It’s the last day of 2020! Admit it, you can’t wait for 2020 to end. As exciting as that sounds, we have something even more exciting to share. We bring you our top 10 stats!

Top 10 2020 Posts

1. The Ultimate List For Mee Tarik Restaurants In Malaysia
2. List: Chinese Muslim Restaurants In Negeri Sembilan
3. [MY] Lamb Shepherd Chinese Muslim Cuisine
4. [MY] Kedai IPOH IPOH AJERR
5. [MY] The Khan Mongolian Restaurant Halal Buffet BBQ Steamboat
6. List: Chinese Muslim Restaurants In Putrajaya & Cyberjaya
7. [MY] Botanica DIM SUM
8. [MY] Canning Heritage
9. List: Chinese Muslim Restaurants In Melaka
10. [MY] Chopsticks By Muhammad Oon

Finding it hard to believe that we published 132 posts throughout 2020. That’s a huge leap compared to the 42 we did in 2019. For 2021, we plan to publish 60 to 120 posts. Bring it on!

Top 10 2020 Countries

1. Malaysia
2. United States
3. Singapore
4. Indonesia
5. China
6. Pakistan
7. United Kingdom
8. Canada
9. Australia
10. Germany

Massive shout-out to all our readers! We can’t thank you enough for visiting our website and reading our posts. This means a lot to us and we’d definitely strive to create better content and increase our readership for the coming year.

Top 10 Search Terms

1. chopsticks oon ttdi
2. ikhwan ng
3. samir mee tarik
4. restoran china muslim serdang
5. lamb shepherd restaurant chinese muslim cuisine kuala lumpur
6. botanica dim sum balik pulau penang
7. chicken duck restaurant kota warisan
8. canning heritage
9. mee tarik warisan
10. assalamalekum 麻辣嗎

The choice of search terms are pretty legit, with nothing out of the ordinary. For a moment we thought we’d get some odd, quirky search terms.

Top 10 External Links

1. www.facebook.com
2. meetarik.com
3. shopee.com.my
4. www.wasap.my
5. homst.com.my
6. mohdchan.com.my
7. halaldelight.blogspot.com
8. puteripanpacific.com/kai-xuan-restaurant
9. klt.com.my/en
10. malaysiadimsum.com

Not bad. There’s definitely room for improvement. In retrospect, we plan to include more links in future posts.

That concludes our stats sharing for the year. Since there’s still a few more hours to go before we close the chapter for 2020 and give a warm welcome to 2021, we’d like to take this opportunity to thank everyone for supporting us this far and we hope you’d continue to support us for many years to come.

May the year 2021 bring you more love, success, happiness, and blessings. Stay motivated and hopeful even during the darkest days. Take care, stay safe & we’ll see you next year!

Let’s face it, we’re not really the type to come up with New Year’s resolutions. You can even say we’re the wing it type. We just go with the flow, improvise and learn to adapt to new realities. So what’s with this list? Why have we decided to come up with it for 2021?

To put it simply, we got inspired after reading Grethen Rubin’s ‘If You Don’t Want to Make a New Year’s Resolution, Consider Writing Your “21 for 2021” List‘ and Suraya’s ‘My 21 for 2021 List: Money, Work, Learning, Health, Relationship and Misc Projects Goals‘ posts.

Plus we thought, there’s no harm in trying it out. Maybe we can benefit from it and could eventually adopt it annually. A list would also mean we can keep track of things and look forward to achieving the next item on the list. It would also be fun to see what we can pull together and strive to accomplish by the end of 2021.

Without further ado, here’s our 21 for 2021 list.

Our Chinese Muslim Food Business

What we hope to accomplish to further improve our business efficiency and performance.

1. Produce 5 new products to be sold on our Shopee store
2. Write 5 to 10 SEO-focused blog posts a month for our website.
3. Form partnerships with 5 resellers and distributors for our products – Contact us here for deets!
4. Work on social media marketing.
5. Collaborate with food businesses – content creation, product development.
6. Complete and launch our festive products line.
7. Automate our small business.

Our Community – Family, Friends, Buyers, The Public

What we hope to give back to the community in return for their support and encouragement.

1. Continue to educate the public on Chinese Muslim food. Related: How To Know You Are In Love With Chinese Food?
2. Provide support to Chinese Muslim food businesses in their business endeavors. Related: Hello Al-Amin Xinjiang Muslim Restaurant!
3. Fulfil interviews on entrepreneurship.
4. Assist students in their entrepreneurship subject.
5. Gift in-kind gifts and donations on a monthly basis.
6. Teach and share simple Chinese food recipes. Related: Recipe: 酸辣凉拌黄瓜
7. Translate content in Chinese to English for easier understanding.

Our Personal Development

What we hope to achieve to become better versions of ourselves.

1. Read 10 books, reflect and apply.
2. Attend 2 courses and put the knowledge into practice
3. Increase our language proficiency – Malay, English & Mandarin Chinese.
4. Travel to the countryside once a month.
5. Grow our own food in our garden – from garden to table and back to the garden again.
6. Schedule family time at least once a week.
7. Automate our savings and investments.

Want To Make Your Own 21 For 2021 List?

Just do it! The number 21 may seem daunting at first, but once you’ve got it started, the ideas will come pouring in. Also, there’s no one way of doing it. Here are a few approaches you could choose to adapt:

1. The 21 for 2021 You List: A list that’s all about you – what you want to get out of your personal life, family & friends, studies, work, and/or your business.
2. The 21 for 2021 You’ve Had Enough Of List: A list based on things you’d like to stop doing, like a particular habit you’d like to quit, a behavior you’d like to work on, or paying off that debt.
3. The 21 for 2021 Giving Back List: A list of things you’d like to do for others. Simple things like opening the door for someone, paying a meal for a friend, or feeding a stray.
4. The 21 for 2021 Habits I want to Adopt List: A list of good habits – eat more vegetables, intermittent fasts, take regular walks, read more books, or track your expenses.
5. The 21 for 2021 I Got This List: A list of things you’d like to learn, like a new language, a new recipe, sewing, anything that you’ve always wanted to learn yet somehow never got to it.
6. The Ultimate 21 for 2021 Mix Of Everything List: Combine the previous 5 lists and create your own master list.

Our last tip is to write an achievable and manageable list. However, don’t fret if you don’t manage to achieve all 21 items. The whole idea lies in the process and the fact that you’ve tried your best at it. Enjoy the process of doing each item and reflect on your progress. The end result is a bonus.

Now there’s still a couple more days before we welcome 2021 and more than enough time for you to come up with your list. Once you’re done with it, share your list with us and don’t forget to link us back!

2020 didn’t quite turn out the way we expected it to be. Some had to face bigger challenges and obstacles compared to others, while some are able to overcome those challenges and come out far stronger than before. Then there are those who are still struggling to stay afloat.

Despite all this, it’s fair to say there are still many things that are worth celebrating. Before we welcome 2021, let’s take a little of our time to reflect on what are some of the things we can be thankful for.

We got out of our comfort zones

Taken from Reflecting on 2020: lessons learned in an extraordinary year, Lu-Lyn Chang, co-founder and chief marketing officer, Bray Leino Splash, Singapore said,

“Embrace the change, try something new. While the pandemic brought on many challenges, it also presented us with the opportunity to get ourselves out of our comfort zones to try new ways of working and playing. It was therefore a total delight to see our people rally together to go on ‘virtual walks’ as well as learning quickly how to conduct our first livestream event in China. This has really brought home that adage, ‘tough times don’t last, but tough people do’.”

Some of the new things we did was to open an online store and came up with products that could be sent via courier services. On a personal level, we took up gardening and online classes.

We took time to smell the flowers

In the 5 Lessons we can learn from Covid article, Anne Converse Willkomm, the Assistant Clinical Professor of the Department Head of Graduate Studies of Goodwin College of Professional Studies, Drexel University wrote,

When the stay at home orders began, I noticed a number of posts on Facebook, friends commented, as did colleagues, “I’m hearing more birds chirping” or, “The sky seems much bluer.” We were forced to slow down and this allowed our brains to absorb the world around us. I don’t think there are more birds, although we do know that our worldwide collective stay-at-home order reduced carbon emissions by 17%. For some, the skies were clearer and bluer. My point is to take time to smell the flowers, enjoy the natural world around us, take it in, and let it sit with you. Perhaps in a small way, it can help us cope with the mental health effects of dealing with the coronavirus.

We can’t tell you how much we agree with this. The lockdown period gave us the chance to reconnect with nature and appreciate it better. We spent time in our garden and started noticing the birds and the little creatures. The air somehow felt fresher too. Now? We’re still spending time in the garden and it has become an activity that we look forward to doing each day, regardless how hectic our schedule can get.

We needed less stuff than we think

In her article Five Lessons to Remember When Lockdown Ends, Jill wrote,

It’s pretty clear that we don’t need so much stuff or as many conveniences as we’ve become accustomed to. The basic essentials—food, clean water, and good health, for example—are much more important than having a manicure or buying the newest computer. Given how many of these consumer items and activities negatively impact the health of the planet, it makes sense to rethink our priorities and consider skipping some to allow everyone to have the basics for survival.

Luckily, our well-being isn’t dependent on consumer products. Studies have found that kindness and generosity make us happier than pampering ourselves or buying ourselves stuff. It may be hard to believe; in fact, researchers often find that people underestimate the impacts of giving to others on their happiness.

But it’s true: We will likely be happier and create a healthier society if we can consume less and give more.

We absolutely agree with this! We noticed we were able to make do with what we have and this has definitely helped to keep our expenses in check. We’ve also been on the receiving end for so many things throughout these past few months and it brought us so much joy and happiness! We’ve recently started to give back and loving every bit of it.

We can adapt

An important point shared in the 4 Lessons learned during the Covid-19 crisis article,

The COVID-19 pandemic crisis has been uncharted waters for the entire global community. Everyone, from governments and companies to individuals, has had to deal with a new reality and with an inevitable negative impact on the economy. While we have hit pause on most of our business-as-usual activities, we quickly adapted to the new reality in all aspects; as a brand, employer and service provider. We immediately activated a WFH policy for all Beat employees, we closed our Driver Centres, we helped local authorities and hospitals to transfer medical staff, we provided our passengers and drivers with resources and tips to protect themselves, we adapted our product to the local dynamic needs. 

Yes, yes, yes! Adapting takes time. Some are quick at it, some are still working on it. But at the end of it, we somehow rather will manage to adapt. That’s what makes us unique. Knowing that change is real and that come what may, we can find a way to adapt to the changes.

This will pass

Susan Guillory, from AllBusiness shared in the 5 Lessons Small Business Owners Should Learn From The Coronavirus Crisis,

I tell myself this every single day. Things suck right now for most of us. Many of us are stuck at home with kids who are climbing up the walls. We might not know how we’ll pay next month’s bills. We’re even limited in being able to get out and enjoy the great outdoors if it puts our health in jeopardy.

But this will be over soon. Think of those who survived the Great Depression. Or World War II. Or 9/11. Name your devastation, and they all have one thing in common: eventually things got better. Yes, the trauma and financial impact may live on longer, but we will survive this. We’ve just got to keep positive and know that good things are coming.

2020 will soon become another distant memory. It’ll be another topic of discussion that we’ll talk and reminiscent from time to time. The pain, the struggles, and the problems we had to face would eventually be a thing of the past. In time, we may speak lesser of it, or even forget it. Whatever you’re going through right now, know that the way forward is to keep moving forward. Take it a day, a moment at a time. Better things are waiting for you. Embrace it when it happen.

We’d love to know what are the lessons you’ve learned from 2020. Do share in the comments sections. As for 2021, let’s aim to be a little more kinder, compassionate, and thoughtful, shall we?

We have been in the food business since 2017. We started by selling online, opening pop-up stalls at events, and even joined the local night markets. Eventually got our little place in 2019.

Then the pandemic happened and we’re back to selling our food online again. The difference? This time around we are better prepared and have more experience. Alhamdulillah, we now have a Shopee store selling Chilli Oil, Garlic Oil, and Guoba Snacks. Our Chilli Oil is still our best-selling item.

Having been in the business this long, we can tell you that running a food business can be difficult. It’s not always easy to reach to the customers, especially when you’re selling something new. Even when you’ve developed your business for quite a bit, things can still get tough. There are so many businesses, including food businesses, that have closed down due to the pandemic.

Because of this, we felt inspired to share the 5 easy things customers can do to support their favorite food businesses. At the end of each tip, we would also share an actionable task that food businesses can do to help their customers to implement each suggestion.

Note: These tips can be implemented all the time, not limited to the pandemic period.

1. Buy From Them

The most basic way to show support is to buy their food. Since it’s your favorite food business, you should have at least one favorite food. You may buy the food for yourself, your family, or your friends.

Feeling a little more generous? Buy the food for your colleagues, teachers, neighbors, office cleaner, or donate it to the needy.

Task for food businesses: Make it easy for your customers to buy your food by offering them pickup and delivery options. Create a special deal for regular customers or even a loyalty programme to reward them for supporting your business all this while.

2. Like, Share, & Engage With Them On Social Media

The next way to support your favorite food businesses is by following and interacting with them on social media. Whether it’s their Facebook account, Instagram account or Twitter account, a high social media following with high engagement can help them get noticed by other people who are not following them.

How do you engage? Like, comment, or share their content. For example, you see a new product or a special deal from your favorite food business. Share it on your feeds because you never know, perhaps a contact of yours would be interested to make the purchase.

If you want to support us, follow us on Instagram and Facebook.

Task for food businesses: Have a social media presence on at least one or two social media networks and choose to be on the ones where most of your customers spend time online. Make sure you keep your social media networks active and learn to engage with your customers.

3. Send Them Feedback

Food businesses want to sell food that they like. They also want to sell food that they think you’d be interested in. One of the best ways to help them is to tell them what you like or expect from them. Maybe there’s a certain flavor you think would be a hit. Maybe there is something about their service that you think they can improve on. Whatever it is, food businesses can be open to suggestions and constructive feedback. So do not hold back. Just let them know that you have their best interest at heart.

Task for food businesses: Make sure your customers know how to reach you. You may want to create an email address, a contact us page in your website, or lead them to your social media networks.

4. Send Them Encouraging & Positive Testimonials

Encouraging and positive testimonials are a huge deal for food businesses! A good food review could encourage more people to buy their food. A good food review could also bring in their highest sales for the month. If you see anybody doing a food review on them on a blog, vlog, or anywhere else on the internet, let them know! Even the negative ones as these would help them to further improve where they’re lacking.

Another way is for you to share your testimonials on your social media networks. Take a photo of the food and tell your family and friends how good it tastes like. Tell them where they can get it from. Share your experience about the service. Nothing influences people more than honest testimonials from people they trust. Make that word of mouth marketing go viral!

Task for food businesses: Again, make it easy for your customers to reach you via email or social media. Use the reviews to add mileage and credibility to your business.

5. Simply Ask Them How Can You Support Them

Lastly, if you still want to know how else you can support your favorite food businesses, just ask them. May sound a little odd at first, but there’s no harm in asking.

We’ve gotten customers asking us how we’re doing. The questions became more frequent when we haven’t reopened our little store at UTM. How do we feel about it? We are thankful and humbled that our customers care about our business as well as our wellbeing. Deep down, we think your favorite food business would appreciate this small gesture too.

All That’s Left Is For You To Do Your Best To Support Your Favorite Food Businesses!

Wrapping this up, supporting your favorite food businesses can be easy! Just doing one or two of the things we recommended would definitely bring joy to your favorite food businesses.

Our note to food businesses out there, perhaps you can implement some of the tasks to garner support from your customers.

Special Mention To Our Customers

Thank you so much for your support, comments, and helpful tips! We would do our best to provide better services and products in 2021, insha’Allah. Here’s a big air hug from us to you!

We recently shared about Dezhuang in our Link Roundup #8: Top 3 Chinese Muslim Food Links post. In case you haven’t read it, here’s a quick recap of what we wrote:

DeZhuang is a famous hotpot brand in China and get this, their hotpot bases are Halal-certified by the Halal Certification Services of Chongqing and in accordance with the standards set by JAKIM Malaysia MS1500:2009. We bought the double flavors hotpot bases via their Shopee store and tried the mala flavor earlier this week. Tastes so good! They’ve also opened a restaurant in Kuala Lumpur. Take note that the restaurant serves pork and is not Halal-certified.

Making Your Hotpot Base

So today we’re going to talk about our experience with their mala flavor hotpot base. It’s pretty easy to make really. Just empty out the paste into a hotpot cooker and add water. Now if you don’t have a hotpot cooker, you can always use a multipurpose cooker, a rice cooker, or a regular pot and put it on the stove.

Can’t get your hands on an instant hotpot base? You could make your own or substitute it with some other soup bases. Try tom yam for a change.

What Goes In Your Hotpot

There are no strict rules when it comes to hotpot and you can use all sorts of meats and vegetables. This time around we used corn, pumpkin, potatoes, leafy greens, beef, chicken, and all sorts of fish balls and meatballs. Cut the ingredients thinly or into bite-sized pieces. We also have rice and noodles, just in case we need the extra carbs. As dipping sauces, we have our chili oil and black vinegar.

Let The Hotpot Feasting Begin!

Now you can start to cook the ingredients in the hotpot base. Start with the ingredients that take more time to cook, like beef, chicken, fish balls and meatballs. Once those are almost cooked, add the other ingredients. Cook, eat, cook, repeat. Continue to do this until you’ve cooked everything or eaten your fill.

What Makes Hotpot An Enjoyable Experience

Back in China, hotpots are usually enjoyed with family or a group of friends. Hotpots provide a good opportunity for everybody to bond over food because when you do it at home, you prepare the ingredients, cook, and eat together. Even when you eat in at a restaurant, you still need to cook and eat together. There’s a warm feeling to it, and we’re not talking about the spicy or mala soup bases.

So whenever our China family and friends come by, we try our level best to schedule a hotpot session. Not only does it help to bring us together, it helps to rekindle those fond memories of growing up eating hotpot. Squabbling for the best cuts of meat, making sure nobody else gets the most meat.

When Is The Best Time To Eat Hotpot

On rainy days or whenever you feel like having it. Best to eat hotpots with family and friends. In fact, the more the merrier!

Have you tried the hotpot experience?

So we just found out we got the Geran Khas Prihatin 2.0. Alhamdulillah!

Taking this opportunity to thank the government as well as Suraya from Ringgit Or Ringgit for her How I Applied for and Spent the RM3000 Geran Khas Prihatin Money for Small Biz blog article. We found out about the grant via her tweet and that prompted us to try applying for it again after failing to get it during the first round.

How do we intend to use the RM3000?

Bills, Bills, Bills! Fund

A third of it would go towards paying for our rent and utility bills at UTM, Skudai. Yes, we have not resumed our business there but we still need to pay for it. Praying for the day when we can start selling again.

Invest, Invest, Invest! Fund

Next in line, spending another third of it on building up our Shopee store. About 2 months ago, we pivoted our business from selling mainly at UTM, Skudai to selling our products online. We started with our chili oil and recently launched our garlic oil. Insha’Allah, by end of this year we plan to launch another product.

The money from this fund would be invested in R&D, A&P, ingredients and packaging. Why do we say invest? Because we are praying and hoping our Shopee store would bring significant returns.

Emergency & Recovery Fund

The remaining third? That goes towards our business emergency and recovery fund. Because once our business reopens in UTM, we need to purchase new ingredients as the ones we have can no longer be used. Would probably need to replace a few things too.

Also, in case we need more money for our bills or Shopee store, we can grab some from this fund.

Got to get back to our R&D! Ending this with Alhamdulillah.

COVID-19 celebrated its birthday recently. With more and more people getting back to work, businesses have started to resume again. However, has there been a change with how food businesses operate? Here are our observations.

Shift Or Venture Into Online Business

According to the New Straits Times, Malaysia ranks fourth in terms of the top overseas countries purchasing from China on 11.11 by gross merchandise value.

In another article, published by The Edge Markets, the Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Ministry (KPDNHEP) targets there’ll be a 1.5% increase in ‘Buy Malaysian’ sales for 4Q this year

In other words, whether you are selling food or items online, the general assumption is that online business is booming in Malaysia! Now is definitely the time for food businesses to diversify, build an online presence and produce products that can be sold online. Even us at Kaijia Muslim Food recently established our Shopee store.

The fact that online businesses do not require you to pay rent and high overheard costs make it an attractive approach to market your products to targeted customers.

Pivot & Embrace Food Delivery Services

Staying at home with nothing to eat? Sick of eating the same old thing? Tired of thinking what to cook? Don’t have the interest or desire to cook? Food businesses! These are your target customers!

Based on an article published by The Star,

“Food delivery companies are experiencing brisk business as more people heed the call to stay safe at home.”

“An increasing number of e-hailing drivers are also opting to deliver food and other items to take advantage of rising orders from work from home customers.”

Engaging the big players like Grabfood and Foodpanda would be the easiest way to get your food known and delivered to the vast public, though we have to highlight that it’s not the only way.

Other alternatives include to come up with your own delivery mechanism, like Kitchen Goheung and Captain Shrimp, and engaging the local food delivery companies and riders in your city.

Roll Out Takeaway & Pickup Services

This is pretty clear-cut. Customers order their food in advance and they’ll come and do the pickup at your restaurant. No delivery guy needed. It’s basically pre-booked takeaway food.

Revamp Food Business Operations

Businesses need to comply to SOPs set by the Malaysian government and the same goes for food businesses and operators. Here are the steps to ensure your food business operations could run smoothly:

1. Allow customers to scan the MySejahtera app or record their details in a log book.
2. Sanitize the restaurant.
3. Provide quality hand sanitizers.

Additional measures:

1. Add partitions and space out seating arrangements to encourage social distancing.
2. Reduce seating capacity.
3. Start a subscription programme, like MDT Apron three-day meal plans and Pop SELECT by Pop Meals.

To fellow food business owners, although 2020 hasn’t been a smooth sailing year for most of us, it doesn’t mean we can’t make the best out of it. There’s always a way to turn things around. We just need to keep trying. Hope these little steps could help you get back on your feet.