Professional Documents
Culture Documents
TABLE OF CONTENTS
No.
Title
Page Number
Artistic Cover
Cover Page
Table of Content
Key Summary
Research Report
i.
ii.
iii.
5-7
8-17
Comparative Analysis
18-23
Recommendations
24-25
Appendices
26-44
Bibliography
45
References
46
Key Summary
Placed into a group of six people, we are required to study and compare two
businesses of similar industry in different geographical locations, one in Klang Valley
and another in Malacca. Our group had selected to analyse porridge industry and the
chosen businesses are Long Fatt Teochew Porridge in Malacca and Hon Kee
Famous Porridge in Petaling Street. Both businesses have three-generations-history
but the type of porridge sold are different. The nature of their market, pricing,
customers, competitors and marketing strategies differ to one another.
Methodology
Preliminary research
Brief research on the background of the chosen industry and businesses were done
through printed materials and internet. This is done to obtain the general information
on the topic and to prepare an effective interview questions for each business.
Data Collection
Face-to-face interviews were conducted with both the third-generation owner of the
respective business during our visits to the shops, equipped with necessities such as
a camera for video recording and taking pictures, mobile phone for additional voice
recording and interview questions.
Data Analysis
After completing the interview and research from secondary sources specifically
books and internet, the data were further analysed, tabulated and arranged
accordingly. Each group members work on a certain sub-topics and compiled
together later on. Lastly, the report were edited as a whole to ensure that it contained
the most accurate data and error free.
Rice Porridge, also knowng as congee, is famous among the Asian countries.
The famous Yellow Emperor (Huang Ti), is the first person that cooked porridge with
millet as the ingredient. It is the earliest porridge recorded in history. In China history,
porridge was served as breakfast, lunch and dinner depending on the familys
income. Porridge is suitable for breakfast and late supper as it is a very light food. It
can be produced in a large quantity with small amount of rice. Low income families
have porridge for lunch and dinner, while medium and high income family have rice
instead of porridge.
Han Chinese came to Malacca in the early 15th century until the 1990s. The
culture of eating rice porridge was brought in when the third wave of Chinese
migrated here to work in mines and rubber estates.
In Malaysia, rice porridge is usually rice boiled with chicken stock and served
with chicken slice, century egg, and other side dishes. Porridge is rice boiled with
water for hours and with additional ingredients depending on ones personal flavour.
Examples of these ingredients include chicken slices, seafood, minced pork, century
egg and salted egg.
There are numerous types of porridge cooking style, mainly Cantonese and
Teo Chew.
Teo Chew rice porridge comes with numerous side dishes. The Teo Chew
rice porridge are simpler in terms of rice porridge. Teo Chew rice porridge looks like
a mixture of rice and water. The shape of the rice is visible in Teo Chew porridge.
Some porridges might contain sweet potato to make the porridge taste sweet. The
side dishes for Teo Chew rice porridge mainly consists of braised dishes such as
duck, pork (organ), egg, tofu. The soy sauce for braised dishes contain spices like
galangal, ginger, garlic cloves, cinnamon stick and star anises. They are also served
with pan fried fish, salted vegetables, spicy lala, etc.
As rice is the most important staple food in Malaysia, rice porridge becomes
popular as it is particularly suitable for the sick as a mild, easily digestible food. The
porridge business started out in Malaysia to be served as breakfast or late supper.
The importance and popularity of porridge in the Malaysian diet causes the growth of
the porridge business in Malaysia.
Throughout the years, this business had changed a little here and there as
there were renovation done on the current shop back in 1971. Cooking by using the
usage of charcoal had changed to gas as well and back then, they used to serve
braised duck dish from live ducks and cook live bulls on the spot, utilising the
freshness of those ingredients. Now, they could not serve those dishes anymore as
they could not obtain fresh ingredients. The ingredients sold nowadays could not be
served to customers as the taste is different.
Long Fatt Teochew Porridge does not have any branches as it will be difficult
to maintain the quality and taste of food in the branch. Besides, the concept of
cooking varies for each person. In order to maintain the taste, they need to have
consistency in their cooking. The ingredients also differ depending on the supply.
The cooking time needs to be flexible and changes according to the quality of the
raw ingredients.
There are a total of 5 employees involved in the business and most of them
are made up of family members. As the business still maintained its traditional
operating practice, a worker have to be in charge of a few duties each day, such as
buying fresh raw ingredients from the suppliers, cooking and serving.
The dishes sold includes salted vegetables, sardine fish, dried prawns, dried
anchovies and etc. Most of the dishes would be ready by 11am and it would be sold
out by 1.30pm. There are lesser dishes served before 11am as they are cooked and
served one after another. Estimated 200 customers visited the Long Fatt Teochew
Porridge daily. The number of customers are consistent as 70% of them are local
regular customers who dine here on weekly basis.
Location: 93, Jalan Hang Lekir, Sri Petaling, 50000 Kuala Lumpur.
Hon Kee Famous Porridge was established in 1949 by Mr Wong Poon Wai.
Originated from China, he opened this porridge business for livelihood purposes.
Although he started the business with only a small stall, the business grew into it
current form after several years. Currently, Hon Kee Famous Porridge own 2
branches in Lot 10 and SS2, Petaling Jaya. There are around 30 employees in total.
Some of them are family members but most are hired employees.
The dishes available include raw fish porridge, frog meat porridge, chee
cheong fun and more. The business start at 4am and ends around 2.30pm every
day. An estimation of 250 customers dine here daily and it doubles up during
holidays and festivals. The first batch customers are those who visit fir a supper after
their karaoke and night clubbing session. Later on, it will be students who came for
breakfast before class starts, as there are schools nearby followed by offices crowd
whereas most tourist will visit during lunch hour.
10
This picture above shows the outside of the restaurant named Restaurant Res Porridge House.
-
Figure 1
Figure 1.1
Taylors University I SABD I FNBE 0115/0815 I English 2 I Research Report
11
Figure 1.2
Figure 1.3
Figure 1
These are the famous dishes by Restaurant Chop Sam Guan
Figure 2.1 shows the restaurants signature congee. In this
picture, we can see that the congee only contains sweet
potato and the congee itself. The sweet potatoes are soft
because it was boiled at suitable temperature and it is used
for a flavour to the congee.
Figure 2.1
Taylors University I SABD I FNBE 0115/0815 I English 2 I Research Report
12
Figure 2.2
Figure 2.3 shows a greenish vegetables on
which was called the Lightly Fried
Kangkung with minced pork. It is also
known as water spinach or also known as
morning glory at Thai eateries.
Figure 2.3
Figure 2.4
Figure 2.5 is one favourite food by customers.
This dish is frequently ordered by customers too.
It is called the "Oyster Sauce Chicken".
Customers tend to leave nothing on the plate
when they are going to leave.
Figure 2.5
Figure 2.6
Taylors University I SABD I FNBE 0115/0815 I English 2 I Research Report
13
Figure 3
Several delicious dishes can be found in this restaurant which will be mentioned below
Figure 3.1
Figure 3.2
14
Figure 3.3
Figure 3.4
Figure 3.5
15
16
17
Nature of Market
Long Fatt Teo Chew Porridge Restaurant
The nature of market for Long Fatt Teo Chew Porridge is Monopolistic Competition.
Even though the restaurant only have a few competitors but the other characteristics
of it is very similar to the economics concept Monopolistic Competition. Besides, the
barrier to entry is weak, causing the other firms to enter and exit the market easily.
Long Fatt Teo Chew Porridge sells a lot of differentiated side dishes and is weak at
their pricing power.
18
Non-verbal communication
Mass communication
- Internet
- Radio
- Newspaper
Advertisement
Mass communication
- Have a Facebook page
- Blog
Salted vegetables
- Fermented vegetables using salt
Pan-fried fish
- Put a few fishes to fry instead of
a lot of fish
Verbal communication
- Used when asking about the
amount of porridge ordered by
the customers
Signature Dish
Quality of Services
Communication
19
Face-to-face communication
- Asking for the customers
desired side dishes
Different languages can be used to
approach the customers
- English
- Mandarin
- Dialects : Hokkien, Cantonese,
Teochew
Weak
-
Barrier to Entry
Face-to-face communication
- Telling the available dishes to the
customers
Verbal communication
- Guide customers who wanted to
visit their restaurant
Weak
Less customers
- Probably friends and families are
the only customers for the first
few weeks
Lack of trust
- Recently operated
Obstacles faced by
new businesses
English
Malay
Dialects : Cantonese
Lack of customers
- Stronger competition with the
older restaurants
- Expensive meals
Differentiated Products
- Chee Cheong Fun
Chicken Rice
Price Taker
- Must follow the market price
Mutual Dependence
Differentiated Products
- Mixed braised Pork
- Pan Fried Fish
Salted Vegetable
Price Taker
- Must follow the market price
Mutual Dependence
Constant advertising
- Magazines
- Newspapers
- Webpage
Constant advertising
- Magazines
- Newspapers
- Facebook
Substitutes
- Restaurant Chop Chung Wah
Substitutes
- Restaurant Kun Kee
Differentiated or
Standardized Products
Pricing Power
Other Characteristics
20
Monopolistic competition
- Only few competitors
- Easy to enter this type of market
Nature of Market
Monopolistic competition
- Only few competitors
- Easy to enter this type of market
21
Differences
1930
1949
Founder
Location
Number of Branches
Number of Employees
30
200
Number of Customers
500
Number of Competitors
11.30am-1.30pm
Business Hours
4.00am-2.30pm
Type of Products
Strategy
Home
Business Operation
Commercial
Similarities
Porridge
Porridge
Number of Founder
Leader
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Conclusion
Which business is more commercially successful? And why?
According to the aforementioned analysis, the business which is more
commercially successful will be Restaurant Hon Kee Famous Porridge operated by
Mrs Lee. This is because Hon Kee Famous Porridge has several branches and are
more likely to earn a greater turnover in a year compared to Long Fatt Teochew
Porridge, operated by Mr Lim which does not own any branch. By having branches,
the business could earn more in a shorter time. The market size in terms of
customers is also bigger by having outlets.
Besides that, Hon Kee Famous Porridge hire younger workers so they are
more efficient. In comparison, Long Fatt Teochew Porridge is managed by family
members and most of them are middle-aged so they are not as efficient as the
younger generation.
Last but not least, Hon Kee Famous Porridge is more commercially
successful as they advertises their business more through different medias such as
magazines, newspapers, social medias and flyers. Conversely, Long Fatt Teochew
Porridge does not publicize their business much, solely depending on reviews and
recommendations.
23
Recommendation
Based on our analysis on Long Fatt Teochew Porridge and Hon Kee Famous
Porridge, these are the recommendations we propose to improve their businesses
competitiveness.
Both businesses had been around for more than half a decade so both
owners should keep detailed records of their business history. Based on the
interviews that we have conducted, the current owners does not have specific
knowledge of their own business history which is important for the future
development of the business.
Although both of the businesses are pioneers in porridge industry, they should
analyse their competitors. By analysing their competitors, they will get a better
insight of them as well as where their business stands at in the market.
(current situations)
Inefficient services
Stagnant expansion of
branches
24
Recommendations
Owner should refurbish their shop to a more effective
layout so that it will be more spacious. Refurbishment
is needed as the shop itself is old so it is unavoidable
that it appear dirty and unpleasant.
Owner should improve on their call services as the
one available now is inefficient as it takes several
times for us to contact them and their responses are
rather slow. This will cause customers to lose interest
towards them.
25
APPENDICES
Interview Questions
1) When was the business founded? How many years of history does the business have?
2) Who is the key founder of the business?
3) Where does the business name came from?
4) What prompted (motivates) the founders to start this business?
5) Can you provide us a brief history of your business and its most recent developments?
6) Generally, do you feel it is easy or hard to enter this market? Why?
7) How much capital is required to start this business? What, if any, specialized field of
knowledge do you need to run this business?
8) What are your main products?
9) Who are your customers?
10) What is the estimated number of customers who visit your business daily/monthly?
11) What is the business annual revenue figure?
12) How many branch offices/stores and employees do you have?
13) Will there be more customers during festive seasons?
14) Do you have many competitors? Who are they? Who are your top 3 competitors?
15) Is the business constantly facing strong competition from other competitors? What
strategies have they used to compete with you?
16) How often do you release a new product?
17) Are your pricing decisions and when to release new product strongly affected by your
competitors?
18) What is the future plan for your business? Opening more branch? Advertising?
26
1) When was the business founded? How many years of history does the business have?
The business was founded in 1949. It has 66 years of history.
2) Who is the key founder of this business?
My grandfather, Wong Poon Wai is the only founder of the restaurant.
3) Where does the business name came from?
I dont really know how my grandfather came up with this name. I guess it was a name which
popped up in his mind then.
4) What prompted (motivated) the founders to start this business?
Back then, my grandfather started this business to earn a living and support the familys
expenses. He thought of using his cooking skills learnt in China to start a restaurant business.
5) Can you provide us a brief history of your business and its most recent
developments?
The business started as a small stall in 1949. Then it grew into a restaurant, which is the
existing one here. My brother did opened a few branches these few years.
6) Generally, do you feel it is easy or hard to enter this market? Why?
I think it was quite easy to enter this market since there were less shops last time.
7) How much capital is required to start this business? What, if any, specialized field of
knowledge do you need to run this business?
Im not sure how much is needed, but I guess its not too much as the pricing of the raw
ingredients last time was not high. Some of the things I had to know to run the business were
the analysis of the market and the technique to maintain the food quality.
8) What are your main products?
We sell a variety of porridge and chee cheong fun. The significant ones are the raw fish
porridge, frog leg porridge and the chee cheong fun.
9) Who are your customers?
My customers were made up of students from the nearby schools, office crowds and tourists.
10) What is the estimated number of customers who visit your business daily/monthly?
The average number of customers we had was around 500 per day.
11) What is the business annual revenue figure?
Im sorry but I dont think it would be appropriate to disclose the amount to you.
12) How many branch offices/stores and employees do you have?
We had 2 branches and about 30 employees in total.
13) Will there be more customers during festive seasons?
Yes, of course. Our business would double up during festive seasons and also the weekends.
27
14) Do you have many competitors? Who are they? Who are your top 3 competitors?
We do have a few competitors in this area, mainly the Loa Yau Kee porridge, Fong Wah
Teochew porridge and Kim Lian Kee that also sells porridge.
15) Is the business constantly facing strong competitions from other competitors? What
strategies have they used to compete with you?
We did face competitions from other competitors. Since some of the competitors sell less
choices of porridge, their prices are slightly lower than us.
16) How often do you release a new product?
Special deals or products are only available on weekends.
17) Are your pricing decisions and the time to release a new product strongly affected
by your competitors?
Not really, as our pricings were quite reasonable.
18) What is the future plan for your business? Opening more branch? Advertising?
Im not sure whether my children would want to take over the business, but Im currently
training the workers to handle the business. We already had advertisings through the internet
and most of our customers spread our business through the word of mouth.
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1) When was the business founded? How many years of history does the business have?
The business was founded in 1930. It has 85 years of history.
2) Who is the key founder of this business?
My grandfather is the sole founder of the restaurant.
3) Where does the business name came from?
My grandfather named it that way as it had an auspicious meaning to it. The Long in
Chinese character means dragon while the Fatt means prosperity.
4) What prompted (motivated) the founder/s to start this business?
My grandfather started this business for livelihood purpose.
5) Can you provide us a brief history of your business and its most recent
developments?
The business started as a shop here in 1930. Then, we renovated the shop in 1971. Last time,
we had braised duck dishes and live goose being served in the restaurant. Now, we dont
serve these dishes as we couldnt get fresh supply of ducks and geese. We also used to use
charcoal to cook our dishes, but we changed to using gas later on.
6) Generally, do you feel it is easy or hard to enter this market? Why?
I think it was quite easy to enter this market as it was quite demanding and there are only a
few simple, home cooked businesses left.
7) How much capital is required to start this business? What, if any, specialized field of
knowledge do you need to run this business?
Im not sure how much capital was required. For me, I think some of the most important
knowledge I had to know are the techniques to maintain the taste of the food and overcome
the problems of different quality of raw ingredients.
8) What are your main products?
We sell porridge and rice with side dishes such as salted vegetable, sardine fish, dried
prawns, dried anchovies, etc.
9) Who are your customers?
My customers were made up tourists and the locals.
10) What is the estimated number of customers who visit your business daily/monthly?
We had around 200 customers per day.
11) What is the business annual revenue figure?
Now, we earn less, around RM6000 to RM7000 monthly.
12) How many branch offices/stores and employees do you have?
We do not have any branches and we have only 5 workers.
29
30
ACTION TAKEN BY
Chan Yi Fung
Cherilyn Chia
Chin Shee Wei
Kok Xuan Ying
Soo Yon Li
Yang Jing Loo
31
Interview
NO. ACTIVITY
1. Interview at Long Fatt Restaurant
Interviewee: Mr. Lim Lee Tai
2. Video taking for interview
3. Note taking
4. Study on the competitors nearby Restaurant Long
Fatt
ACTION TAKEN BY
Chan Yi Fung
Yang Jing Loo
Soo Yon Li
Cherilyn Chia
Chan Yi Fung
Cherilyn Chia
Soo Yon Li
Yang Jing Loo
32
DATE:
TIME:
VENUE:
ACTIVITY
-
ACTION TAKEN
BY
Chan Yi Fung
2.
Cherilyn Chia
3.
Soo Yon Li
Video editing
Artistic cover
Appendices (minutes of meeting)
4.
5.
6.
33
Interview
NO. ACTIVITY
1. Interview at Restaurant Hon Kee Porridge
Interviewee: Mrs. Lee
ACTION TAKEN BY
Kok Xuan Ying
Chan Yi Fung
Soo Yon Li
Cherilyn Chia
Kok Xuan Ying
Cherilyn Chia
Chan Yi Fung
Kok Xuan Ying
Soo Yon Li
34
ACTION TAKEN BY
Chan Yi Fung
Cherilyn Chia
Chin Shee Wei
Kok Xuan Ying
Soo Yon Li
Yang Jing Loo
Cherilyn Chia
Chin Shee Wei
Kok Xuan Ying
3. Video compilation
Chan Yi Fung
Soo Yon Li
Yang Jing Loo
35
Interview Notes
36
37
Business Details
Business Owner: Mr Lim Lee Tai
Location: No. 15, Jalan Kampung Pantai 75200 Melaka
Contact Number: 6019-364 6682
Business Hours: 8.30am 3.00pm Closed on Sundays and public holidays
Website: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Long-Fatt-Teo-ChewPorridge/180637345343800?fref=ts
38
Interview Notes
39
Business Details
Business Owner: Mdm Lau Chui Lai
Location: 93 Jalan Hang Lekir Kuala Lumpur 50000
Contact Number: 012-227 6281
Business hours: Mon-Fri, 10am-10pm; Sat-Sun, 8am-10pm
Website: https://www.facebook.com/honkeeporridge/
40
Presentation Slides
41
42
43
44
Bibliography
* 2.0, N., Malaysia, R., House, H., Chopsticks, W., & BSG, t. (2007). Chinese
Porridge Recipe (Congee with Dried Oysters and Chicken Recipe) | Easy Delicious
Recipes: Rasa Malaysia. Rasa Malaysia. Retrieved 20 November 2015, from
http://rasamalaysia.com/chinese-porridge-with-dried-oysters-and/
* Food.malaysiamostwanted.com, (2015). Porridge Restaurants in Malaysia.
Retrieved 18 November 2015, from http://food.malaysiamostwanted.com/phototags/porridge
* Kaleidoscope.cultural-china.com, (2015). Porridge - China culture. Retrieved 15
November 2015, from http://kaleidoscope.culturalchina.com/en/8Kaleidoscope48.html
* Travelchinaguide.com, (2015). Chinese Laba Festival, Rice Porridge. Retrieved 15
November 2015, from http://www.travelchinaguide.com/essential/holidays/laba.htm
45
References
Malaysia Food & Travel Blog,. (2009). Melaka Food | Jonker 88 Desserts @ Jonker
Street - Cendol & Ais Kacang - Malaysia Food & Travel Blog. Retrieved 22
November 2015, from http://www.vkeong.com/2009/03/melaka-food-jonker-88desserts-jonker-street-cendol-ais-kacang/
Porridge, F. (2015). Fong Wah Teochew Porridge @ Off Jalan Pudu - Malaysia
Food & Restaurant Reviews. Food.malaysiamostwanted.com. Retrieved 21
November 2015, from http://food.malaysiamostwanted.com/venues/fong-wahteochew-porridge-changkat-thambi-dollah-off-jalan-pudu
Tripadvisor.com.my,. (2015). Fong Wah Teochew Porridge, Kuala Lumpur Restaurant Reviews, Phone Number & Photos - TripAdvisor. Retrieved 20
November 2015, from https://www.tripadvisor.com.my/Restaurant_Reviewg298570-d1205048-Reviews-Fong_Wah_Teochew_PorridgeKuala_Lumpur_Wilayah_Persekutuan.html
Teochew Braised Duck or Lor Ark ( | GUAI SHU SHU. (n.d.). Retrieved
18 November 2015, from https://kwgls.wordpress.com/2014/10/08/teochewbraised-duck-or-lor-ark%E6%BD%AE%E5%B7%9E%E5%8D%A4%E9%B8%AD%EF%BC%89/
Ancient World History: Yellow Emperor (Huangdi, or Huang Ti). (n.d.). Retrieved 14
November 2015, from http://earlyworldhistory.blogspot.my/2012/01/yellow-emperorhuangdi-or-huang-ti.html
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