Big Bowl Ramen Cafe
| Current Status | Concept / Business Plan |
| Amount Invested | RM30,000.00 |
| Funding Required | RM300,000 or less |
| Description | Café business in Malaysia has been very dynamic, sprouting out fast and some disappearing just as fast, and is considered by financial institutions as high risk business. Thus, before deciding on proceeding with a café franchise, careful considerations has been made before selecting Big Bowl Ramen as it fulfills the following criteria, 1. Unique presentations of food that catches attention, Big Bowl Ramen and the low priced small bowls are more likely to attract high word-of-mouth marketing. 2. Merging Japanese Ramen with local street food taste gain high acceptance from Malaysians, increasing the likelihood of repeated visits. 3. Availability of several local favorite traditional food such as Laksa and Custard Egg, moving towards this direction in menu selection is a safer path. 4. Pricing is lower than average market rate but is still able to gain attractive returns, this help place Big Bowl Ramen in ‘Best Cost’ position. 5. Available of location with high student density from private college. 6. Constant support in terms of management, staff training, and marketing from the original branch. – New branch will be marketed in existing Facebook Page to help jump start the opening. 7. Last but not least, all ingredients are from halal suppliers, thus, able to cater to target market of different faiths. |
| Business Opportunity | 1. Product – Students like something new and affordable, able to fill their stomach with minimum spending. Big Bowl Ramen has small bowls costing RM1.90 but larger than the portions in boat noodle, giving students value for money. Big Bowl Ramen’s big bowl comes in 4 flavors, costing RM29.90 for two person portion, one of the lowest priced ramen in the market. (compared to RM 22-26 average price per bowl of Ramen) – Working adults need something fast and convenient, but yet suitable for their taste especially after a long day of work. Big Bowl Ramen focus on comfortable environment with good service. The food focus on local flavors instead of mimicking Thai or Japanese flavor. – Ingredients from halal source suitable for all races generally, hard to find halal ramen. – able to cater to muslims. – Traditional Ipoh dessert such as egg custard to increase spending per customer and visits during tea time. – Food presentation is simple and nice, avoiding unnecessary decorations to reduce cost. – All supplies will be from halal suppliers. – Product will take best cost positioning. 2. Place 3. Price 4. Promotion |
| Revenue / Business Model | Monthly revenue to breakeven: Monthly Fixed Cost: 3 Front, 2 Kitchen Rental MYR 5,500.00 Insurance + License Renewal MYR 200.00 Utilities MYR 4,000.00 Maintenance MYR 300.00 Marketing MYR 1,000.00 Salary for 5 workers MYR 11,000.00 Total MYR 22,000.00 Monthly Variable Cost 35% of raw material Estimated profit per month ROI for investor: |
| Management Team | Main Support: Original Ipoh Branch – Marketing – Recipe – Management – Other related supports KL Branch: |
| Company Background | Big Bowl Ramen was owned by Mr. Henry, serving food which focuses on local traditional tastes and flavors. One of the main attractions is the two person portion Big Bowl Ramen, which despite using Ramen, the taste has been adjusted to suit local taste. Located in Jalan Market (旧街场三奶巷), Big Bowl Ramen attracts visitors to Ipoh from all over Malaysia and also from Singapore. Since the food taste suits these visitors, this allows Big Bowl Ramen to develop a crowd of supporters. Big Bowl Ramen was bought over by Mr. Henry during August 2014, in Ipoh Town. During then, the existing restaurant was not doing well and received unfavorable reviews. Seeing the opportunity to improve the existing business with the aid of strategic location, Mr. Henry took the challenge to transform the existing business, which includes change of menu, alteration of taste to suit the locals and ensuring only high quality ingredients to preserve texture, taste, and hygiene. Mr. Henry also changed the management style to build up a culture of excellent customer service, each staffs took pride in serving customers well. From June 2015 onwards, Mr. Henry finally managed to revamp this restaurant, gaining consistent good reviews and attracting crowds of customers, several which frequented his restaurant several times. Mr. Henry managed to establish consistent positive profits started then until this day. Big Bowl Ramen caught attention as one of the viable franchise since through meeting with the owner, he is a humble person with a strong passion in restaurant business. He shared his management concept which focuses on making things simple, encouraging each employee to take ownership of their responsibilities and being rewarded for positive comments. After testing food from the menu and going through customers’ reviews, it is clear that despite being very business-minded, Mr. Henry took pride in serving generous portions to customers for very competitive price, without compromising the quality, taste, and atmosphere. |
| Funding Milestone | Cost: Estimated Cost Franchise fee MYR 40,000.00 1 month worker training 1 week training at KL marketing design recipe set up management Transportation & Accomodation during training MYR 5,000.00 Vaccination for 6 workers MYR 1,200.00 5 Fridges MYR 2,000.00 Utensils MYR 9,000.00 2 Airconds (3 HP) MYR 8,000.00 Renovation MYR 35,000.00 Furniture MYR 30,000.00 Rental RM5500 (2+1+1/2) MYR 19,250.00 Insurance + licenses MYR 5,000.00 Initial Raw materials MYR 3,000.00 Petty cash MYR 42,800.00 Total MYR 200,250.00 Operation forecast: Tea Time low occupancy rate Breakfast (10am-12pm) 25% Occupancy Supper (8pm-11.30pm) 25% Occupancy Note: Estimated profit per month ROI for investor: Further scenarios are reflected in the business proposal. |
| % Equity Allocation | 70% |
| Expected ROI | 21-30% |
| Risks and Mitigation | The Ramen business is indeed competitive, however, our unique selling point does not only depend on the Ramen, The big bowl Ramen is one of our attractions as it is priced lower than market average and the 4 types of flavors offered are based on local taste such as Laksa and other flavors, at the moment, this cannot be found in other Ramen restaurant. The new location is filled with Chinese students attending private college nearby, thus, I believe that based on the price positioning and target crowd, it is one of the best location for this type of food.
Apart from the big bowl Ramen, there is the RM1.90 dish, which took similar positioning as the boat noodle. I am attracted to it since the portion is bigger than the typical boat noodle, and since ‘boat noodle’ concept became famous in 2014, up til today, people still queue up for it, thus, this is another market segment that we can capture. Regarding the sales performance of the current store, since 2015, the lowest sales per month is RM40,000 and the highest sales is RM80,000. I believe that it is repeatable since most of his crowds are local tourist from other states and also from Singapore. That current location in Ipoh is one of the tourist attraction and thus, is very seasonal, I have thus, tabulated the ROI based on the current worst case scenario to ensure chances of survival even if it only achieve that during certain months. However, I was estimating better sales from the new location InsyaAllah as based on my observation, apart from students, working adults did frequent the cafes there during peak hours. |
| Exit Strategies | In the event should this business not work out despite our careful planning and after contingency plans have been put into action, the following exit plan will be put into action. 1. Either all tangible assets owned by the business will be sold or the business will be sold based on the estimated market value. – Will be decided base on which option would fetch higher amount. 2. All remaining cash from the business account will be withdrawn. 3. Proceeds from step 1& 2 will be used for the following purposes, according to the order of decreasing priority as such, – Outstanding rental – Outstanding salary to be paid – Outstanding utility bills – Distribution to investors based on the percentage of their investments |
| Company Name | Big Bowl Ramen Cafe |
| Website/Facebook | https://www.facebook.com/ |
| Business Address | Jalan Genting Klang, Setapak, Kuala Lumpur. |
| Contact Person | Lim Shi Jun |
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