This Kelantanese couple grew their humble hawker stall into a premium beef noodle spot in PJ

A couple since they were teenagers, Sherwin and Kayren had always thought of moving to KL to start a business. But it took a while before they could get there.

Growing up in Kelantan, Kayren went on to study in Sunway while Sherwin was in Taylor’s. The two decided to further their studies overseas, with Kayren going to the UK and Sherwin going to Australia.

In 2010, Sherwin moved back to Kelantan before finishing his tertiary education. There, he began working in his family business. As for Kayren, she took a job in Singapore after graduation, working as an in-house marketer for Resorts World Singapore.

Due to the long-distance nature of their relationship, though, Kayren decided to move back to Kelantan after a year and a half. She then worked as a medical device sales specialist for the next six years. 

However, the two wanted to pursue something more challenging and exciting. The couple loved cooking, travelling, and eating, so setting up restaurant business just seemed like the natural choice.

And that restaurant business started as Beef Bowl in 2019.

Earning market validation

Beef Bowl had its start as a humble hawker stall in Subang Jaya.

Although Sherwin and Kayren wanted to open a restaurant, they lacked the experience and expertise to do so.

“Starting at a hawker seemed like a good place to gain some experience, hone our skills and at the same time validate our product,” Kayren explained. “We figured that if we couldn’t handle a hawker stall, we had no business running a restaurant.”

All their recipes are developed in house by the duo through a combination of family recipes. Their Thai-inspired noodles gained popularity, and a year later, they opened up their first full-fledged restaurant during the first MCO in May 2020.

Diversifying their offerings

Noticing a demand for more variety in the menu, the couple decided to cook up Broth by Beef Bowl, which offers more premium cuts of beef for customers to choose from.  

“Seeing that Beef Bowl has a more basic menu, we wanted to focus its expansion to fast-paced locations such as shopping mall food courts, office buildings, etc.,” Kayren elaborated.

One of the biggest differences is the wider range of items offered at Broth. While this can be an exciting effort, it comes with its own learning curve. For one, it means that meticulous planning is required to ensure freshness of ingredients and to minimise wastage.

“Over the years we have also been able to fine-tune and improve our SOPs which allowed us to operate more efficiently from a smaller working space,” Kayren said.

But not only is the menu extended, it’s also more refined. This is especially true when it comes to the broth, which is made using higher quality ingredients, increased amount of said ingredients, as well as a more complex cooking method.

The startup capital for Broth was approximately RM350K, the founders shared, funded mainly through earnings from Beef Bowl and loans.

Feedback has been great since Broth opened, Sherwin and Kayren proudly reported. Although they’ve been struggling to breakeven, the restaurant has gained many returning customers and they’ve been seeing steady growth every month.

For those who prefer the couple’s OG offerings, The Beef Bowl outlet at SS15 Subang Jaya is still operational.

Standing out against competitors

Broth is located in the Damansara Kim area, which is known for steep F&B competition and frequent closures—something that the couple recognised as well.

“We would be lying if we said we weren’t the least bit concerned,” they said. “However, we intend to ensure longevity by doubling down on social media presence and marketing as well as making sure the quality of our food is always consistent.” 

In terms of competition with other beef noodle options in the market, the couple believes that the topic of food is very subjective as everyone has their own preference when it comes to taste.

“Even though there are a lot of beef noodles in the market, they are mainly traditional Chinese beef noodles or Vietnamese pho,” Sherwin pointed out. “We believe Thai beef noodles has its uniqueness and will also appeal to our fellow Malaysians.” 

Many more bowls to come

As F&B entrepreneurs, Sherwin and Kayren said that one of the biggest challenges has got to be the high turnover rate of employees, something we’ve seen other F&B entrepreneurs echo.

“The restaurant business is highly labour intensive with lengthy working hours, so retaining good employees is a challenge,” they said.

One way of overcoming it is by hiring more employees than you need, but at the same time that incurs a higher overhead for the business.

“Also, when it comes to feedback some customers can be harsh and unforgiving but as business owners you accept it as part and parcel of running a restaurant business and move on,” they said.

The duo shared that they definitely intend to expand both Broth and Beef Bowl to more locations. Beef Bowl will be more focused at locations requiring lesser working space such as food halls, office buildings, and college campuses, while Broth will be a full-fledged restaurant format at various locations, possibly even shopping malls.

“We’re open to the idea of franchising,” they said. “In fact, we are already in the planning stages and might be open to licensing our brand as early as next year.” 

Although they started with virtually no F&B experience, Kayren and Sherwin have successfully sustained and even grown their business for five years and counting. The couple shared that they owe their journey to their “youthful spirit, naivety, and ignorance”.  

“But jokes aside, first advice would be: There will never be a perfect plan,” they said. “Just start wherever you are with whatever you have and then figure things out along the way.”

The couple also pointed out that people have the tendency to overestimate other people and underestimate themselves, so a good place to start is by believing in yourself.

“Finally, and most importantly, regardless of what you do in life always persevere no matter how hard life gets.”

Featured Image Credit: Broth by Beef Bowl