ALTHOUGH business is oftentimes seen as the path to financial success, the reality of the situation is not so rosy, as revealed by ice cream seller Maleek.
Earlier, the owner of Scoopa Doopa Ice Cream made a post on X that drew netizens’ attention, describing the losses he made participating in an event to sell his desserts.
Kisah masuk event .
Niaga 3 hari, tapi rugi beribu
Inilah antara benda yang saya sangat takut.
Masuk tapak bayar punyalah mahal. Janji EO , puluh ribu orang yang akan datang. Marketing by page viral.
Tapi in reality, makin niaga makin rugi.
Thread pic.twitter.com/gktS3zFEzS
— Maleek | Abang Aiskrim 🐧🐧🐧 (@hierrago96) August 15, 2024
According to Maleek, the losses were in the thousands after just three days of business. Payment for the site was expensive although the event organiser made promises about the thousands of people who would come.
The reality, however, was the mounting losses he incurred as the days drew on. Maleek stated that events bloomed like mushrooms over the weekends after the Covid-19 pandemic ended, many of them being called Viral Food.
He went on to describe the site rental per day in such places, which ranged from RM300 to RM1,000 depending on the location.
To better highlight the absurdity of the situation, Maleek said a hawker selling water at RM3 per cup will need to sell more than 150 cups just to clear the site rental which was RM500 per day.
That was not considering the cost of transportation, decoration, ice and salary of additional workers.
According to one netizen, the reason why visitors have declined was due to the lack of diversity which should have been managed by the event organiser.
He once attended a food festival where about 50% of the stalls were selling water while the other 30% were fried chicken.
Netizen @LiyanaRizzle suggested that Maleek sell at events hosted by universities. She recalled that the site rental at a university event to be not more than RM100.
Another netizen remarked that the poster should have been more discerning before entering such events. Blame should not be directed to the event organiser but instead levelled at oneself for the lack of business acumen.
However, the most pertinent idea of them all was to make a business out of selling event sites to hawkers as suggested by this netizen, considering the astronomical site rental rates.
Although Maleek’s humble post appears to be just another lament, it sheds some light on the less-explored world of small-time food traders.
Truth be told, the greatest lessons in business are not learned in expensive seminars hosted in vast hotel ballrooms.
They are learned from trial and errors on the ground. Maleek’s seemingly ordinary post represents all that and more. – Aug 16, 2024
Main image: washington post
