Tuesday 8 March 2016

Our evaluation of the businesses

Group opinion and reasons to select the stalls

In this blog, both of the places we chose were located at Ipoh, Perak which is only around 30minutes driving distance from Kampar. They are both a good places for us to take a rest and have some good food in the town. Both the owners of the stalls are kind and friendly. All of us had some past great experience by having a meal in the stalls. The services in both stalls are so efficient and the foods provided are always fresh and quality. This is why we choose the stalls as we wanted to show them our support and this is how their hard work payoff. 

Nowadays, people are willing to spend for a delicious meal. However, both of the prices of the food available in the stalls are reasonable and affordable for public. For ‘Pasir Pinji Chee Cheong Fun’, it is only cost RM2.30 to RM3.80 for three different serving size of ‘Chee Cheong Fun’. For the “Restauran Choong Kee Pokok Besar”, a piece of fried material cost RM0.80 only and it is reasonable for public as well. We had chosen these stalls because we wanted to promote the foods with reasonable price for public which included the students like us. Good food might not cheap but cheap food might taste good.

Based on the information, most of the locals are familiar with the boss of “Restauran Choong Kee Pokok Besar” and it has a lot of loyalty customers around the town or even from other states. Another reason that we choose the stall is to prove whether it is as delicious as others said or it is just a rumour. In contrast, “Pasir Pinji Chee Cheong Fun” is actually an old stall located in residence area which might not as famous as “Restauran Choong Kee Pokok Besar” but we wish to expose it to the public since the food in the stall worth the price we pay for it. However, it is actually not so hard to see the pictures of these foods in social media like Facebook and Google. People in this era used to take a picture before they start their meal and this is how the stalls getting more and more famous in the internet.






Classification of e-commerce by the nature of the transactions or interactions


Electronic commerce (E-commerce) is a type of business model that enables a firm or individual to conduct businesses over an electronic network, normally through the internet. E-commerce can be categorized into four major market segments: business-to-business (B2B), business-to-consumer (B2C), consumer-to-consumer (C2C), and consumer-to-business (C2B). The local foods we have chosen to promote in our blog are both located at Ipoh, Perak which are “Restauran Choong Kee Pokok Besar” and “Pasir Pinji Chee Cheong Fun”. Both stalls are using the same business model which is brick-and-mortal to carry out their businesses. They are selling their foods offline and do not involve any sales through online or internet. Therefore, by knowing the nature of the transactions of both stalls, it can be categorized into two types of classification for “Restauran Choong Kee Pokok Besar” and “Pasir Pinji Chee Cheong Fun”. 


Business-To-Consumer (B2C) 
Business-to-consumer (B2C) is business or transactions conducted directly between a company and consumers who are the end users of its products or services. This model is slightly different with business-to-business (B2B), as B2B is referring to the transactions between two or more businesses. In such case, “Restauran Choong Kee Pokok Besar” and “Pasir Pinji Chee Cheong Fun”, both stalls are selling their foods directly and physically to their customers which mean that their customers are able to obtain the tangible products from the stalls once they purchased. 

Consumer-to-Business (C2B) 
Consumer-to-business (C2B) is an E-commerce model in which individuals use the internet to sell products or services to organizations or individuals who seek sellers to bid on products or services they need. For example, a consumer writes a review on an existing product or provides ideas for new developed products. The reason both stalls can be classified in this model because some well-known bloggers or “YouTubers” will promote their foods through the blogs or videos in the YouTube channel, write an overall review on the foods of the stalls or even provide some recommendations for the owners of the stall to improve in the aspects of taste, environment, etc. The owners of the stalls can choose either to receive or adopt the reviews and recommendations from their customers or not to do so, as the contents of the blog are based on the personal opinion of the bloggers which might or might not have the professional level.







Business Model 

Based on the information, both “Restauran Choong Kee Pokok Besar” and “Pasir Pinji Chee Cheong Fun” that we choose are brick-and-mortal organizations. In the other mean, they are considered an old-economy organization that performs their primary business offline, selling physical products by mean of physical agents. Both of them have a physical presence and offer face-to-face customer experiences. They tend to offer services and products directly to the walk-in customers. This model usually used to contrast with a transitory business or an internet-only presence, such as an online shop, which have no physical presence for shoppers to visit and buy product directly. In these stalls, customers are required to make an order at the stalls and received the services and products on the spot. The customers might not be able to get the products or foods though the internet. 

There are some benefits of using brick-and-mortar in businesses. First of all, face to face customer service can be a big contributor in increasing sales of a business. A kind and friendly owner or employees might able to give a great impression to the customers and encourage them for repetitively visits and purchases. Based on our observation, employees of the stalls are all friendly and helpful. Their working performance and great services provided might bring more customers to the stalls and increase the sales. Besides, research has shown that 86% of customers willing to pay more for a product if they have received a great customer service. 

As we know, the foods served by these stalls are suitable for public with all ages. Hence, face-to-face interaction seems to be much more suitable for them. The elderly are used to a more traditional approach when it comes to purchasing and prefer to have some sight or explanation before any purchase made. Most of the customers might enjoy the personal interaction with the employees. In these stalls, the employees might explain the variety choice of foods to the customers so that they can have a picture in their brain before they make a choice. They might also introduce foods to the customers based on the customer’s personal characteristic or taste. This will not only help the customers but also the sales of the stalls themselves. The customers might feel warm to have their meal there and make repetitively visits. 

Since both of the stalls are using the same model, they have their own store front as well. An attracting storefronts and point-of-purchase displays can also strongly influence customers to make an impulse purchase. Concerns such as foot traffic, storefront visibility, and appealing interior design might help the stalls to attract walk in customer and generate more sales. Location of the stalls is also important for a brick-and-mortal business since most of the customers are walk-in customers. In this case, “Restauran Choong Kee Pokok Besar” seems to have a much more strategic location and the visibility of the stall is higher compared to “Pasir Pinji Chee Cheong Fun”. However, “Pasir Pinji Chee Cheong Fun” also has their own advantages on its current location as it can target the villages staying in the specific area. Since “Pasir Pinji Chee Cheong Fun” do not have a wide area for customers to dine in, it focuses more on take away business. Due to this issue, its location is actually have not much effect on its sales. 







Basic approach used in marketing and advertising 

Nowadays, there are various types of marketing and advertising approaches can be used to promote the products to the market. The basic approach used in marketing and advertising by both “Restauran Choong Kee Pokok Besar” and “Pasir Pinji Chee Cheong Fun” is social advertising. Social advertising can be defined as advertising on a social networking site such as the most famous SNS in the present, Facebook, which enables the advertiser to target ads based on friends using the same product. Viral marketing is one of the advertising methods in social advertising, which is defined as word-of-mouth (WOM) method by which customers promote a product or services by telling others about it which are normally their friends and family. As the customers of both stalls have high satisfactory on the quality of the foods, they tend to promote the foods verbally to the others. Both of the stalls are well known by public now since the locals used to promote them direct and indirectly. 

Photo 1 – This is an example of social advertising. 

Instead of advertising through the mouth, those customers can also use viral blogging or viral video which is also one of the methods in social advertising. Viral blogging is the viral (word-of-mouth) marketing done by bloggers; while viral video is any video that is passed electronically, from person to person, regardless of its content such as using YouTube or other social presentations sites for advertising. In such way, their customers are substituting their mouth with social networking sites (SNS) for the purpose of advertising the foods by writing a review with pictures of foods in their blogs or video. Besides, post the pictures of foods and environment in Facebook or ‘tweet’ some text in Twitter is also another advertising and marketing tool used by “Restauran Choong Kee Pokok Besar” and “Pasir Pinji Chee Cheong Fun”. Through this advertising approach, it is beneficial to the owners of the stalls in terms of money, as it does not require extra expenses for the stalls to advertise, at the same time, the popularity can be increased not only in Ipoh area, but also the counties that near to Ipoh. 


Photo 2 – This is an example of viral blogging. 

Last but not least, mobile advertising is also used by both of the stalls in their businesses. Mobile advertising is a way of conducting marketing on or with a mobile device. In this new era, it might not difficult to have a food applications (apps) in a mobile phone. There are various type of food apps which introduce the foods around the world to the public. Fourquare is one of the well known food apps in Malaysia. Foursquare is a search and discovery service mobile app which provides search results for its users. 

Photo 3 – Foursquare of “Restauran Choong Kee Pokok Besar”

Photo 4 – Foursquare of “Pasir Pinji Chee Cheong Fun”

As shown in the photos above, we can see that both the stalls had already advertised their own business by using a mobile apps named foursquare. From the apps, public can get all the information of the stalls included their address or even their opening hour. By using this apps, public can avoid a lot of misunderstanding and problems that lead to a bad reputation for the stalls. It is also convenient and cost saving for the public as what they need to do now is just switch on their phone and have a look on it.






Recommendations to improve businesses through e-commerce 

From the nature of the transactions or interactions of by “Restauran Choong Kee Pokok Besar” and “Pasir Pinji Chee Cheong Fun”, we figured out that both stalls are brick-and-mortar (old economy) organizations, which only perform their primary business offline and selling their foods physically to their customers. Due to the intervention of technology, today, everything can transact online even a food stall. Therefore, by “Restauran Choong Kee Pokok Besar” and “Pasir Pinji Chee Cheong Fun” can try to change from brick-and mortar organizations to click-and-mortar (click-and-brick) organizations, which can be defined as a type of business model that includes both online and offline operations, which include a website and a physical store. A click-and-mortar organization can offer its customers the benefits of fast online transactions or traditional face-to-face service. By carry out the business as a click-and-mortar organization, the services that can be added are creating an official website for its stall and providing the delivery service for the customers. By establish this new system to the stalls, it might able to retain the existing customers and attract the potential new customers as it is much more convenience for the customers now. As mentioned above, teenagers or potential new customers might found the webpage of the stalls online and hence lead to an increase in sales of the stalls. 

Based on the previous part, we knew that the basic approach used in advertising and marketing of by “Restauran Choong Kee Pokok Besar” and “Pasir Pinji Chee Cheong Fun” is the social advertising. By implementing this approach, both stalls are actually in a passive position because the one who help the stalls to promote their foods to the others is their customers through the viral marketing (word-of-mouth) or social networking sites (such as YouTube, Facebook). Therefore, instead of being the passive one, the owners of the stalls should be much more aggressive. In other words, the owners can attempt to create their own Facebook page for their own business purposes. By taking this course of action, the admins of the page can upload some pictures or videos of the foods or announce some promotions in special festivals on the page. An active and attractive page can surely grab the attention of Facebook users. To get the latest information about the stalls, public might have to follow the page. By this, the stalls are taking some sort of advertising to promote their stalls, foods and etc. 


Photo 5- This is an example of Facebook page created by “Restauran Choong Kee Pokok Besar”

Besides, due to the advanced technology, social networking site (SNS) is also a useful and powerful mechanism in marketing and advertising especially Facebook. The result of using this approach is very effective as the message can be delivered from person to person in a short period and it does not incur a very high cost of using. Based on the statistic, there are around 1.4 billion monthly active users in Facebook. This is definitely a great or even best platform to advertise the products. 


Another method that can be used to improve the businesses of “Restauran Choong Kee Pokok Besar” and “Pasir Pinji Chee Cheong Fun” is web advertising. Web advertising is a form of marketing and advertising which uses the internet to deliver promotional marketing messages to consumers. Web advertising is also known as online marketing, online advertising or internet advertising. By using this method, its cost is relatively cheaper compared to the other ways. In addition, the ads can always be updated or amended at any time with a minimal cost. Richness of format of the ads is also one of the key factors of choosing web advertising, as the ads can be in the form which is a mixture of text, audio, graphics, video, animation, entertainment and promotions. Some might even create the ads in the form of game. Creating the ads in the form of games is not only able to advertise the foods, but also able to create the bond with the customers through the interactions during the game. The flexibility of ads is also one of the important factors. Owners of the stalls might need to make a decision on choosing the targeted groups or individuals, time and locations to publish or the interactive content of the ads. All these information might indirectly affect the effectiveness of the ads. Moreover, by creating a linkage between the online ads and the storefront such as GPS location, address or attracting point, customers can easily get to the stalls within a short period of time.

Monday 7 March 2016

Foodporn around Ipoh: Pasir Pinji Chee Cheong Fun (兵如港猪肠粉)




After enjoying the food at "Restauran Choong Kee Pokok Besar", we heading to "Pasir Pinji Chee Cheong Fun" which is just 5 minutes car distance from the "Restauran Choong Kee Pokok Besar".









"Chee Cheong Fun" is one of the ubiquitous street food in Ipoh which locals and tourists would love to craving for it and take it as lunch or high-tea. This "Pasir Pinji Chee Cheong Fun" is operating in a village house which located at a inconspicuous narrow road of Pasir Pinji residential area. It is located near "Restauran Choong Kee Pokok Besar" (the previous post) and JJ Cakes & Swiss Rolls. You may search for Tuck Kee Restaurant of Pasir Pinji when using GPS because the "Pasir Pinji Chee Cheong Fun" is just located behind it. To be honest, it is quite difficult to reach the location if without the assist of GPS. 


The stall design in the house is so unique and ancient.



'Chee Cheong Fun' (also translated as rice noodle roll or steamed rice roll) is a Cantonese dish from Hong Kong and Southern China. Most of the restaurants served 'Chee Cheong Fun' as a variety of dim sum. People use 'Sha He Fen' (rice noodles) to make 'Chee Cheong Fun' in thin rolls or pieces. While Hong Kong style 'Chee Cheong Fun' will be filled with some ingredients like pork, beef, vegetables, shrimp, and etc. 

There are different types of Chee Cheong Fun available in the market. For Chee Cheong Fun served as dim sum, people usually will pour sweet soy sauce or curry sauce on it. For another type of Chee Cheong Fun, it drizzled with the basic three types of sauce which are chili sauce, sweet sauce, or mushroom sauce and pour with a little of oil and sprinkled with toasted sesame seeds. Besides, curry soup is also a common match with 'Chee Cheong Fun'. Usually people will use different ingredients to make Chee Cheong Fun, for the example with common ingredients like rice noodle roll with dried shrimp, rice noodle roll with shrimp, and rice noodle roll with char siu. However, some people also will use special ingredients to serve the 'Chee Cheong Fun', for instance, rice noodle roll with beef, rice noodle roll with chicken and bitter melon, rice noodle roll with conpoy and pea shoot, rice noodle roll with 'YouTiao', and rice noodle roll with fish. 


We ordered for two plates only since our stomachs were still full with the 'Restauran Choong Kee Pokok Besar' fried materials and noodles.. hahah

We feel so lucky that we are the second customer to reach the stall on that day. But after wait for around 15 minutes, we were wondering why the 'Chee Cheong Fun' that we have ordered still not yet come. After that we just knew that, many loyal and long term customers are used to take away the 'Chee Cheong Fun' with the order number of 5 and up to 30 packs sometimes! We really get shocked of this situation as we never thought the 'Chee Cheong Fun' of this stall has this amazing sales result.






This is one of the order by other customer with 10 packs of 'Chee Cheong Fun'.



We have ordered two different flavours which are chili sauce and sweet sauce.
I personally love the plates that they are using so much! It is those ancient type of plate that used in my grandmother generation!


The ' Chee Cheong Fun' that served by this stall is match with dried shrimp, a little of oil and some toasted sesame seeds. They only sells two types of flavour which are chili sauce and sweet sauce. It suits both the old and the young people since it would not be too oily. This 'Chee Cheong Fun' is unique than normal 'Chee Cheong Fun' because it only serve with sauce, while other stalls that selling 'Chee Cheong Fun' usually will served with curry soup or mushroom sauce in Perak area. This is the reason that many tourists and locals from other states of Perak are willing to come all the way to Ipoh by just to satisfy the craving for this 'Chee Cheong Fun'. 




The price is also affordable which are RM3.80 for extra-large serving per plate, RM3.20 for medium serving per plate, and RM2.30 for small serving per plate. Besides, the lady boss also will ask whether you want to add on the fish cake or fish ball for your 'Chee Cheong Fun' or not. 


"Pasir Pinji Chee Cheong Fun" had famous since 60 years ago. Now the person in charged is the granddaughter of the "Pasir Pinji Chee Cheong Fun" founder. She is the third generation currently, the first generation was her grandfather and the second generation was her father and now is her turns to operate the stall. 

The granddaughter of the founder.



The reason that the reputation and popularity of "Pasir Pinji Chee Cheong Fun" can last long for 60 years is because they always ensure the quality of the ingredients are good and put effort in the making process in order to keep the quality of 60 years and to meet the customer satisfaction. 


Moreover, we like the environment here as well because the stall is placed at a village house. It gives the feeling of peaceful and warm when you craving for the 'Chee Cheong Fun' and even the feeling of homed. It give a feeling to customers like temporary forget the stress lifestyle of city and the work. You won't be feeling hot although there is sunny outside because the owner has planted many plants and flowers. Furthermore, we can enjoy the natural as well and it was like giving a hint to encourage greening of the environment.


The environment of the house.





The moment when we leave the stall.



In weekdays around 2p.m, customers will always need to wait for at least 30 minutes to have their food. A gender reminder if you do not have idle time, you should go early instead of peak hour, or else you will need to wait the tasty food in a long queue with sun bathing. 







Many customers gave a high rate to "Pasir Pinji Chee Cheong Fun":


"The taste is really unique and tasty, I don't know how should I describe it, I feel that it's quite different with those 'Chee Cheong Fun' that I have tried before.", Ms Lim

"The chili sauce and sweet sauce are perfectly match with the 'Chee Cheong Fun' and the shallot oil also make the 'Chee Cheong Fun' smell good and won’t too oily.", Jackson

Those customers who had move to other states or foreign country said that if they come back to Ipoh, they will come back to visit this place again for sure as they are yearning the taste of this " Pasir Pinji Chee Cheong Fun". 
"Every time I come back from KL, I sure will come here just to crave for the 'Chee Cheong Fun' and the price is reasonably cheaper than KL so much... haha", Xin Yi (an Ipoh teenager who studying at KL)



A famous place mostly come with some problems which are limited parking since it’s in residence area and the road quite narrow. Based on the feedback from some loyal customers, when there was crowded by people, they are unable to serve all the customers due to limited space and tables.







Before we left, we took a photo with the boss but she was busying serving the 'Chee Cheong Fun'... =.="



Please enjoy the short video that we prepared for you all! ^-^





 "Pasir Pinji Chee Cheong Fun" (兵如港猪肠粉)

Address: No.1456, Jalan Pasir Pinji 5, 31650 Ipoh, Perak, Malaysia.

Business hours: Around 1.15p.m. until Chee Cheong Fun finished (around 4p.m.)
                            ( Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday )

GPS Coordinates: E101 5′ 3.4″ N4 34′ 43.8″





Friday 19 February 2016

Foodporn around Ipoh: Restoran Choong Kee Pokok Besar (忠记兵如港口大树头炸料粉)


Today, me and my friends have come to "Restoran Choong Kee Pokok Besar" as we heard that this shop is famous with their fried materials (炸料) which must be match with their various types of noodles.





"Restoran Choong Kee Pokok Besar" is a famous spot in Ipoh to have an affordable and satisfying breakfast, lunch or even brunch for the locals and tourists. The restaurant name included the words of "Pokok Besar" because it was literally translated from the cantonese words “Dai Shu Geok” as the shop located under a big tree root.

"Restoran Choong Kee Pokok Besar" has been operated for more than 40 years. The boss mentioned that:
"Everyday, I and my wife will wake up at 4a.m early in the morning to prepare the 20 types of fried materials (炸料) and the soups as well to ensure all the ingredients are ready on time."
The recipes of the fried materials and soups are came from the family secret recipes of the boss's grandfather. He also mentioned that there are more than 10 staffs working for him and the stall is able to attract some foreign tourist that came from other countries like China, Taiwan, Korea, Japan, and German as well. This has proved the popularity of their fried materials.



All the fried materials are made and fry on the spot.




You can see the new signboard easily.

For your information, the original stall has moved and it was no longer under the big tree root. It is right beside the previous stall with a new big green signboard as shown in the photo above. The place is located near the bakery shop "JJ Cakes & Swiss Rolls" and behind "Tuck Kee Restaurant" of Pasir Pinji. To avoid any confusion, there two big tree in the same location.






Fried materials (炸料) or you may call it "Yong Tau Foo" is a Hokkien Cuisine. There are various ways to enjoy it, either match it with chili sauce or sweet source or sometimes people might prefer to serve together with different types of soup as well.





We purposely dropped by here for our breakfast and the food is delicious indeed. It comprises many types of fried materials (炸料) such as fish cakes, fried 'fuchuk', eggplant, fried 'wantan' and etc. Among all the fried materials (炸料), the "SarKokLiu" which means the fried turnip with fish paste is highly recommended as it's really crispy and tasty.

Other than the awesome fried materials (炸料), the noodles selling at the stall are also taste well. Besides, there are provided with many types of soup to match with the noodles available such as normal soup, curry, and laksa with various types of noodles mihun, "hor fun", "loushu fun", "guai diu mee"and etc. You may even order for dried noodles with soy sauce.



It's really delicious when match the fried materials with the chili sauces provided.

The friend materials and noodles that we have ordered. ^-^






It will be a perfect combination to enjoy noodles together with the various types of fried materials as the price is reasonable and affordable. As shown in the photo above, the price of the fried materials are standardized with RM0.80 each while for noodles, Laksa and Curry cost RM3.00 and RM1.50 respectively. The noodle is RM1.50 per bowl.

"Restoran Choong Kee Pokok Besar" is operating in a DIY concept whereby you can pick your favourite fried materials at the stall together with noodles that you want to match with it and then tell the owner the number of the table that you sit. Payment will need to be made at the counter right after you chose the fried materials and noodles.




There are many baskets provided for customers to choose
the fried materials that they prefer to eat.



Other than that, the Red Bean Ice Blended selling at the beverage stall at the same place of "Restoran Choong Kee Pokok Besar" is a well-known tasty and refreshing drinks as well. Some of the people named it as "First love red bean ice blended" because it makes people feel happy when drinking it. The concept of "First love red bean ice blended" was came from a local mandarin movie named <Ice Kacang Puppy Love, 初恋红豆冰> which directed by a Malaysia famous artist, Ah Niu. Furthermore, other drinks such as green bean ice blended, fruit juice, milo ice, teh and etc are available at the beverage stall as well. However, Red Bean Ice Blended is highly recommended.



We have ordered 5 cups of Red Bean Ice Blended ! hahaha



The perfect match = Fried materials with noodles + Red Bean Ice Blended




We have collected some feedback from the customers on spot as well:

" The fried materials is best and value for money! ", Cindy Lim.

"I love their Laksa and you should match it with the Red Bean Ice Blended, the moment spicy sour and cold mix together is the perfect match ever!", Jacqueline Wong

"The fried materials selling here are really worth a try. I like the 'SarKokLiu' and fried 'YouTiao' so much! But you may try for every types of fried materials if possible..haha.", Uncle Tan

"The moment when I bite on the fried materials, I can't ever forget the crispy and crunchy feel in my mouth!", MeiMei

Meanwhile, there are some feedback reflecting on the environment as well. Some of the customers said that parking may cause a trouble as the parking slots available are limited. By this, some double parking and car blocking issues might happened often. Besides, the things that you have to watch out is the lunch crowd and you may suffered in the long queue with the hot weather.


Most of the people love this stall is because of the delicious food. Meanwhile, it also carried many memories. Based on the comments we get from customers, some of them have their childhood memories on this stall. For example, they came together with parents to enjoy the food after school.




Please enjoy the short video that we prepared for you all! ^-^





We believe that we will come here again for the food!





Restoran Choong Kee Pokok Besar (忠记兵如港口大树头炸料粉)

Address: 1277, Jalan King, Taman Hoover, 31650 Ipoh, Perak, Malaysia

Business hours: 8:30am-5:30pm

GPS Coordination: 4°34'56.1"N 101°05'10.4"E





Gender reminder: The beverage stall is close on Wednesday.