SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE, BUILDING AND DESIGN

FOUNDATION IN NATURAL BUILD ENVIRONMENT

PRESENTATION TITLE: CAFÉ CULTURE

GROUP MEMBERS:

Names Presentation / Research Report Roles.

Gary Yeow Jinn Sheng History of Café Culture

Lynette Law Yong Yi Challenges, Appendices

Chew Yu Jing Background of both cafes

Hariish Kumar Cover page, Recommendation

Hyuh Minh Nhat Dinh Reference, Bibliography

Ng Kheng Soon Similarities and Differences

Adam Tan Yen Sheng Transcipts, Recommendation

ENGLISH II / ENGLISH 2 (ELG 30605 / ENG 0205)

LECTURER: CASSANDRA WIJESURIA

SUBMISSION & PRESENTATION DATE: 3th December 2014 / Wednesday

Table of Contents 2

No. Title Page numbers

1. Artistic page

2. Cover page 2

3. Table of Contents 3

4. Key Summary 4

5. Research Report-Description of the History of Trade -Description of Business -Comparative Analysis -Summary table of Similarities and Differences-Conclusion

56-13

14-1617-18

196. Recommendation 20-22

7. Bibliography 23

8. Appendices -Appendix 1 : Transcript -Appendix 2 : Photos-Appendix 3 : Minutes

24-39

9. References 40

KEY SUMMARY : BITTER SWEET CAFE AND COFFEE INK

To understand more about uprising local businesses, we researched and

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interviewed Bitter Sweet Cafe in Penang and Coffee Ink in Klang. Bitter Sweet Cafe has been operating for 4 months and Coffee Ink for 1 year and 3 months. Both are minimalist conceptual cafes selling premium coffee and western cakes which mostly are home-made. Bitter Sweet cafe creates the ambiance of childhood memory with a bright lit atmosphere whereas Coffee Ink illustrates a vintage feeling with extensive black and white inking artworks. Different personalities of the owners, from a fun and laid back Penangite to a hustle hard Klang boy, also affects the style of conducting business.

*We were left with no choice but to interview businesses that are less than 10 years which are Bitter Sweet Cafe and Coffee Ink as the interview with China House in Penang was canceled last-minute.

A. Description of the History of Trade

Coffee culture indicates an atmosphere or environment which

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associates with social behaviors that stressed heavily on coffee. It was particularly known as social lubricant, to enhance the interaction between people. In late 20th century, in the Western world and urbanized centers on the world, espresso had becomes a dominant form.

Hence, the formation of culture contributes to the born of coffeehouse (modernly known as Café) since 14th century ago. Coffeehouse became popular in European country, such as France, London, Portugal etc. This culture been developed to United States and caused the spread of franchises of businesses such as Starbucks.

After the influences of coffee culture, Malaysia started involved in this field when Starbucks kicked off their first shop on year 1998. A lot of businessmen came out with that idea after they realized that Café could bring prosperity. Since that, many Cafes such as Flat White, Coffee Bean Tea & Leaf, China House, Pacific Coffee Company etc.

Café may refer to a bar, tea room or other casual eating and drinking place. Usually, their products were considered as “light-weight” meal, such as coffees, sandwiches, and some desserts. They were different with coffee shop (famously known as kopitiam in Malaysia) since Café doesn’t serves too much choices of main course. Even though they were contrast with each other, there was still a threat for them.

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B. DESCRIPTION OF BUSINESS

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF COFFEE INK CAFE

Coffee Ink commenced business in October 2013, a 1 year and 3 months old cafe founded by Zabedee Chiang. Coffee Ink’s location is based in Klang, No. 19, Jalan Remia 3, Bandar Botanic 3, 41200 Klang.

The motive of building Coffee Ink lies in the feeling that Klang could be remembered for so much more than just bak kut teh and gangsters. Therefore, Zabedee Chiang builds the very first proper conceptual cafe in Klang. Zabadee has the courage to go against the wind to open a coffee shop to be the trend setter for others to follow suit. Zabadee also wants to provide a conducive environment and provide opportunities for the youth to learn more about the coffee culture.

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Coffee Ink concentrates its effort on it’s main products serving coffee, cakes and western dishes. Featured delicacies are premium brew coffee, Belgian chocolate, exotic teas, Mill Crepe cakes and big benedict breakfast. Occasionally, cookies and churros are sold.The Belgian is a high quality chocolate beverage as it’s chocolate ingredients strictly follows traditional Belgian recipe and is laboriously hand-produced. The Belgian is the best-seller of the cafe. Priced at RM12, The Belgian looks like any other ordinary chocolate but after shaving a Belgian chocolate topping, it becomes distinctive. Coffee Ink baristas would shave the Belgian right before your eyes to prove that genuine imported Belgian chocolate is used.

Coffee Ink operates from Tuesday to Sunday, 6 days a week. From Tuesday to Saturday the opening hours is from 11am to 11pm a 12 hour stretch. On Sundays, it opens in late afternoon at 2pm and closes at 11pm. The day-off of Coffee Ink is every Monday.

Coffee Ink has 10 workers at the time provided that 6 are full-time and 4 are part-time. There are 2 shifts every workday for the part-timers to fill in their slots. During every shift, there will be 2 baristas, 2 waiters and 1 cashier, putting together a team of 6. Full-time and part-time workers have their working hours tailored by the owner to suit their time as a number of them are still studying part time. The owner would also arrange the workers time accordingly if the worker has notified that there were important plans during his or her work time.

The cafe only accept cash payment provided that free wi-fi is given and an open air smoking area is provided on the balcony segmented from the closed air indoor cafe for health purpose.

Coffee Ink targets youth and adults aging 15 and above as the crowd is familiar with the coffee culture. The targeted crowd brings in more business as they would involve people around them to indulge themselves in the coffee culture. For example, highschool students would invite their friends over to the cafe to hang out or to have group study sessions. As for the adults, they would conduct business meetings or do their work with co-workers in the cafe.

Coffee Ink advertises itself in a subtle way by spreading word through it’s Facebook page and Instagram account by showing tempting pictures online.

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So far the estimated average number of customers is 30 customers per time shift. There are 4 shifts a day, morning, afternoon, evening and night, thus averaging about 120 customers on a good day. In estimation, the total number of customers that had visited Coffee Ink for the time period of 1 year and 3 months is 46,800.

The recent development of Coffee Ink is the expansion of its menu 6 months ago in May 2014. Apart from selling cakes and beverages, Coffee Ink had came up with new recipes to serve main course such as pasta and breakfast, lunch and dinner set meals.

Zabedee’s goal is to maintain the business and grow in revenue. As an entreprenuer he is not restricting himself only to do business in the food and beverage industry. Therefore, he did not stress hard on the point of opening a new branch as many cafe or restaurant owners would. Zabedee points out that he would venture into different industries.

To contact Coffee Ink, their local phone number is +6 03-3319 3591. The owner, Zabadee Chiang’s number is +60163933591. Online inquiries can be submitted to fourbeansplt@gmail.com. Their Facebook link is @Coffee Ink and their Instagram page is #coffeeinklg.

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ORIGINS OF THE OWNER AND COFFEE INK

Zabedee Chiang the owner of Coffee Ink once had an idea of building his very own coffee shop at the age of 21, while he was studying graphic design. He drew many sketches of how the cafe would look like inked on paper in his personal sketchbook where all his ideas lay within the pages. As the book closes, the idea of building his own coffee shop was nothing more than just an idea. In other words, it’s just an empty thought with nothing put into action.

After graduating at the age of 23, just like other graphic designers he applied for a job in marketing and advertising. Day in day out, he worked hard to prove his capabilities. He always had coffee with him to take him through the long hours of work. But, no matter what coffee he tries, it never gets to his taste buds.

Was something wrong in the blend in his cup? No, there was something wrong with his boss. Zabedee couldn not even enjoy a cup of coffee as the taste of his boss taking advantage and credit for all his work was too bitter.

One day, with great courage, Zabedee quited his job and pulled out his dusty sketchbook. He decided to transform the idea into reality by his own hands. He had to step out of his comfort zone, from the advertising industry into the food and beverage industry. To learn coffee art he practiced baristering with local gurus. As he had no investors, he had to cut cost by building the place by himself taking lessons from Bangladeshi workers learning how to mix cement and lay bricks. After completing the groundwork, he added the finishing touches onto the place with his favourite type of art, inking. With passion in black and white, he created dimensions of art within the space. With the combination of coffee, inking and courage, Coffee Ink was born.

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BEVERAGE PRICING

CHOCOLATE

HOT CHOC RM9

THE BELGIAN RM 12

TEA

ENGLISH BREAKFAST RM5

CAMAMILE RM5

EARL GREY RM5

GREEN TEA RM5

LEMON & GINGER RM6

PEPPERMINT RM6

VANILLA TEA RM6

CHAI LATTE RM8

COFFEE

ESPRESSO RM4

LONG BLACK RM6

FLAT WHITE RM7

CAPPUCINO RM7

CAFFE LATTE RM7

MOCHA RM8

ESPRESSO RM8

DIRTY CHAI RM8

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BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF BITTER SWEET CAFE

Bitter Sweet Cafe founded by Ashton Ang commenced business in June 2014, a 5 months old cafe.

Bitter Sweet Cafe is located in 33, Lebuh Armenian, 10200 Georgetown, Penang. Armenian Street in Georgetown is chosen to build the cafe as it is a main tourist spot famous for its mural art paintings that can draw crowds.

Bitter Sweet Cafe do not want their customers to just eat and go. Bitter Sweet cafe’s motive is to provide customers with memories of good times with friends and family in the setting of the cafe’s interior design bearing the concept of childhood memories.

Bitter Sweet Cafe’s main product is western food and beverage. Bitter Sweet Cafe is famous for it’s waffles especially its earl grey caramel waffle and sea salt caramel waffle. Waffles are specially hand made crispy on the outside fluffy on the inside which could not be found in other cafes in penang. All waffles are served with a scoop of homemade vanilla ice cream to increase the taste of sweetness. They choose to make the ice cream in the very most traditional and natural way by not using any artificial flavours. Coffee served comes in a choice of Latte, Mocha and Cappucino. For cakes, Bitter Sweet Cafe is also known for its home made Strawberry cheesecake and Tofu cheesecake.

Bitter Sweet Cafe focuses its effort to develop real taste. They are constantly 11

searching for different kinds of coffee that can stimulate the customer taste buds while giving customers a whole new experience. Being interactive towards customers, the staff often ask customers for reviews and feedback in order to upgrade their reputation.

Bitter Sweet Cafe is open from 10am to 10pm on weekdays and 8am to 11pm on weekends. The peak hours are during late afternoon 3pm to 5pm when tourists take a break and shelter after sightseeing in George Town in the hot weather.

There are 8 full-time employees in total which consist of 1 manager, 4 baristas, 2 waiters and 1 cashier. The crew of 8 works through the whole day of 4 shifts which are morning, afternoon, evening and night.

Because Bitter Sweet Cafe is located at the main tourist spot, so the target market is tourists, but not to neglect locals as well. There are a lot of local style old school cafes and restaurants in the area, so Bitter Sweet Cafe focuses on western food culture to show its distinctiveness especially to attract European customers. With this marketing technique, local crowd would be drawn in as Malaysians have the bias of elevating the status of cafes if they see white people having meals in the cafe.

To create Bitter Sweet Cafe’s identity, they keep on trying new things by putting in home made recipes into their menu at different days. The cafe wants to be remembered for it’s taste than it’s interior design as for true Penangites, the taste is the most important of all. Penangites are very strict on food quality and if the food is nice, Penangites would recommend and revisit the place. Bitter Sweet Cafe wants to prove its abilities towards the people. On the other hand, they are making efforts to look for new ingredients to create new recipes to provide customers with more choices.

Bitter Sweet Cafe encourages people to post photos and tag and hashtag them on Instagram. Using the power of social media among youngsters, the cafe came up with a photo competition giving free food to 2 participants who took the best picture within the week. Besides free advertising, it also brings recurring and new customers in when the winners of the weekly photo competition come back for a complementary meal. Nowadays, many people are following the trend of taking pictures of the food before eating, so Bitter Sweet Cafe uses this opportunity to promote the cafe at the same time accommodating itself with the youth culture.

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The estimated average number of customers is 20 customers per time shift provided with 4 time shifts morning, afternoon, evening and night gives it an average of 80 customers a day.

Bitter Sweet cafe has the goal of expanding its popularity within 6 months to 1 year’s time to let people know their name and the premium quality of food and beverage they are serving. Bitter Sweet wants to be so famous that people from other parts of Malaysia would come to Penang to visit the place just like the other famous concept cafes around George Town.

As for recent development that could be accounted for within 4 months of its operation since the business commencement date the cafe has expanded its menu and revenue. Bitter Sweet Cafe encourages its working crew to experiment with new food and beverage recipes and they have formulated different kinds of home made cake to be alternately sold on weekends. Their revenue also had a considerably steady increase as it has increased in sales due to the increase in customers.

To contact Bitter Sweet Cafe, dial 04-2614360. The Facebook page link is @Bittersweet Cafe and the the Instagram account is #BitterSweetCafe.

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C. COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF BUSINESS COMPETITIVE TRAITS

COFFEE INK BITTER SWEET CAFE

I. Number of

competitors

in the area

3 competitors :

China House

The Mugshot

Piknik

3 competitors :

Coffee House

Starbucks Coffee

Brass Cafe

II. Brief

description of

competitors

China House Coffee House

Main products are cakes

primarily carrot cake, Tiramisu

and chocolate moist. It has an

art gallery on the first floor.

Boardgames are also provided

free for customers to play in

the cafe.

Newly opened cafe in june

2014. Known for its homemade

cakes and coffee. Provides a

home feeling as it it regarded as

extremely clean by customers

are shoes are not allowed at

eating spots.

The Mugshot Starbucks Coffee

Famous for its freshly baked

bagel sandwich and home

made yogurt. Opens earlier

than other cafes in the area at

8am to serve breakfast.

An established brand familiar to

customers internationally. Food

and beverage quality is

ensured. Has an

accommodative environment

acting the middle point while

traveling from home to work and

vice versa.

Piknik Brass Cafe

A cafe bar famous for its

waffles and alcohol.

Boardgames are provided free

for customers to enjoy while

waiting for orders. Has a cozy

seating even for outdoors.

Serves steak and alcohol.

Provides a romantic setting for

dates and is also accustomed to

suit business meetings. It has

the theme of a big city

restaurant in a small town

appeal.

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III. Business

strategies to

compete with

competitors

1. Pricing

Reasonable price considering

that the ingredients are of high

quality that enhances the

aroma and taste of food.

Affordable price considering that

some ingredients are imported

from overseas.

2. Advertisement

Photo competition to spread

the name across and provide

visuals of the food and

beverage of the cafe. Winners

of the week would be given a

free meal the next time they

visit which in return would

bring recurring and new

customers into the cafe.

Promoting food and beverage

while associating the theme of

inking art to show the

distinctiveness in concept of

cafe. Coffee Ink is also

advertised on newspapers in

“Life Magazine” in the Nan Yang

Press.

3. Variety of dishes

Keep trying to create new

recipes for food and

beverages as try outs to

provide alternatives apart from

the menu.

Expanded its menu to serve

western main course to provide

full meals other than just

snacks.

4. Quality of food

Very satisfying as the cafe

provides natural taste by not

adding any flavouring to the

food and beverage.

Good and the cafe has a special

coffee taste that differentiates

itself from other cafes as the

coffee beans and chocolate are

imported from overseas.

5. Quality of service

Friendly and efficient. Fast and effective in preparing

food and beverage.

6. Atmosphere

A brightly lit setting and

comfortable cushion seats

blending in with the theme of

childhood memories.

A vintage style approach that

incorporates black and white

inking at and cozy indoor

seating.

IV. Obstacles

faced by new

businesses

The main obstacle faced by new business is pulling customers

from existing businesses in the same area. Existing businesses

already have a steady following as the customers are familiar

with their products and service. Existing businesses can lower

their price by providing packages by skimming so that the new

business will lose in price points. New business cannot afford to

lower their price that much as they have to pay off their debt for

capital. Without a strong cashflow the cafe business cannot be

sustained.

V. Nature of

market

Both of the cafes are in a competitive market as there are many

competitors in the same industry in the same area. Theoretically,

the market share will be divided and it would be hard to have a

steady flow of customers as there are many options of different

prices provided in the area.

Strategies Bitter Sweet cafe come up with the solution to focus their effort

on food value as Penangites are strict eaters of good food. To

develop better taste than the competitors, Bitter Sweet cafe uses

high quality ingredients and avoid flavouring to give a natural

taste in the food and drinks.

Coffee Ink come up with the strategy to start the trend of coffee

culture in Klang to gain a steady flow of customers. Being the first

proper concept cafe in Klang gives the name an establishment

and good reputation being the leader of the trend ion the area.

vi) SUMMARY TABLE OF SIMILARITIES AND DIFFERENCE BETWEEN

TWO RESTAURANTS16

BITTER SWEET CAFE ASPECTS COFFEE INK

Western food and coffee. Main products Western food and coffee.

All of them are locals and all

full-time workers since the

day the business started.

Workers All of them are locals consiting

part-time and full-time workers.

No plans to open new

branches.

Future plan Plans to open new branches in

5-10 years.

Significant natural taste of

waffles and ice cream as no

flavourings to stand out.

Strategy Being the first proper concept

cafe to be the trend setter of

Klang.

Ashton Ang established Bitter

Sweet cafe in June 2014 as

he saw an opportunity to

serve wetsern food and

beverage to local and

international tourists visiting

George Town.

Founder and

history

Zabedee Chiang quit his

previous advertising job to

establish Coffee Ink in October

2013, the first proper concept

cafe in Klang as it was the idea

he had when he was 21 years

old studying graphic design.

Bitter Sweet cafe is located in

Armenian Street as there are

many local and international

tourists visiting George Town.

The mural art and steel

artworks are close by, making

it a pit stop for the visitors to

enjoy western food and

beverage.

Location Coffee Ink is located in Bandar

Botanic with a shopping mall

across the road and high-end

residential area behind the

business park. The cafe has

higher accessibility to larger

crowds as there is

concentration of population.

No branches. Number of

branches

No branches.

Waffles, ice cream, coffee

and cakes.

Types of

products sold

Main course, Belgian

chocolate, coffee, cakes and

tea.17

Monday to Friday

10am - 10pm

Saturday to Sunday

8am -11pm

Business hours Tuesday to Saturday

11am - 11pm

Sunday 2pm - 11pm

Closed on Mondays.

Handled by Ashton Ang

onitoring and managing the

cafe himself.

Business

operation

Handled by Zabedee Chiang

monitoring and managing the

cafe himself.

About 80 customers a day. Number of

customers

About 120 customers a day.

Local and international

tourists

Targeted

market

Youth and adults 15 years old

and above.

vii) CONCLUSION

Based on our analysis, Coffee Ink is apparently having a bigger business

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potential than Bitter Sweet cafe acknowledging the fact that Coffee Ink has been running for 1 year and 3 months than that of Bitter Sweet cafe which is only 4 months. Although the pricing for food and beverage of Bitter Sweet cafe is lower than that of Coffee Ink which would theoretically attract more customers, Coffee Ink has more customers. Coffee Ink sells with a higher price to a larger crowd than that of Bitter Sweet cafe which makes an obvious distance in revenue. Coffee Ink also increases its profits by modifying its menu to suit their customer’s taste. As for Bitter Sweet cafe, they are trying to attract more customers by developing their very own recipes by preserving the natural taste of their food and beverage by not using any flavourings. There is no wrong in this strategy, but it would take a much longer time to familiarize customers with their style of taste. In terms of recognition, Coffee Ink is more recognized as it is the very first proper concept cafe to set foot in Klang whereas Bitter Sweet cafe is one of the many concept cafe in George Town. The more the name is established, the steadier the flow of customers, the more the increase in profit. In conclusion, judging which cafe is better from where it is now, Coffee Ink is more successful than Bitter Sweet cafe.

RECOMMENDATIONS

Based on previous comparison of Bitter Sweet Cafe and Coffee Ink we can

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conclude that Bitter Sweet Cafe have to fully utilize their location and expand their menu to attract more customers. As for Coffee Ink they could consider on opening up new branches and be more aggressive in advertising. Bitter Sweet Cafe has the perfect location in Armenian Street, a famous tourist spot of George Town, so they could use this advantage to expand their menu according to the tourists liking to create more business opportunities. On the other hand, since Coffee Ink is quite established in Klang being the first proper concept cafe they could increase business by branching out and by advertising more aggressively.

BITTER SWEET CAFE 20

1.TOURIST MAGNET

As Bitter Sweet cafe is located at the heart of the tourist spot, they should use this to their advantage by catering more food choices towards the tourists. They could also cooperate with Malaysian tourists to help promote their food by word of mouth naturally. This could be done by serving amazing food and beverage along with a friendly and efficient service.

2.EXPANSION OF MENU

To maximize their full potential, they could increase their range of products sold in the cafe. By attending more to the tourists liking to further expand their menu, they would make their customers happier and more willing to spend more on their delicacies which would generate a raise in profit.

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COFFEE INK

1.EXPANDING BRANCHES

Having Coffee Ink being quite well-known in klang, they should consider expanding to other territories. Bringing Klang’s treasured cafe to different areas would do no harm but benefit them. The expansion to areas outside areas would provide them with more recognition which would increase business and that would make them a more successful food and beverage business.

2.ADVERTISING

As Coffee Ink being the first ever proper concept cafe to set foot in Klang, they should seize this opportunity to bring early fame and recognition to this cafe. Visual advertising is very important as concept cafes have to promote their food, beverage and interior design online to attract customers. This would attract people engaged in coffee culture through social network such as Facebook and Instagram. Having a nice and friendly service and serving great food is a great way to advertise their cafe by word of mouth passed on by customers to bring in new customers.

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Bibliography

Maciinis, H. (2010). Consumer Behavior (5th ed., p. 493). Ohio: South-Western.

Robbins, S. (2009). Managment (10th ed., p. 579). Pearson.

Zikmund, W. (2014). Marketing Research (3rd ed., p. 615). CENGAGE Learning.

Porter, M. (2004). Competitive Strategy (1st ed., p. 397). Free Press.

LeoM, D. (2014, January 1). ME COFEE JOURNEY. Retrieved December 2, 2014, from http://www.mecoffeyjourney.com/2014/05/coffee-ink-bandar-botanic-klang.html

Hunt, K. (2014, August 29). Retrieved December 2, 2014, from http://www.kenhuntfood.com/2014/08/bittersweet-cafe-armenian-street.html

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APPENDICES

APPENDIX 1

TRANSCRIPT ( COFFEE INK ): Chew Yu Jing and Zabadee Chiang

Q :Why the name Coffee Ink?

A: Well coffee is just basically coffee, his style of art is black and white which is also refer to as inking, and you collaborate both together to get Coffee Ink. Most of the art are done by him, and some by his ex-college mates from One Academy. He majored in Graphic Design and Advertising.

Q: When did Coffee Ink begin?

A :Coffee Ink is actually 1 year and 3 months old, he got the idea when he was aged 22, he had a few sketches of the idea in his sketch book, but just never took the initiative to make it happen, till late 2012 only he started to look for investors to fund this project.

Q: What's the inspiration?

A : For any art background person, it's always good to keep a sketch book by your side so you could just sketch or jot down any collective ideas in it. Along the way, you'll probably get inspired to add or remove a few ideas for you main concept. It's through his sketch book that inspired him to start off this business, done working for others.

Q: Has it always been a childhood dream to open a coffee shop?

A :Starting a coffee shop was never his childhood dream, he wanted to be a pilot but his was never good in maths, so it wouldn't had worked out.

Q: How did all this start?

A :He used to work in an advertising agency for a few years, he was the senior graphic designer, he got tired that all the credit was given to the art director instead of him, despite having work his hardest for the company. One day he just decided to do something for himself, to build something that he desires. As cheesy as it sounds just listen to your heart. Besides that, he can't work without his daily dose of coffee, because in an advertising agency you'll have to work from day to night, you'll rarely get to see the sun, and coffee is the only thing that keeps you going. Coffee has become a huge addiction for him. He loves coffee, and just exploring coffee. After sometime he thought he should collaborate things

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that he likes, he loves coffee and he loves art, so that's where he came up with his concept.

Q: How is the coffee art developed?

A : He would first teach his baristas the basics and fundamental of coffee, and then from there he would teach them the basic latte art, then from there he wants and allow them to explore more on their own, using their creativity to guide them. They could do like a peacock with open feathers, or two swans facing each other, it's up to their creativity, but first they have to learn the fundamentals from him.

Q : What makes the coffee different?

A :They have their signature blend of arobica and robusta, and they also have sumatrum blend. The arobica beans gives a fruity flavor to the coffee and the robusta beans gives it that kick, which would indulge your taste buds, so when you take a sip of coffee you will first get a fruity sensation, following that with the impact of the bitterness from the coffee, that's the difference in coffee in Coffee Ink. Besides that, they also specialize in chocolate, one of their main signature drink is their belgium dark chocolate, that's one of their best sellers aside from their coffee.

Q : What's his favourite coffee?

A : He likes the piccolo, it's like a more concentrated version of a latte. A piccolo is a shot of ristretto with minimal milk. It comes in a short glass(bigger than a shot glass), it has a strong coffee taste to it, rather than a latte, a latte is really milky, and a flat white is even more milkier.

Q : What's your strategy against the competition?

A : At the beginning, when he told his dad he wanted to open a coffee shop his father thought he was crazy, because in Klang they have a mentality for the word of money which is, “we want it big and we want it alot.” When you think of opening a coffee shop in Klang the older generation would find it hard to accept, but if all the fishes are swimming on the right, he believes on taking the left, he does not like to follow the main trend. That is why he opened the first ever coffee shop in Klang, like a proper cafe not like those roadside coffee shops(also known as Kopitiam). The competition soon followed within 6 to 8 months after Coffee Ink was opened. Within 8 months there were like 9 competitors just surrounding Coffee Ink. What makes Coffee Ink standout is probably because he is the local artist, most of the artwork in Coffee Ink is done by him, the difference is that them ambience in Coffee Ink is all created by him. He build everything with his own two

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hands. In Cafe line you can't runaway from 3 things, the beverage, the choice of dishes and the ambience. You have to keep a good balance between the 3 to retained and attract more new customers in to your Cafe, it's always a people orientated industry. If a coffee shop is to remember your name and orders, you are more likely to go back, because they have built a personal relationship with you, and in Coffee Ink the like to practice that, and it's the main principle here, to make it a people orientated cafe.

Q : Why did you choose this location in Klang? Whenever people think about Klang is their bah kut teh?

A : His a Klang boy, and he gets frustrated whenever people just associate Klang with only the Bah Kut Teh and gangsters, because there is so much more to Klang then what it seems. If he got the opportunity to build something with his own two hands, he would like to start it in his hometown. “Klang boy, Klang town” Even though the risks are high, that's the opportunity, you would not want to open a mall in an area where theres crowded with mall already, instead you would want to open a mall where theres no mall in sight, so that you'll be the only one. “ You start the trend, you be the leader, let the others follow you.” That's what drove him to pick this location, over Subang, PJ or Damansara which is already packed with all kinds of cafe, with all kinds of concepts.

Q : What are the benefits to the society?

A : He believes that there are lots of youths here, who are looking for exposure and a new experience, rather than working in a F&B line in Klang which are McDonalds, KFC and etc. He wants to bring the coffee culture here in Klang, for the youth between high school and college. He wants to create an opportunity for them to work, to make it like a management training program, so as they work here they would not just learn something new about the industry, but also a skill they can use later on in life. For example, communication skills, being able to speak fluently in various languages like Mandarin, English and etc, and also able to have the knowledge of coffee. The manners and the ability to carry themselves well could be applied to their new jobs. He would like to bring these opportunities for them, because when he was young he never got much guidance in life, so he would like to create these environment for them. As you grow, the people and society would grow with you, so that's his concept in opening Coffee Ink in Klang.

Q : What is in the past and future of Coffee Ink?

A : When he was a teenager, he mixed around with all kinds of people, most of them were unpleasant ones, so at the age of 21 he thought he was going to die, but somehow he believed that God had placed him at the right place, at the right

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time to meet the right people and to be where he is now. He feels blessed to have this place(Coffee Ink), and he never expected to own a coffee shop by himself, because he comes from a very poor family. He was so poor that there are times he would be too shy to socialize with other people. When you come from a poor background and was given an opportunity, you would definitely give everything you have, sacrificing everything. Coffee Ink has 5 and 10 year plan, hopefully the business would grow, and the branding would grow and hoping to open a second outlet in the near future.

Q : What's the situation of the F&B industry now?

A : Who knows, in 5 to 10 years he might venture into other industries, many might not know that the coffee industry has hit the third wave at this moment. In every industry especially the F&B line, you'll have a hype, and then when it hits the peak of the apex, it would either drop a little to a Plato line, just like the bubble tea craze, last time people were crazy for Chatime, they were willing to que for Chatime, but look at the hype now, it's beginning to be very subtle. We wouldn't know what the future brings for us, but we have to be ready for it, but who knows, in 5 to 10 years he might be in a different industry.

Q : What are the advice for new entreprenuers?

If you are born in a rich family, you are really blessed. Make full use of the resources you have, make full use of the connections you have, and also do it wisely without wastage. If you come from a poor family, that's even better, because you are driven to do something with your life, someone in your family has to pay the price to go to the next level. So if you start from nothing, give your everything, don't hold back, sacrifice everything you got and just do it. The world would only tell you what you cannot do in life, but it is up to you to make the changes yourself. For all the entrepreneurs out there, think of the ways for how you could stand out among the majority of your industry. Like in Architecture, what make you stand out as an Architect? Perhaps you have an outstanding communication skills, which makes you the main choice of your company to lead the presentations. Maybe you have a different kind of concept that no other Architects may have, maybe you have some bizarre ideas or concepts no one has ever thought of, so you have to explore yourselves first, and identify these unique selling point that you have, and the one you got to offer, invest time in yourselves, invest time to learn, invest time to explore, because what you invest in yourselves would only benefit you. Alot of people would tell you they want something real bad, but how much do you actually want it, do you want it bad enough to do everything for it, or do you want it bad enough but you still want to party and you still want to spend your money like you're drinking water, without any self-control. If you want something bad you got to sacrifice, you got to put in

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effort, put in determination, but don't just say it, do it. For all future entrepreneurs, you got to believe in yourselves, because if you don't who else would believe you, if you don't believe in yourself who else would believe you, so that's really important. If you pitch your ideas to get sponsors, or partnership or to get loans, you have to be convincing, you have to prove to them that you really believe in this idea and concept that it's definitely going to be a success, that passion and inspiration that comes from you would drive them to have great interest in you project and that would never fail. If you have positivity in your life, you got to show it.

Q : How long was the hustle?

A : He was fortunate to get the right location for a right price at the right time, so he built this place from scratch in 3 months. He had really limited resource at that time, so he went with the concept less is more, he has to use the idea of minimalism as his concept, things like bricks and cement he brought in a lory, and he had to carry the bricks and cement all by himself, it was really crazy, each cement bag was 60kg. He got some Indonesian guys to teach him to mix the cement to build the bar. He could not afford a contractor at that time, so alot of the things in Coffee Ink is done by themselves, except for plumbing and electricity. They did it within 3 months, everything was done quite well and no problems after that.

Q : Who were the supporters?

A : Firstly he would like to thank God, for making this happen. And also to the people around him, to his parents, his close friends, they all played a big role to where he is now. You can never grow progressively alone, you'll always need morale support.

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TRANSCRIPT ( BITTER SWEET CAFÉ ): Chew Yu Jing and Ashton Ang

Q : Why did you pick the name Bitter Sweet?A : Our initial focus was on coffee and dessert,we used the taste of both it to form our name.

Q : How does your coffee differ from the competitors?A : We focus more on the taste of the coffee rather than the coffee art.We also try our best to experiment using different types of coffee beans.

Q : What is the food that is highly on demand by the customers?A : Our best selling food is our waffle.

Q : Why did you choose to open at Armenian Street?A : We choose this location because this is one of the main spots for tourists.

Q : Do you target the tourist or the locals?A : Our primary target the tourist,but we also make sure to cater the needs of the local.

Q : What type of food do you serve here?A : Mostly western food.

Q : Why is there so many paper planes on the wall?A : To give a nostalgic feeling of our childhood and also integrate with our minimalistic interior.

Q : How do you advertise online?A : We had a competition to encourage our customers to post photos and hash tag us.

Q : When is your peak hours?A : Normally tea time after lunch,mostly 3 to 5pm.

Q : Do you have a special packaging for your food?A : Our primary focus is on the food itself and it goes align with our concept.

Q : Your goals for the future?A : Become an established cafe in Penang.

Q : What about the staff? 29

A : Currently we have about 8,we work well together because of our team is efficient.

Q : What’s the thing you like in this cafe?A : Its comfortable,simple and not only gives you tasty food but provide you a memorable experience.

APPENDIX 2 :PHOTOS 30

Shop name : Bitter Sweet Café

1. Main entrance of Bitter Sweet Café

2. Interior of the café with a heart warming and simple design

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3. Paper planes designs were seen on the walls as the owner used it to create childhood memories to customers.

4. Hardworking and friendly staffs.

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5. Advertising used by the owner through the culture of “ snap before eat” and encouraging customer to hashtag them in the photos via Facebook and Instagram to help them promote.

6. Their famous Earl Grey Caramel Waffles. Crispy on the outside and fluffy inside as told by the owner and tasted by us.

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Shop name : Coffee Ink

1. Main entrance of Coffee Ink. It is situated in front of Klang’s biggest shopping mall and

behind it is stayed by wealthy residents.

2. We were interviewing the owner , Zabadee Chiang.

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3. The walls of the café are “inked” by the owner himself as he was a student in design before. This was one of the walls that is still in the process of inking.

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4. Professional workers making premium coffee and chocolate beverages.

5. Imported high quality ingredients.

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6. One of the dishes that we ordered and it tasted very good.

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APPENDIX 3 : MINUTES

MINUTES 1 25/11/2014 10am-3pm Taylor Lakeside Campus

DATE: 8/11/2014TIME: 10am-3pmVENUE: Taylors’ Lakeside Campus

NAMES OF GROUP MEMBERS TUTORIAL GROUP ROLELynette Law Yong Yi WednesdayGary Yeow Jinn Sheng Friday Hariish Kumar Wednesday Chew Yu Jing Wednesday Ng Kheng Soon Wednesday Hyuh Minh Nhat Dinh Wednesday

NO. ACTIVITY ACTION TAKEN BY

1. Discussion on the type of business we would like to interview

All members

2. Research on the business which has been running for 10 years around Penang and Klang Valley

All members

3. Finalizing the interview to be on cafes in Penang and Klang.

All members

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MINUTES 2

DATE: 25/11/2014TIME: 12pm-6pmVENUE: Taylors Lakeside Campus

NAMES OF GROUP MEMBERS TUTORIAL GROUP ROLELynette Law Yong Yi WednesdayGary Yeow Jinn Sheng Friday Hariish Kumar Wednesday Chew Yu Jing WednesdayNg Kheng Soon Wednesday Hyuh Minh Nhat Dinh Wednesday

NO. ACTIVITY ACTION TAKEN BY

1. Compilation of the interview questions asked in both cafes at Penang and Klang.

All members

2. Sort, analyze and distribute jobs to members including photos, videos and information.

All members

REFERENCE 39

Maciinis, H. (2010). Consumer Behavior (5th ed., p. 493). Ohio: South-Western.

Robbins, S. (2009). Managment (10th ed., p. 579). Pearson.

Barrow, C. (2007). Starting a Business for Dummies (2nd ed., p. 388). Wiley.

Zikmund, W. (2014). Marketing Research (3rd ed., p. 615). CENGAGE Learning.

Porter, M. (2004). Competitive Strategy (1st ed., p. 397). Free Press.Personal Interview Structure : Ashton Ang ( 10th November 2014). Personal Interview

Personal Interview Structure: Zabadee Chiang ( 11th November 2014 ). Personal Interview

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