Food business born in Ramadhan

Starting her own business is a dream that Adeline Wong thought would remain that way, but an unusual gift of a registered business name from husband Ken set the wheels in motion four years ago, resulting in Taty's Café, the latest kid-on-the-block of homemade burger joints in Brunei.

Barely a month old, Taty's, named after Adeline's first daughter Tatyanna, is gaining popularity amongst its patrons from the Muara district for it's simple, homey fare and low prices.

Having already chalked up experience running a food stall business in Gadong, Adeline decided to pursue her dream and work towards opening the café earlier this month.

"I've always wanted my own business, a small takeaway café," said Adeline on why she decided to opt for selling burgers, adding that all the food on the menu is prepared daily using her own family recipes. "We wanted to open for the World Cup," she said of the colourful red, green and yellow paint scheme, "but didn't receive the certification until after."

Having already built up a repertoire for lamb burgers and kebabs, the business is slowly picking up, Adeline said. Everyday, Taty's currently sells just over twenty to thirty of the lamb burgers and kebabs each. In her estimation, the business makes about $300 daily; not a bad start to recouping the initial startup cost of $35,000.

Keeping a regular rotation of raw ingredients ensures the food is always fresh and prepared on the spot, she added.

Opening up in the middle of Ramadhan may seem a tad strange for a food-based business but Adeline and Ken did not seem worried, saying that the majority of their customers are from the nearby naval and army base in Muara, keeping them busiest during the weekdays.

"At the moment, it's not so busy on the weekends," said Adeline, who added that on average, Taty's get about thirty to fifty customers a day and growing; no small feat for a new business outside the busier and more well-known commercial centres in the capital.

It has not been an easy road, she said. "It was challenging in that there was a lot of time and effort to understand how to manage a food-based business," she esplained, adding that without any previous experience, it was a challenge to make sure the business ran smoothly.

Asked whether it was difficult to source supplies and equipment, both Adeline and her husband said it was surprisingly easy. "It wasn't hard to find food suppliers, and most of the raw ingredients we got from local suppliers like the Brunei Meat Company (BMC)."

The couple expressed hope that in the long run, Taty's will be a good way to secure their daughters' future and said that their eldest daughter, and business namesake, Tatyanna is proud to have the business named after her and eager to take the reins when she is older.

With such a positive start and business already picking up, Adeline said she felt very blessed as everything had fallen into place and hope that in the future they will be able to open another café for their youngest daughter Talyaa.

The Brunei Times