Crafty idea: Taking pasta to the streets and homes
Published on: Thursday, June 16, 2016
KULIM: After getting married Amielia Fazlyana Azmi, 24, an assistant chef at a hotel in the capital city, quit her job to follow her husband Faizal Jamaludin, 28, an electrical engineer employed in Penang. While Faizal worked for a private firm, Amielia decided to do something different using her qualification in culinary arts and the wealth of experience she had garnered working in the hotel kitchen. With the encouragement from her husband she made a foray into the food business, adding something new to the myriad of hawker fair available in Kulim and Seberang Jaya.
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In Nov 2015, the former graduate of Kolej Pusat Teknologi Pengurusan Lanjutan (PTPL) in Shah Alam started selling what she called as "Pasta Jalanan", that translates into 'Street Pasta' in English, in Seberang Jaya and Kulim. While pasta was not new to the locals, it was mostly available in big restaurants serving Western cuisine and not on the streets. "We named it "Pasta Jalanan" as we decided to use a van to sell the Western menu from place to place here," explained Faizal who also helps his wife in the marketing aspect. As they also do home delivery where Faizal helps in facilitating the delivery service.
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According to Faizal, the three pasta on their menu were Anglio, Bolognese and Carbonara. "Customers could choose to add chicken, beef, lamb, seafood or grilled chicken with the regular pasta sauce or those who want something different could opt for the aromatic Vietnamese mint (daun kesum) and wild ginger flower (bunga kantan) mix that gives the sour and spicy combination like the 'laksa'," said Faizal. The couple had done their homework on the Malaysian taste and believed the sour and spicy taste would please the Malaysian palate.
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Sure enough it turned out to be the favourite for those who buy pasta from the couple. The couple has six full time helpers, including two couriers who deliver between 50 and 60 boxes of pasta during lunch hour daily. Sharing their experience on how nervous they were on the first day of their business, Amieliya said they managed to sell between 30 and 50 boxes of pasta in Taman Sutera Prima, Seberang Jaya. They priced their menu much lower compared with the ones sold in restaurants, between RM5 and RM8 per box depending on the items selected by the customer. "In the coming days and up to the second month the sales increased to 100-150 boxes daily," added Amieliya. The couple where grateful for the support shown by the initial customers who got to know of their venture from Facebook and Instagram. Both Faizal and Amieliya realised early on the power of the social media in promoting their menu when they started their venture. "In establishing their business, the first few months were challenging but thank god now we could sell between 250 and 400 boxes a day," added Amieliya. Faizal is now planning to stop work and go full time on the pasta business. "I had handed over my resignation letter but my employer refused to accept it, so I have to be patient for now though I could earn more by selling the pasta," he said. The couple is working out to improve on their offerings for the Ramadan and extend their business area coverage. Stay up-to-date by following Daily Express’s Telegram channel.
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