. The portion of a meal
is given enough to fill in ones
appetize.
The service quality in
Nancy’s Kitchen is well
achieve. It meets the
customers need. The
staffs’ attitude are very
loyal to the customers
Quality of service The service quality in Old China
Café is well perform. The staffs’
attitudes are well manner. They
will guide you through the menu
and response to your need.
Nancy’s kitchen promote
its restaurant through
Facebook only and they
have been advertised
through several television
channel such as TV8, TV3
and also air on
international channel,
which is NIPPON.
Advertising Old China Café promotes their
café through various medias.
They use Facebook to advertise
their foods and they have their
own website, additionally you can
make reservation through it. They
have been also appeared in
several travel magazines.
The exterior and interior
design are very modern.
The interior is very neat
and tidy, which gives a
spacious feeling
Atmosphere The interior of the café are well
decorated with antiques including
the chairs and tables. It gives a
traditional ambience that reflect
an old café back in the 1960’s
The building is located
within the residential area
and is a walking distance
for the resident.
Additionally, customers
can easily find parking
space.
Location Well located in a strategic area,
which can be spotted by
customers easily. The area
consist a lot of foreigner and
tourist. It’s likely Suitable to travel
on feet

Obstacles face by the business
Obstacles Description
Obtaining finance Due to economic issues in Malaysia today.
The values of buildings and properties have
increased. Especially, in commercial area.
It’s significantly expensive. This could be
difficult for people to lend such a huge sum
of money from bank to start a business. That
might lead a person to get involve in
predator lending.
Managing it alone Coping with everything alone is also one of
most common mistakes new businesses
owners make. After they have established
their business, the owners would try to
minimize their expenses by hiring less
employees and tend to manage most of the
work by themselves. This might seems
successful at first. However, as the work
starts growing gradually, the workload takes
a toll on the new owner. Mistakes start being
made and the quality of work starts
decreasing. You may even start losing
customers soon. This is why this strategy is
not successful in the long run.
Time management When managing a new business, the
owners usually focus their attention on
serving the customers without having
adequate time to analyze the important of
customers’ needs. The consequences of this
action could affect the business grow.
Choosing a bad location Nowadays, why do some newly develop
businesses experience lack of customers’
support? One of many reasons that
contribute to this factor was at the
beginning, they possess insufficient
geographical knowledge to open their
business, thus having less customers to
patronize the owners’ businesses because
of having difficulty to access the location.
Lack of business knowledge Some businesses owners have a wealthy
background and have a desire to open their
own business. With the lack of business
knowledge. When that happens, it could
bring several major factors that could ruin
the business development. Such as having
a disconnect relationship with the
employees, poor management, decline of
business profit and loss of customers.

Nature of the market business
Monopolistic Competitive
Nancy’s kitchen & Old China Cafe
To conclude both of these businesses fall under the same market structure. Firstly, both
of them possesses similar market traits, such as consisting of low barriers of entry and
exit, which by means that these businesses can enter or leave the market easily and
with that they can make super-normal profits in a short run but normal profits in long
run. Additionally, Both of these trades and their competitors are operated under a
competitive market, where each of them sell a similar product but not identical. For
instance, the competitors for Old China Café are Ali, Muthu and Ah hock, Malaya
Hainan and Kiam Liam Kee. All this are independent firm that sells the same product,
which is food but food can be diverse from western to local or maybe mix. In conclusion,
both of these businesses can be described as monopolistic competitive.

Summary table of the differences and similarity between
both businesses
Old China Cafe Differences Nancy’s kitchen
1997 Date of establishment 1999
Leonard Tee and Johnny
Wong
Founder Nancy Mok Siok Kim
Inspire by the caretaker in
Malacca
Motivation to start this
business
Her talent of cooking inspired
her to open the business
three Number of branches Zero
11, Jalan Balai Polis, 50000
Kuala Lumpur.
Location 13, 8, Taman Kota
Laksamana, Seksyen 3, Jalan
KL 3/9, Kota Laksamana,
75200 Melaka.
Commercial area Area Suburb area
Very minimum capital Capital require to start the
business
RM 3000
Average of thirty Number of employees Average of twenty
Mainly tourist and local Who are the customers Mainly local and frequent
customers
Every year How often new product is
release
Very seldom
Facebook, own website and
featured in television programs
What medias are used to
promote the business
Facebook, own website,
appear in magazine and travel
books
Besides servicing food, the
owner also organize some
other functions such as
cooking class and catering.
Organize functions No other functions are
organized
Similarity
Current owner Managing the business Current owner
Nyonya food Type of product sold Nyonya food
Prepare and serve food Type of service Prepare and serve food
Home cook food Type of food Home cook food
Through experiences Knowledge or skill to start
their business
Through experiences

Conclusion
Based on our findings of both businesses, the business that is more commercially
successful would be Nancy’s Kitchen. This is because Nancy’s Kitchen has a stronger and more
loyal customer base compared to Old China Café. This is important as the customers are the main
source of income and this revenue can be used to further improve and expand on her business.
The benefits of her side project of trading and exporting her Signature Laksa Sauce is that it brings
recognition and status to the Nancy’s brand name, this in-turn would generate customer loyalty
and trust between the restaurant and its customers. But the most important factor would be
Nancy’s modern thinking and mentality, anyone after having conversed with this fine lady would
immediately know that she is business orientated and is constantly looking for ways to improve on
her business and satisfy her customers. This would be our reasons for why Nancy’s Kitchen would
be the more successful commercially.

Recommendations: Nancy’s Kitchen
1) Advertisement & Exposure
Because of its new location Nancy’s Kitchen Restaurant is located in an area known by the
locals as a near isolated zone. Though the restaurant always has a full house service, the car-
parks outside remain mostly empty to anyone who walks out suggesting the potential for more
customers.
A helpful adjustment to this would be to add more advertisements and fliers to promote and
advertise her restaurant and location. Selected items from her menu and signature dishes offered
by her establishment may be printed out and posted in fliers hung on possible sign stops and
banners.
2) Use of Space inside
The interior of the restaurant in cylindrical in shape thus the entire shop house architecture
is such. Therefor the furniture and table arrangements are lines along the rectangular flooring the
serves a multiple purpose of being a walkway.
A positive correction action may be for the Nancy’s Kitchen Restaurant business to expand.
Buying a secondary building to expand her business may be expensive at the current rise in
property prices; however this would be easily compensated with the added increase in space and
occupancy of customers.
3) Expansion
The restaurant occupies three stories in total with the bottom tow used to serve customers
during the work hours, while the top highest floor is reserved for the use of the staff members and
Nancy herself as her office is also located at the top floor. At each floor after inspection is that
each has only one bathroom stall in which it is unisex and can only fill one occupant. This has
created a queue especially to customers during peak hours.
Possibly rearranging the interior architecture of the bathroom stall would be a relative cheap
alternative to building another separate restroom stall. The current stall can occupy a person
nicely however the placement of the bathroom utensils and urinals are placed awkwardly such that
a simple rearrangement later, it could fit double the current housing space.

Recommendations: Old China Café
1) Advertisement & Exposure
Old china café is located around the corner towards the end of the bend to where the side
entrance to Chinatown is. The unusual location of the café is located such that to find it those not
familiar with the place would have to go several rounds just to find the restaurant. And the
restaurant has a rather small signboard placed in front of the main entrance.
The main problem with Old China Café is that there is a relative lack in advertisement and
promotion. The area around Chinatown is filled with banners and fliers filled with advertisements of
neighbouring businesses and products, therefor the channel already exists to excess this
advertisement opportunity. The location should be one of the key highlights mentioned in the
advertisements along with other choice items from the restaurants signature nyona dishes.
2) Pricing
We had the opportunity to dine at the restaurant and one thing stands out abruptly, the
pricing. Though understanding the concept that this form of dining can be considered “high end”,
the price range us considerably expensive considering the type of local cuisine served up by the
restaurant.
Making the pricing a little more affordable would be a smart business move, with the pricing
lowered more customers would consider this place as a business alternative as the quality of the
food is fantastic. This increase in customers would be aimed towards local customers as from our
experience not many locals were dining during our time there as the only customers who came
and went were a western couple and European family (basically tourists).
3) Attracting more customers
Lastly would be an environmental factor. Located within walking distance from the Old
China Cafe is the ATC College. After dining at their establishment there was noticeably a lack of
any alternative promotional or lunch time offers besides from the standard menu.
It would be beneficial if the restaurant than decide to take up this advice. Many other eating
establishments impose this practise by the use of lunch time promotion deals and complementary
drinks and desserts. The reason behind this is that during lunch hours especially is there is an
education body nearby there would bound to be a lot of hungry customers around looking for a
bite to eat On top of the already present students within it’s vicinity lies also numerous hotels and
small lodgings (E.g Chinatown Hotel Kuala Lumpur), bank offices (E.g Hong Leong Bank) all of
which would mean more potential to dive into a bigger customer base considering that all the
named shops and businesses are located within walking distance from the Café.

Bibliography
Tan, Terry (2000). Nyonya Cooking The easy Way. 4th Edition. Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia: Times
Edition Pte. Ltd.
Lee, Peter and Chen, Jenifer, (1998). Rumah Baba, Life in A Peranakan House. Singapore:
Singapore History Museum
Tan, Florance (2001). Florance Tan Secrets Of Nyonya Cooking. Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia:
Times Editions Pte. Ltd.

APPENDIX 1: Photos
1. Nancy’s Kitchen
Interior of Nancy’s Kitchen Dishes of Nancy’s Kitchen
Display of photos in Nancy’s Kitchen
Group photo From left: Pern, Shi Lik, Brian , Nancy (Owner), E sean, Jia Ling.

2. Old China Café
Old China Cafe shop Interior of Old China Cafe
Nyonya dishes at Old China Cafe
Group photo From left: Pern, Weng Chuan,Leonard Tee(owner),Sean

APPENDIX 2: Survey questions & Interview Q&A
Survey questions for both businesses
1. Who is the founder of this business?
2. Can you provide is a brief history of your business?
3. Why choose this location to start this business?
4. What inspire you to open this business?
5. Have your business development occurred any changed over the past few years?
6. Was there any other events have happened beside those you have mentions?
7. How much capital is required to start this business?
8. How many employees are hire in the restaurant?
9. How many customers are roughly estimates in weekends and weekdays?
10.What are your signature dishes in this restaurant? Is this dishes is the best seller?
11.Do you have any competitor? Who are your top 3 competitor?
12.Do you faces any obstacles when you running this business?
13.When was this business started and how many has it been?
14.Who was the founder of this business?
15.How do you promote the business?
16.Are there any changes or improvement for the past 5 years?
17. Where did you see your business in the next 10 years?
18.Do you consider your business as successful?
19.Why did you choose your business to be located at KL?
20.Any advice you would like to give to those people who want to start up their business?
21.Is there any goal you would like to achieve in the future?

Nancy’s Kitchen
Interview Person: Ms. Nancy
Job Position: Founder
Office Phone Number: 06-2836099
E-mail Address: eat@nancyskit.com
Location: Jalan KL 3/8, Taman Kota Laksamana, Seksyen 3, 75200 Melaka
ESEAN: May I know who is the founder of this business?
NANCY: Actually my parents don’t run any business, I’m the one started to open this restaurant.
Normally we do like home cook, and a little bit catering at outside, before 1999.
ESEAN: Can you provide is a brief history of your business?
NANCY: In the early days, my parents never did any business only home cooking and some
catering. I was very good at cooking Nyonya food and I am passionate about Nyonya food.
Because of what I am good at, I am the one started the cooking ever since 1999 and I decided to
named my restaurant Nancy’s kitchen.
ESEAN: Why choose this location to start this business?
NANCY: My previous location was in Jonker Street. Because of the place was quite small and
then rental was going up. So that’s why I move to this place, which look more organize and proper
and easy for my customer.
ESEAN: what inspire you to open this business?
NANCY: It was in 1999, there were a lot of Nyonya people serving Nyonya food everywhere in
Malacca. But they have never served Nyonya food with pork ingredient. Only my restaurant here
serve pork ingredient and since I am good at cooking Nyonya food from a very early age, it inspire
me a lot and I decided to open this business.
ESEAN: Have your business development occurred any changed over the past few years?
NANCY: yes some special event have happened before. Catering, party and treasure hunt. The
treasure hunt was from Singapore, they hosted in my restaurant and they did a Popiah challenge.
ESEAN: was there any other events have happened beside those you have mentions?
NANCY: yes, I had some cooking competition that was in at Dataran Pahlawan, Mahkota Parade,
it was my first step becoming success. My recipe start off in an Australia cook book. After that my
business was air in TV. That was on TV3, TV8, and Nippon from Japan.
ESEAN: How much capital is required to start this business?
NANCY: when I first started this business about Rm 3000
ESEAN: How many employees are hire in the restaurant?

NANCY: When first starting the business, I hired about four employees to run my business from
1999 to 2001, later increased to eight then follow by twelve and now I got around twenty.
ESEAN: how many customers are roughly estimates in weekends and weekdays?
NANCY: on weekend there are around few hundred of customers coming in and weekdays are
quite a lot but weekend more, especially Saturday.
ESEAN: What are your signature dishes in this restaurant? Is this dishes is the best seller?
NANCY: my signature dish is chicken candlenut, is our house special and Ayam BAK Buah Keluak
or chicken pork rib.
ESEAN: Do you have any competitor? Who are your top 3 competitor?
NANCY: So far no, since I moved to here.
ESEAN: Do you faces any obstacles when you running this business?
NANCY: Before, we couldn’t manage our business properly, but after sixteen years of
establishment we know what can be done properly and what can’t be done.
ESEAN: Is there any advice that you would like to give to those people who are new to starting up
the business?
NANCY: firstly, the person must know how to cook and must also know how to manage the
business. If you enable to cook and you employ the worker maybe you have to pay more to the
worker. So, you must know how to cook and you must know what kind of food you provide to your
customers, which is the most important.
ESEAN: Is there any goal you would like to achieve in the future?
NANCY: maybe later on, if I am lucky enough I might do a franchise.

Old China Cafe
Interview Person: Mr. Leonard Tee
Job Position: Founder
Office Phone Number: 603-2072 5915
E-mail Address: precious@oldchina.com.my
Location: No.11 Jalan Balai Polis, 50000 Kuala Lumpur
ESEAN: When was this business started and how many has it been?
Owner: Old china café was started at 1997. It used to be Selangor laundry association. This use to
be a guild hall that host all the member from Selangor laundry association. Due to the
establishment law of the land control act. The land was controlled by the government and the
owner decided to let go his tenancy agreement. I and my partner were there to look at a piece of
feng shui mirror for the use in traditional houses and we immediately felt in love with this
neighborhood. We decided that his place is suitable to be a café.
ESEAN: Who was the founder of this business?
Owner: I and my other partner, Johnny Wong
ESEAN: What inspired you to start this business?
Owner: we so happened to restore one of the old houses in Jonker Street and the caretaker there
was very good at cooking and she inspire us a lot. We decided to start our business with Nyonya
food.
ESEAN: What are the obstacles you faced when running up this business?
Owner: to open a business is easy but to sustain it, it’s not easy. It’s hard when dealing with old
employees and parts of the building sometimes you have to restore its condition. Most importantly,
you have to compete with whatever things that are trendy outside now.
ESEAN: How much capital is required to start this business?
Owner: We have a humble start. We started the business with a very minimum capital.
ESEAN: How many employee are hire in the restaurant?
Owner: we have about thirty employees in both restaurants, which is here and precious Old China
Café.
ESEAN: How do you promote the business?
Owner: We promote our business through new Medias.
ESEAN: How many customers are roughly estimates in weekends and weekdays?

Owner: It depends on the season. Our business attract a lot of foreigner and foreign tourist, which
fall on summer and season holiday and it’s more than hundreds.
ESEAN: Do you have any competitors? Can you name your top three competitor?
Owner: well, I don’t treat competitors as competitor. The more food stores and restaurant there
are, the better. Because this area is deteriorating, we need more outlets to attract more customers
to this area, so that it benefits all and I don’t treat any restaurant as a competitor.
ESEAN: Are there any changes or improvement for the past 5 years?
Owner: yes, we are changing some new staffs. Better staffs
ESEAN: Where did you see your business in the next 10 years?
Owner: we don’t know, because with the half finish of the new MRT station, in the future the
renting fee might get very high and we don’t know what could happened.
ESEAN: Do you consider your business as successful?
Owner: Yes, we have been appeared in many travel magazines and we have been listed in a book
name 1000 places to see before you die.
ESEAN: Do you consider bringing your business to an international level?
Owner: not really, I don’t really have that big ambitious.
ESEAN: Why did you choose your business to be located at KL?
Owner: Because KL has potential and it’s a capital city of Malaysia. I can’t set up my business in
anywhere, because the number of visitor is not enough to sustain my business. Furthermore to
showcase our culture and heritage and at the same time to make money to sustain our business.
ESEAN: Any advice you would like to give to those people who want to start up their business?
Owner: don’t go in to this business its hard work and I have gone through it. If you are not
physical and mentally prepare for this business, it will drain your energy away. There is a time
where every people dream to open a café. But is not an easy task. Previously, from those day I
had to purchase goods, cooking and served the customers. I had to do it, because the skilled of
the business wasn’t good enough to hire more people.

APPENDIX 3: Website
Nancy’s Kitchen
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Nancys-Kitchen-179319410162/?fref=ts
Official Website: http://eatatnancyskit.com/

Old China Cafe
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/oldchina.my/?fref=ts
Official Website: http://www.oldchina.com.my/

APPENDIX 4: Business Card
Nancy’s Kitchen

Old China Cafe

APPENDIX 5: Minute of the meeting
DATE: 24th October 2015
TIME: 1.00pm to 2.00pm
VENUE: Zhia’s Kitchen
NAMES OF GROUP MEMBERS TUTORIAL GROUP ROLE
Saw E Sean Wednesday -
Kiu Ngin Pern Monday -
Poh Weng Chuan Wednesday -
Brian Koh Jun Yan Monday -
Le Jia Ling Monday -
Hong Shi Lik Monday -
NO. ACTIVITY ACTION TAKEN
BY
1. Introduction
-The main purpose of the meeting is to decide the type of business to
research.
All members
2. Discussion
-Decision of business line for research purpose. All members
-Planning For the Malacca. All members
3. Conclusion
-We decided to choose Babanyona restaurant as our research
business.
-We decided to choose the Nancy’s Kitchen restaurant in Malacca for
research purpose.
Brian Koh will arrange the interview for us.

DATE: 31th October 2015
VENUE: Zhia’s Kitchen
Saw E Sean Wednesday -
Brian Koh Jun Yan Monday -
Le Jia Ling Monday Prepared interview question
NO. ACTIVITY ACTION TAKEN BY
1. Arrangement for Malacca Trip
-Separate roles for Nancy’s Kitchen interview. All members
Saw E Sean (interviewer)
Kiu Ngin Pern (Audio Recorder)
Poh Weng Chuan ( Research information)
Hong Shi Lik (Photographer)
Le Jia Ling (Videographer)
Brian Koh Jun Yan ( Record note of interview)
2. Preparation of interview question
-Discussion of interview question All member
-Collect the suggestion and combine the interview question Le Jia Ling

DATE: 3rd November 2015
TIME:4.00pm to 6.00pm
VENUE: Taylor’s University Library
NAMES OF GROUP
MEMBERS
TUTORIAL
GROUP
ROLE
Saw E Sean Wednesday Edit and upload the interview video.
Kiu Ngin Pern Monday Prepare the recording audio from interview.
Poh Weng Chuan Wednesday Collect all the information from research.
Brian Koh Jun Yan Monday Provide more information about Nancy’s Kitchen.
Le Jia Ling Monday Write out the dialog of the conversation of the
interview in Nancy’s Kitchen.
Hong Shi Lik Monday Arrange the interview question for Old China Café
interview.
1. Collect and arrange information from Nancy’s
Kitchen interview.
-Edit and upload interview video Saw E Sean
-Collect information from research Poh Weng Chuan
-Write out Dialog of interview in Nancy’s Kitchen Le Jia Ling
-Arrange information All members
2. Prepare for Old China Café interview
-Separate roles for Old China Café interview All members
Saw E Sean (Interview)
Kiu Ngin Pern (Audio record, Take notes)
Poh Weng Chuan (Photographer, Videographer, Arrange
interview)
Le Jia Ling (Collect information)
Brian Koh Jun Yan (Collect information)
-Prepare interview question Hong Shi Lik

DATE: 18th November 2015
NAMES OF GROUP
MEMBERS
TUTORIAL
GROUP
ROLE
Saw E Sean Wednesday Edit and upload interview video
Brian Koh Jun Yan Monday Wrote out the dialog of the conversation in
interview
Le Jia Ling Monday -
NO. ACTIVITY ACTION
TAKEN BY
1. Collect and arrange information from Old China Café interview.
-Edit and upload interview video Saw E Sean
-Write out the dialog of the conversation in the interview Brian Koh
Jun Yan
-Collect information of research Poh Weng
Chuan
-Arrange information All teams
2. Separate roles to complete all the works All teams
Saw E Sean (Cover, Minute of meeting, Artistic Cover, Combine report)
Poh Weng Chuan (Strategy of business, Summary table of different and
similarities, References, Competitive analysis, Key summary, Obstacle)
Kiu Ngin Pern (Recommendation, Conclusion, Nature market, Brief History
of Old China Cafe)
Brian Koh Jun Yan (Brief History of Nancy’s Kitchen, Competitor)
Le Jia Ling (Appendix, Competitor)
Hong Shi Lik (Separate roles for presentation, Presentation slide)

DATE: 24th November 2015
Saw E Sean Wednesday Combine report
Kiu Ngin Pern Monday Grammar checking
Poh Weng Chuan Wednesday Help in presentation slides
Brian Koh Jun Yan Monday Help in presentation slides
Le Jia Liang Monday Help in presentation slides
Hong Shi Lik Monday Arrange presentation slides
1. Combine and Finalize the business report.
-Combine the report Saw E Sean
-Recheck the arrangement of the report Poh Weng Chuan
-Check the grammar mistake Kiu Ngin Pern
2. Prepare for presentation and presentation slides
-Arrange presentation slides Hong Shi Lik
-Help in presentation slide Brian Koh Jun Yan,
Le Jia Ling,
Poh Weng Chuan
-Practice the presentation All members

Attachment 1:Presentation Slide

Attachment 2:CD

References
1. Old China Café Petaling Street. (2000). Retrieved from
http://www.oldchina.com.my/cafe.html. Accessed on 11 November 2015.
2. Nyonyapendekmelaka. (2009, July 9). Peranakan/BabaNyonya - Its Historical Beginning
and Culture at a Glance. Retrieved from
http://nyonyapendekmelaka.blogspot.my/2009/07/peranakan-its-historical-beginning-
and.html. Accessed on 12 November 2015.
3. Garysyayornay. (2012, December 12). Melaka: Nancy Kitchen. Retrieved from
http://garysyayornay.blogspot.my/2012/12/melaka-nancys-kitchen.html. Accessed on 1
November 2015.
4. Bonny,w. (2009). Malacca a world heritage site. Pandan Perdana, Kuala Lumpur: Purple
Productions & PR Consultants (M) Sdn Bhd.
5. Hock, C. W. PJK & Bonny, w. (2004). You will love Malacca always. Taman Pandan Jaya,
Kuala Lumpur: Purple PR Consultants Sdn Bhd.
6. Regina, F. (2004). The Guide To Melaka Malaysia. Jalan Tengkerah, Malacca: Melaka
State Government & Leisure Guide Publishing Sdn Bhd.
7. Simon, R. (2014). Kuala Lumpur, Melaka & Penang (3rd ed.). Linden Street, Oakland:
Lonely Planet Publications Pty Ltd.
8. Sidney, C.H. C & Chee-Beng, T. (2007). Food and Foodways in Asia. Milton Park,
Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge.
9. William, G.T. H. (2013). A Nyonya Mosaic Memories Of A Peranakan Childhood. New
Industrial Road, Singapore: Marshall Cavendish International (Asia) Pte Ltd
10.Basan, G & Terry, T. (2012). Practical cook’s encyclopedia of Malaysia & Singapore.
Blackfriars Road, London: Hermes House Ltd.

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