UPHOLDING her father’s legacy of selling satay at various night markets in Langkawi, Kedah since 1994, Zainah Abd Manaf, 42, was steadfast in continuing the legacy by injecting fresh ideas after rebranding the business as TerraGrill Langkawi.
Zainah, who quit her job as a manager with an international company, took over the business in 2011 and transferred the business operations to a factory, which could manufacture more products and has a production capacity of 7,000 sticks daily compared with 3,000 previously.
After 26 years, the satay business is still going strong although it is faced with market evolution in line with the digital technology development.
The TerraGrill brand made great strides in the market after offering several other dishes such as nasi ayam penyet, soto ayam, as well as soto tulang.
In keeping abreast of the market, the company now operates online.
“We still operate at the night markets but we have also opened a cafe in Kuah. We employ 22 workers for the factory operations, night markets and cafe, while another two are attached to the delivery section,” Zainah said via Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation’s (MDEC) blog.
TerraGrill Langkawi’s business soared when Zainah made promotions on digital platforms such as Facebook, Instagram and website with sales hitting RM40,000 to RM60,000 a month.
The satay brand is among 100 enterprises in Langkawi that participated in the 100 Go Digital programme organised by MDEC on the island last year.
Through the programme, Zainah, an Industrial Economics graduate from Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, has successfully applied a cashless payment system at her cafe to facilitate customers.
Meanwhile, amid the Covid-19 outbreak, the company is operating as usual but Zainah acknowledged the challenges it is facing.
“We only offer packed food while for deliveries, additional steps (have to be taken) such as making it compulsory for food dispatchers to wash their hands before and after each delivery,” she said.
On the first day that the Movement Control Order was enforced, Zainah said online orders went on as usual, however, orders recorded a 20 per cent increase the following day.
“On the third day, orders rose by 80% before declining on the fifth day after the authorities shortened the business operation period,” she said.
Zainah hopes her business will continue to be resilient as she has started to expand the market for her products to Shah Alam, Subang Jaya and Puchong, all in Selangor, since last month. — April 17, 2020, Bernama
