Research assignment

SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE, BUILDING AND DESIGN
FOUNDATION IN NATURAL BUILD ENVIRONMENT
2013 JULY INTAKE
ENGLISH 2 (ENGL 0205)
WORD COUNT: 4,342
ASSIGNMENT: A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF 2 BUSINESSES OF SIMILAR INDUSTRY
IN DIFFERENT GEOGRAPHICAL LOCATIONS
LECTURER: CASSANDRA WIJESURIA
SUBMISSION DATE: 4 June 2014
GROUP MEMBERS:
Name Student ID
How Lee Jing 0315669
Eunice Chan Yu Ming 0315729
Amanda Ng Wei Xuan 0316130
Egbert Chin Haw Hong 0315115
Ooi Kai Yang 0315663
Liew Jee Ying 0317174

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Tables of Contents:
Topic Page Number
Key Summary
1
Brief History of Trends 2
Part 1: Company Profile
Brief Description of the Businesses 3 - 5
Comparative Analysis of the Businesses’ Competitive Traits 6 - 9
Recommendation 10 - 11
Part 2: Appendices
Interview Questions 12 - 19
Minutes of Meetings 20 - 23
Photos and Captions 24 - 29
Part 3: Reference
Reference 30

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Key Summary
This research report shows an analysis that compares and contrasts two different
businesses, which, while both similar, serve different key products and have
substantially different competitors. Our selected type of business is that of food and
beverages, specifically beverages, the shops being Purple Cane, located in Shaw
Parade, Jalan Pudu, whose main products are tea and tea-related goods, and the other
being Mustache Houze, located in Georgetown, Penang, that focuses on mainly coffee,
various beverages and cakes. This report consists of background information, as well
as comparative analysis, the information mainly gathered from face-to-face interviews
as well as the internet as a supplementary source. From this, we have gathered that
Purple Cane is the more commercially successful comparatively to Mustache Houze,
due to them having many more establishments and connections. We have also included
many different ways to improve their businesses that we have identified from our
findings.

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Brief History Of Trends
Tea is a famous beverage that has been part of Malaysian culture for centuries, hailing
from the lands of China, this leaf based beverage is a popular drink among the various
cultures. However, the tea industry only started booming from the early 1900’s when the
famous business man and entrepreneur J.A. Russell established a tea plantation in
what is now a famous resort and holiday place, Cameron Highlands. He created the first
highlands tea plantation in Malaysia, which completely changed the economy in
Malaysia, since it largely depended on the tin and rubber industry. This plantation was
named Boh, after the Bohea, the mountainous region in China where the tea originated
from. Thus, tea was formally introduced into Malaysian lifestyle.
However, coffee was introduced in a different manner. Coffee is a berry plant that is
mainly found in South America, as well as various locations in Africa. It was brought into
Malaysia by a British officer during the British colonial era, and was spread among the
various Chinese cultures, particularly the Hainanese and the Hokkiens, coffee being
known as “kopi” and coffee houses known as “kopitiams”. Another unique aspect of
coffee in Malaysia is the way the beans are roasted here, as the method employed
around the world is that the beans would be roasted with sugar, while in Malaysia,
butter is also added into the mixture giving a more avid flavor and quality.

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Brief Description of the of the business
Purple Cane is an establishment that deals with such commodities. The
company’s first teahouse, as it was called back then, was first established in a shop lot
located in Sultan Street, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on the year 1987, originating from
Taiwan, founded by Lim Hock Lam alongside many of his friends. In the following two
years, they expanded quickly, opening new outlets in both Petaling Jaya and Ipoh.
Since then, the company has expanded rapidly, with 25 branches spread out all around
Malaysia, the highest concentration in Kuala Lumpur and the surrounding Selangor
district. The very first shop was set up on Sultan Street, and the idea of a teahouse was
popular. This led to booming business that has allowed the company to grow since then,
with an increasing number of investors and banks willing to lend a loan. Since then, it
has grown out of the traditional teahouse mentality and has expanded to include the
retail of tea related goods such as teapots and china cups, and has even held

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workshops and charity events, examples being the Dream Factory and Mystartr.com, all
related to tea. To quote the words of founder Lim Hock Lam, the changes are inevitable,
like a flowing river before it joins the vast expanse of the ocean, the company changing
and transforming to suit as well as to change the environment, the market. Along the
way, Purple Cane came up with a slogan, “Tea Brings Feelings to Life”, a phrase that
represents the work culture of the company and its employees. With its rich heritage
and high operating standards, Purple Cane has become famous among specific circles.

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Mustache Houze is a coffeehouse that also serves cakes and pastries, founded
jointly by two ex-college students, Catherine Yeo and Christine Ooi, They are both
graduated from KDU, Kolej Damansara Utama, quite recently on the 27th of June, 2013.
It was founded in Penang, and is now about to venture into the homestay business,
already with 5 themes planned out to be fitted into rooms. The original shop, located in
No. 24 Campbell Street, was renovated from a pre-existing shop owned by one of the
founder’s brother-in-law. At first, it was originally planned to be a boutique, but with so
many of them already established and successful in Penang, they desisted with that
idea and decided to go with a coffeehouse instead. So far, during this 9 month period,
Mustache has maintained a steady business and continues to operate at standard times
and days. For them, creativity is the most important aspect of their business.

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Comparative Analysis of the Businesses’
Competitive Traits
Purple Cane
As a large company that stretches across many states, the amount of competitors that
Purple Cane has are very large, probably in their hundreds. This also accounts the
diversity of Purple Cane as a company, as it delves into different sectors of the tea
industry, since every sector has a specific market and their respective competitors.
However, according to Wong Sook Yee, Senior Executive (CRM Dept.), the competitors
of Purple Cane range from single store companies to several small enterprises, but to
help maintain discretion, none of them can be named, apart from these two main
examples, shops (古意斋) Legend of Tea and (万年青) Evergreen, and that those
companies mainly focus on the distribution of tea as a sole product, while Purple Cane
has a larger range of products, such as health products and teapots, allowing them to
be more flexible in the business. This gives them the upper hand on the market, annual
revenue and investment possibilities. For their competitors to enter the businesses that
Purple Cane is already in will be difficult, thus Purple Cane will maintain their strengths
over other businesses. Another thing that Purple Cane excels at comparatively to its
competitors is how they reach out to the public in terms of advertising. They set up

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many workshops to promote their company, with aims to teach the youth of this
generation about tea, how to brew, dry as well as the benefits of including tea in your
lifestyle. Alongside this, they have started to help kick start many projects that people
need help with, under the guise of Dream Factory as well as Mystartr.com. People
submit their projects hoping for funding, and if Purple Cane deems it something worth
investing in, then they help to fund the project, thus gaining popularity and the
admiration of the public. They also have a magazine in circulation, talking about their
dreams, aspirations and goals, further increasing their publicity in the public sector.
Purple Cane aims to monopolise the tea market, already expanding their roots deep into
each sector, so only time will tell if they’re successful.

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Moustache Coffeehouse
Moustache Coffeehouse is a small, private company run only by two individuals with not
much financial support, thus making it a very susceptible to outside pressure. Since it is
based in a very competitive environment, particularly in the tourist area of Penang, it
has many competitors. However, it will inconvenience them to name the individual
companies, as they are just starting out. Basically put, all café’s in that area which sells
cake as well are competitors of Moustache, which makes it a very tough market, them
being the underdog at the moment. And since they just started out, they don’t have
much capital to offer lower prices or promotions, thus making it hard for them to
compete as the competitors constantly hand out offers and promotions. The only thing
that it has got going for them is their uniqueness, their creativity and signature cakes.
On the other hand, they insist on staying out of the food business, making them lose out
in that sector, as many other cafés do sell food in that area. This will either attract or
make them lose out, as Moustache focuses on cakes and coffee, making it more
specialized in that field.
Between the two companies, it is easy to agree that Purple Cane is the most
successful, due to the large amount of branches, its product diversity as well as
marketing strategies, while Moustache is not at that level yet, as it is just starting
out.

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The differences between Purple Cane and
Moustache Houze
Purple Cane Moustache Houze
Price Above RM50 Around RM8~RM20
Location
In Kuala Lumpur.
Lot L1-01, 1st Floor, Shaw
Parade, Changkat Thambi
Dollah, 55100 Kuala Lumpur,
Malaysia.
In Penang.
no.24, Campbell Street, 10100
Georgetown, Penang.
Branches About 25 branches No, only 1 Shop
Customers
Most of them are locals and
Chinese people.
Locals and Tourists
Products
Tea and Chinese dishes mix with
tea
Coffee and cake
Barriers to
enter the
market
Strong, not enough capital No
Number of
competitors
About 2-3, such as Legend of tea
and Evergreen tea art
Too many, such as Sugar
Honey, Kaapcai Café, Post café
Ways to
maintain the
business
By continuously expanding their
business as well as branching
out/diversifying their products.
Keep creating some new and
creative ideas for their business
to attract more customers

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Recommendation
Coffee shop (Moustache Houze)
Expand the shop:
The coffee shop that we had interviewed has no problems in advertisement and
promoting their product, but the only thing that we can recommend for this shop is to
expand the shop more so that is it even more visible for customers to spot and more
space to ease congestion within the shop itself, and also to make it more comfortable
for the employees to work.
Maintain services:
Other than that, they should maintain their customer services so that their reputation will
increase, as it is now currently satisfactory, with customers feeling happy and
comfortable when the employees serve them with their coffee and desserts.

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Tea shop (Purple Cane)
Workers performance:
There are too many similar competitive so that the tea shops should pay more attention
on their workers performance to make sure that the workers perform well when serving
the customers, as every little bit counts towards being successful within this market.
Analysis the product:
As the tea shop has many types of products, they should analyze the product so that
they can avoid of wasting time and effort, as to better serve their most main product
inside its branches.

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Interview Questions
(Moustache Houze)
Interviewee’s name card and personal information
1. When was the business founded?
July 27, 2013
2. What does the company name means or represent?
There is no meaning to the name; it is just a themed name that was meant to
attract customers.
3. Who are the key founders?
There are 2 partners, Catherine and Christine.
4. What prompted the founders to start this business?
They just wanted to start a business.

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5. What are your main products?
Our main products are cake, Ice-cream, coffee and dessert. We don’t sell any hot
foods/meals.
6. Who are your main target audience?
The main target audience are locals, but we also have foreign students and
tourists.
7. How many branches and number of employees of this shop?
There are 8 employees in this shop and there are no further branches.
8. What is the business’ annual revenue figure?
We don’t have any statistics or information regarding to this as we haven’t
operated for more than a year.
9. How many branch offices/stores do you have (if applicable)?
There are no branches.
10.Can you provide us a brief history of your business and its most recent
developments?
It was due to it being the perfect time accompanied with a perfect opportunity that
allowed us to start up this company. At first, we wanted to do a boutique
business. But one of our friends said that Penang has many tourist and boutique
businesses, and it is a competitive market. So we decided to do a café and
home-stay. The shop that we now operate out of is a shop that we took over from
our brother-in –law. But the home-stay business is very hard to setup, so we
decided to do the café by itself. For the home-stay, we wanted to use 5 different
rooms, each room having its own theme and design. But for now, we haven’t
started the home-stay business. Because once we open the home-stay business,
it will be placed on the internet. If there were any complaints about it, the whole
world will know about it. So we decided to do everything step-by-step, setup the
café first and open it before July. If the café business is stable, then we will open
the home-stay business. If the café business is a no go, we will reconsider future
plans.

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11.How many working hours per day?
The working hours are from 12 pm to 12 am, 12 hour.
12.What would make you happy about this job?
What makes us happy is to see the customer happy also, and being able to
share their experiences on facebook, or blogs, as well as enjoy the beverage.
13.Do you have many competitors? Who are they? Who are your top 3
competitors?
There are too many competitors in this market, and it will inconvenience us to
say the name, but for us, all the cafés which sell cake are our competitors.
14.What strategies have they used to compete with you?
The competitors will do some offer and promotion. For example, buy one coffee
free one slice of cake.
15.How much capital is required to start this business? What, if any,
specialized field of knowledge do you need to run this business?
The capital is private information, but if roughly counted is about a hundred
thousand ringgit. Knowledge wise, you need to know about the coffee, and must
have unique ideas regarding brewing and presenting coffee.
16.Generally, do you feel it is easy or hard to enter this market? Why?
It’s just alright, not too hard neither is it too easy to enter this market.
17.What are your greatest strengths / weaknesses?
Our strength is that our cake has a unique signature, an example being that
many customers like to order their birthday cakes from us due to our creativity.
For our weaknesses, it is that we don’t sell food; we just sell coffee, cake and
dessert because we want to focus.

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18.What can you do for us that other competitors can’t?
We still do research and experiment on how to make different tastes, as well as
paying much attention to the presentation of the coffee when it is served. The
interior of our shop also attracts the customer; many of whom will take pictures
inside the shop.
19.What do you think the main challenges will be?
The main challenge is to be able to setup a franchise. Currently, however, there
are no major problems so far.
20.Do you have any company slogan?
To be successful, and to exceed the likes of Starbucks
21.What was a major obstacle you were able to overcome in the past year?
There are no obstacles so far. We don’t spend much on advertising. The
customers themselves help us promote a lot on the internet on social websites
such as facebook.
22.What do you see ahead for your company in the next five years?
For the next 5 years, we wish to be as successful as starbucks.
23.What would you consider to be the most important aspects of this job?
For us, customer service is important, no doubt about it, and it still will be in the
future. They are a challenge because everyone is different and we will try to
coordinate with every single customer to ensure that we suit their needs.
24.What do you predict of the future in this industry? Differences or any
similar trends? Why?
The world of coffee and cafés are always changing, with many trends and
traditions. Such is why we need to be able to change and be different according
to the times, as well as be unique in our own way.

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Interview Questions
(Purple Cane)
Interviewee’s name card and personal information
1. When was the business founded?
Established in 1987
2. What does the company name means or represent?
The idea is from a famous Taiwanese center named’ zhi teng lu’. Purple
represents culture and Cane represents the aspect of “strength”.
3. Who are the key founders?
Mr. Lim Hock Lam is our key founder.
4. What prompted the founders to start this business?
The founders wish to have their very own place to relax and enjoy their tea, as
well as to chat together about casual things.
5. What are their main products?
The main product is tea

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6. Who are their main target audience?
Their main target audiences are those Chinese ethnicity as well as tourists.
7. How many Branches and number of employees of this shop?
They have 25 tea art branches. The exact numbers of employees are not known
currently.
8. The brief history of their business and its most recent developments?
In 1996, Purple cane established Malaysia’s largest tea art centre at the heart of
city, Located at Jalan Sultan. A milestone in the tea industry of Malaysia is firmly
in place. In response to a growing appeal in natural health diet, purple cane
found Malaysia’s first tea restaurant in 1997. Pairing tea with food, the dishes
retain the original aroma of tea. This begins a trend of the delightful and healthy
tea cuisine. In 1999, the continuous spread of tea art and an increasing number
of tea lovers and tea business operators prompted purple cane to publish “A
Passage to Chinese Tea”. Other than that, purple cane has been opening
contemporary tea art centres in large shopping centres. There are altogether 22
tea art centres to date. In a zen-inspired surrounding, one goes back to the
basics and appreciates “the beauty of simplicity”. Established in 2000, purple
cane tea art learning centre is the first institution introducing a system for formal
tea culture education in Malaysia. In 2001, purple cane published a collection of
prose related to the unique experience and pleasure of tea drinking, entitled
“Taking your time with your cuppa”. In 2002, purple cane organized the “Seventh
International Tea Culture Seminar 2002 cum Malaysia International Tea Festival”.
Themed “Towards the Golden Century Of Tea Culture”, the festival presented to
the world its multiethnic diversity and beautiful tropical scenery. Today, purple
cane embraces the spread of tea culture as it core task. It is hoped that tea, with
its popularity that transcends ethnic divides, could act as a cultural bridge that
leads to mutual understanding and harmony.
9. How many working hours per day?
According to the business hours of the shopping centers their based in.
10.What would make the interviewee happy about this job?
She has 10 years’ experience. She likes this job because she has gained a lot of
knowledge about tea.

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11.Do they have many competitors? Who are they? Who are the top 2
competitors?
Both of these tea shops (古意斋) legend of tea and (万年青) evergreen are their
main competitors.
12.How much capital is required to start this business?
There are 20 shareholders, rm1000 per person.
13.Generally, it is easy or hard to enter this market? Why?
It is easy to enter this market because it still is a very open market at the moment.
14.What are their greatest strengths/ weakness?
The greatest strengths of the company are that they use cultural
entrepreneurship, while the weakness is that the knowledge of tea is too
expansive for the workers to take in and understand.
15.What can they do for us that other competitors can’t?
They are enterprises. Most of the competitors are single stores. They also
produce different type of products, examples being, health products and etc. The
other competitors only are selling tea as their one and only product.
16.What do the main challenges will be?
The main challenge is that we are understaffed, and are unable to cope on busy
days. The busiest branch is purple cane in midvalley mega mall. They have 100-
200 customers in a day.
17.What is the slogan of the company?
‘Tea brings feeling to life’
18.What was a major obstacle they were able to overcome in the past years?
They have faced two times the loss of capital during the world financial crisis but
they have been able to overcome it. The founders had to find more shareholders
to overcome this problem. Now they have more than 350 shareholders including
9 big shareholders. The workers who have more than 4 years of experience can
be the shareholders too.

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19.What do they see ahead for their company in the next five years?
They want to improve into franchise in the next five years. They maybe will be
starting in china and turn into international. They own the first international
branch in Beijing in 2012.
20.What would they consider to be the most important aspects of this
company?
Business development department consider being the most important aspects of
the company.
21.How they sustain their business?
They provided special offers for the customers who had joined the membership.
Other than that, they also have professional tea art instructors are present at
each shop, providing services of high quality which meets with the diverse
requirements of modern lifestyle.

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1st Meeting
2nd May 2014, Friday
Meeting called to order at 9a.m. in Lecture Theater 7 during our English lecture class
Attendees’ attendant: How Lee Jing
Eunice Chan Yu Ming
Amanda Ng Wei Xuan
Liew Jee Ying
Egbert Chin HawHoong
Ooi Kai Yang
Agenda:
1. Suggestion of businesses to be interviewed
2. Discussion on questionnaire
1. Suggestion of businesses to be interviewed
Beverage
Tea and Coffee – motion from every members
 Purple Cane at China Town – motion by How Lee Jing
 Coffee Lane at King Street, Penang
 Moontree 47 café at Georgetown, Penang
 Tea Home Café at Georgetown, Penang
 Moustache Houze at Georgetown, Penang
 Sugar Honey at Georgetown, Penang
Final decision: Liew Jee Ying will make appointment with all of them.
2. Discussion on questionnaire
Questions suggested from assignment assessment
(Next Meeting: 7th May 2014, Wednesday after English tutorial class) – Everyone should
have conduct preliminary research and questions on the chosen businesses by next
meeting.

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2nd Meeting
7th May 2014, Wednesday
Meeting called to order at 1:05p.m. in D8.15 after our English tutorial class
Eunice Chan Yu Ming
Amanda Ng Wei Xuan
Liew Jee Ying
Ooi Kai Yang
Agenda:
1. Assignment of task for the project
2. Finalized of businesses to be interviewed
3. Discussion on time and date to interview
1. Assignment of task for the project
-How Lee Jing as Leader
-Eunice Chan Yu Ming as Secretary
-Liew Jee Ying as Interviewer
-Egbert Chin HawHoong as Data compilation
-Ooi Kai Yang as Data compilation
-Amanda Ng Wei Xuan as Data compilation
2. Finalized of businesses to be interviewed
Beverage
 Purple Cane at China Town – motion by How Lee Jing
 Moustache Houze at Georgetown, Penang
 Sugar Honey at Georgetown, Penang
Final decision: Do all three options, choose the best one.
3. Discussion on time and date to interview
 14th May 2014 for Purple Cane
 16th May 2014 for Moustache Houze and Sugar Honey

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3rd Meeting
25th May 2014, Sunday
Meeting called to order at 9 a.m. in Architecture Studio 1
Eunice Chan Yu Ming
Amanda Ng Wei Xuan
Liew Jee Ying
Ooi Kai Yang
Agenda:
1. Discussion on guideline of report
2. Task given for report
1. Discussion on guideline of report
We look through the brief and the outline of the report, How Lee Jing noted down the
important notes
2. Task given for report
Task:
 How Lee Jing: Head editor of the report
 Amanda Ng: Artistic cover, video editing
 Ooi Kai Yang: Compilation all the data of Moustache Houze
 Egbert Chin: Key summary, brief description of the business, comparative
analysis of the business’ competitive traits, recommendation
 Eunice Chan: Appendices
 Liew Jee Ying: Compilation all the data of Purple Cane
(Next Meeting: 28th May 2014, Wednesday 10a.m.)

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4th Meeting
28th May 2014, Wednesday
Meeting called to order at 10 a.m. outside of the library
Eunice Chan Yu Ming
Amanda Ng Wei Xuan
Liew Jee Ying
Ooi Kai Yang
Agenda:
1. Compilation of data
2. Finalization of data
3. Progress checkup
1. Compilation of data
We gather our respective information that we have individually researched recently
together with old data, and we determined what was deemed necessary.
2. Finalization of data
We discarded unnecessary information. Egbert Chin HawHoong, Ooi Kai Yang and
Amanda Ng Wei Xuan receive filtered information.
3. Progress checkup
How Lee Jing checked through the drafts supplied by Egbert Chin HawHoong, aided by
Ooi Kai Yang.

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Photo and Caption of the businesses
APPENDIX 3: PHOTO
Shop Name: Purple Cane
Interview Date: 14th May 2014
Time: 2:00p.m. – 3:00p.m.
Photo 1: Group photo with the senior executive of Purple Cane

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Photo 2: Display of the products that are available at Purple Cane
Photo 3: Lim Hock Lam, the founder and CEO of Purple Cane

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Photo 4: The restaurant of Purple Cane
Photo 5: Costumer is buying tea products from Purple Cane

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Shop Name: Moustache Houze
Interview Date: 16th of May 2014
Time: 4:30p.m. – 5:30p.m.
Photo 6: Group photo with the founder of Moustache Houze

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Photo 7: Conducting the interview: our group member with the founder of
Moustache Houze
Photo 8: The menu of Moustache Houze

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Photo 9: The interior of the Moustache Houze
Photo 10: The signboard and the main entrance of Moustache Houze

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Reference
2012. The Teas of Malaysia - A Small Start Begets Huge Rewards. [Online]
Available at: http://www.theteadetective.com/TeasOfMalaysia.html
[Accessed 25 May 2014]
2011. HISTORY OF COFFEE. [Online] Available at:
http://amecrown.com.my/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=
32&Itemid=41. [Accessed 25 May 2014]
2011. Purple Cane Culture. [Online] Available at:
http://www.purplecane.my/en/content/4-about-us. [Accessed 1 June 2014].
Ken. August, 2013. Ken Hunts Food. [Online] Available at:
http://www.kenhuntfood.com/2013/08/moustache-houze-campbell-street-
penang.html. [Accessed 1 June 2014].

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