From selling authentic Thai cuisine and fresh pastries on the street to having its own cafe, Aperture is thriving and blooming in the food industry sector, focusing on Thai Cuisine and dessert, the people's favorite.

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There is no denial that Thai cuisine has made waves all over the world due to its delicious blending of spicy and unique ingredients. The number of eateries serving Thai cuisine is constantly growing, not only in big cities but also in small towns and even in remote places. 

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The same can be said about dessert and pastries, which have succeeded in winning over food lovers with their exquisite and sweet flavor along with their appealing visual and presentation. 

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Some even seized the chance to build their own businesses out of their passion and love for the food by combining the perfect yet unique combination.

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Razali, the owner of the restaurant Aperture, is not an exception, as he was inspired to start his business due to his love for authentic Thai cuisine and delectable desserts and fresh pastries.

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Long struggle in street before turning into a cafe

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Surviving on its own from street food to a visually stunning cafe, Aperture Cafe struggled to penetrate into the bigger local market after opening the cafe three days before the Movement Control Order (MCO) was held.

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The COVID-19 pandemic caused a significant economic downturn particularly for the Food and Beverages (F&B) industry and Aperture Cafe was no exception. 

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Business owner Razali, was adversely affected by the frequent lockdowns, handling a handful of responsibilities ranging from manpower shortages to a hike up of inflation rates.

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"We tried to adapt to the situation by altering the food portion to cut down the cost but we can’t keep doing that because there will be little to no food at all thus, we were forced to raise the price for the said food,” said Razali. 

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Just like any other cafes, Aperture also provides online delivery through an e-commerce platform, Beepit which helps the cafe to expand their growth but not until after the lockdowns.

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According to Razali, he can’t fully utilize the platform as he doesn't have enough manpower to accept more orders through the platform after the lockdown resulting in less online sales.

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“I provide a platform for online order but sometimes I have to shut it down in order to control the traffic of our orders as we can’t excessively accept orders that outnumber our staff hence less online sales,” he said.

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Aperture has gone through ups and downs of business during the pandemic until after the pandemic. The battle is different for Aperture because it is an independent cafe rather than an established one.

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“I want to focus on how to cope with the issue, how I can maintain my customers and the price of the food as the game is to survive in the industry not to make profit,” said Razali.

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Aperture venture and expanded its way into the business food industry

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Aperture began as a street vendor and specialized mainly in Thai cuisine and desserts. However, Razali decided to expand his business by opening a cafe due to the overwhelmingly positive response and comments from his loyal customers.

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"At first, it was only a final year project in which I had to develop a database for a restaurant. Unfortunately, no one was interested in buying it (the database), so I decided to open and start my own business based on the database I created.

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"Not long after that, I fell in love, developed a passion for cooking, and decided to venture into the business food industry by opening a street vendor, incorporating a combination of my favorite foods—the Thai cuisine and desserts," said Razali.

 

Since then, Aperture has received outstanding support and feedback from its devoted customers. Three days before the Movement Control Order was implemented in 2020, Razali expanded his street vendor business into a cafe located in (TTDI).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Aperture reflects on struggles, foodpreneur adapting to new strategies and marketing

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During this time of economic recovery, multinational food and beverage firms (F&B) have tremendous chances not just to revive their businesses but also to experience new levels of expansion.

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Razali further stated, during the Chinese New Year, which occurred during MCO 2.0, their homemade pineapple tart sells approximately 500 boxes solely through word of mouth marketing.

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Besides, Instagram and TikTok are one of the social media platforms used by Aperture Café for promotion and to gain new customers. Razali spends a significant amount of time on Tiktok editing videos for his café in order to promote his business.

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"For Tiktok, we sometimes showed the interior design and ambiance of our café, but mostly we displayed the process of preparing our food from scratch, whether it's Thai cuisine or dessert because, for me, customers came for the vibe, but stayed for the food," he added.

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Aperture also attracts a diverse range of customers demographic which comes mainly from social media platforms. 

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According to Razali, his customers that come to the cafe through TikTok range from 18 to 25 which proves the successful marketing to reach his young audiences.

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"Our new customers also come primarily through Tiktok, and the majority of them are between the ages of 18 to 25. I would say that actually helps a lot to enhance our sales and is one of the best ways to promote our café," he further explained.

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Iylia, one of the regular customers at Aperture, mentioned that she always keeps on a tab of Aperture on Instagram in order to stay up to date on the most recent information, especially on their desserts.

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“I followed Aperture on Instagram to keep up to date on their promotions and their desserts particularly. So, sometimes if they update on Instagram about their cookies or anything, I will be one of the earliest to be informed about it and grab it as soon as possible,” she said.

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Apart from that, their menu's uniqueness and authentic names also become one of their marketing strategies to attract and gain customer loyalty.

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According to Razali, initially a few customers complained about the cafe's menu, such as the name Pad Kra Pao because they were unfamiliar with it, but they decided to maintain and keep the name as it is.

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"At first, few of my customers were complaining about the name for our cafe's menu, but we decided to keep and maintain it, as we use authentic Thai names for our menu. It also makes people remember our café and leaves an impression for them to keep coming back," Razali explained.

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Razali also offers 20% discounts to his customers during lunch hours as part of the marketing strategy.

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“People love rice, so it’s an open opportunity for me to gain more potential customers through discounted Thai food during lunch hour,” he said.

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During the festive seasons, Aperture changed the strategy and prioritized making desserts, such as cookies, kuih Raya, and other desserts, rather than Thai Cuisine, due to the high demand. 

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“During fasting month, I’m well-aware that Malays like to break their fast with kuih so we focus more on the production of kuih and biscuits to fulfill the high numbers of demand.

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“One of our famous menus during the festive season is biscuit Suji dan biscuit Makmur, and we use 100% ghee ingredients,” said Razali. 

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Aperture cafe, through its connection with their ghee supplier, has gained fair interest in their cookies through third party promotion by the supplier.

 

“The ghee supplier loves our dessert, so whenever they have a booth to sell ghee, they use our cookies as testers which help to attract more potential customers,” Razali said.

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Aperture used such high quality ingredients in order to maintain the quality of their desserts, for their customer satisfaction.

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According to Wan Atiyah Yasarah, a baker at Aperture, they always ensure that the ingredients they use are the best ones since Razali always emphasizes the quality of each item produced.

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“Mr. Razali is a very detailed person and always ensures that every product we use is the best quality. If possible, he would like customers to come to Aperture to appreciate the richness and the flavor of our desserts.

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“Besides, we bake it every day to guarantee the taste and quality of our dessert. We use such premium, authentic ingredients, which is another thing that sets our dessert apart from others. As a result, our customers frequently return and place a lot of orders, particularly for the pineapple tart,” she added. 

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Aperture secured its profit in Thai cuisine, desserts and drinks

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Aperture Cafe provided Thai cuisine, desserts and drinks which became the key of the cafe’s economic growth that boost the sales of the business.

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Aperture cafe has various types of drinks which are coffee, tea, matcha and chocolate, which became the highest item sold in two consecutive months which are in March and May. 

 

Razali explained that he used pure chocolate which he bought from overseas to make chocolate based drinks to serve the customers so that the customers will be satisfied. 

 

“In April, the sale of drinks went low since it was the fasting month. Most of our customers from the Chinese community came for the breakfast, hence the result,” said Razali. 

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Razali also added Thai food is one of the reasons why people visit his cafe. Most of his customers order Pad Kra Pao which is one of the reasons why it became the second highest selling item at Aperture’s.

 

"Most of our customers enjoy our Pad Kra Pao because it is a simple and comforting dish for them, and it has always been the customer’s choice every time they come here.

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“What makes our Thai food different from others is that we use authentic ingredients, just exactly like what Thai people will use in their cooking,” Razali said.

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As the owner of Aperture’s cafe, for sure Razali had a sales target that he wanted to achieve in order to make his cafe still running.

 

“I also planned to create another dish so that we have a variety of menus so the customers can choose instead of ordering the same menu,” said Razali. 

 

Since Ramadan was in April, Razali changed his strategy and emphasized more on dessert because people will buy the cookies for Eid UL Fitr. It depicts that in April, the most selling items are dessert.

 

“During Ramadan we focused on corporate gifts, baking cookies and in corporate gifts, we included Raya cookies such as Biskut Makmur, Biskut Suji and Pineapple Tart,” said Razali.  

 

Corporate gift is one of the things that contributed to the sales during Ramadan which made Aperture's sales increase by 25% from the previous month. 

 

Based on the graph below, it depicts that April had the most sales where it reached RM 30, 000 despite being in Ramadan month compared to March and May. 

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Razali explained every month for sure the sales will most likely be different, especially in the F&B industry so he needs to adapt with it and come out with a proper plan so that he still can run his cafe.