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English2 (ENGL0205) Project 2- Comparative ReportFNBE April 2013

SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE, BUILDING & DESIGN

Foundation in Natural and Built Environment (FNBE)

English 2 (ENGL 0205)

English project 2- Comparative Report

FNBE April Intake 2013

Group Name: Chua Jia Cheng (0315160)

Chua Jiu Xin (0314025)

Chew Ung Heng (0315397)

EdyPhung(0314846)

Tsang HaoRen(0315753)

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CONTENT

Page

1. Key Summary……………………………………………………

2. Research Report

(a) Description of History of trade……………………………….

(b) Description of Business………………………………………

(c) Comparative Analysis……………………………………….

3. Recommendation ………………………………………………..

4. Bibliography……………………………………………………..

5. Appendices………………………………………………………

6. References………………………………………………………..

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1. Key Summary

In this assignment we are assigned to interview 3 business and our group

decided to choose the Bak Kut Teh business. Bak Kut Teh is a food business and it

is most popular in Klang, So our group went to Klang to have the most delicious

and original Bak Kut Teh while knowing the secret of the business' success.

The reason we choose the Bak Kut Teh business is because we are curious

to know how great is the Bak Kut Teh that people always mention about in Klang.

It is also the signature dish in Klang and there are shops that have outlets even until

Singapore.

We went to Klang on 8th of January 2014, we went there by KTM because

we know that there is one of the best Bak Kut Teh just located near the KTM

station in Klang. Then we drive to the second Bak Kut Teh shop which is around

5KM from the first shop. On 4th of February we went to Subang Jaya for the third

Bak Kut Teh business.

We also did a comparison between the Bak Kut Teh in Klang and also in

Subang Jaya. There are 3 Bak Kut Teh business in total which are Seng Huat Bak

Kut Teh, Pao Xiang Bak Kut Teh and Jing Shi Fu Bak Kut Teh. The first and

second shop is located in Klang while the last one is located in Subang Jaya.

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2. Research Report

History of Trade

"Bak Kut Teh" is a Chinese soup popularly served in Malaysia and

Singapore where most of the "Hokkiens" and "Teochew" community stay. The

name is directly translate from the work "Meat Bone Tea" and it consist of pork,

herbs and spices, However, additional ingredients may include offal, varieties of

mushroom, choy sum, and pieces of dried tofu or fried tofu puffs.

Additional Chinese herbs may include "yuzhu" and "juzhi" , which give the

soup a sweeter, slightly stronger flavor. Light and dark soy sauce are also added to

the soup during cooking, with varying amounts depending on the variant -

the "Teochews'" version is lighter than the "Hokkiens'" version.

The dish can be garnished with chopped coriander or green onions and a

sprinkling of fried shallots."Bak Kut Teh" is normally served with chinese donuts,

it is also usually eaten with rice or noodles, and often served with "youtiao" or

"yau char kwai". Chilli padi and minced garlic is always taken together with soy

sauce to make the dish more tasty and yummy. The "Bak Kut Teh" culture also

brings in the culture of tea-drinking.

"Bak Kut teh" was introduced to Malaya in the 19th century by chinese

coolies and workers of "Hokkien" origin. The dish is used as a boost for the people

health because there are lots of herbs and nutrition which make people more health

and strong. The "Teochews' Bak Kut Teh" who came later then the "Hokkiens" has

a different visual difference because the "Hokkiens" use dark soy sauce to cook

"Bak Kut Teh" thus the soup is different in colour.

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Description of Business

Nowadays business is a more and more trendy and a lot of people have

started their own business in different category for example tourism, services,

food, and many more. I am more interested in this food business which is "Bak Kut

Teh". I believe everybody in Malaysia is familiar with the name "Bak Kut Teh".

This "Bak Kut Teh" name is literally translate as meet bone tea and it consist of

pork with soy sauce, spices, and some chinese herbs. This dish is most popular and

original from Klang. In this assignment me and my group mates which are Chew

Ung Heng, Tsang HaoRen, EdyPhung, and Sean Chua were given the opportunity

to taste the best "Bak Kut Teh" in Malaysia and getting to know the secret of their

business.

We started our journey to the secret of "Bak Kut Teh" on 4th of January. We

went to try 3 "Bak Kut Teh" which are "Seng Huat Bak Kut Teh", "Pao Xiang Bak

Kut Teh" and "Bak Kut Teh". Although all of them have different flavour and taste

but all of them have a history to the business. "Seng Huat Bak Kut Teh" is a family

business it started from the great grandfather of the current owner Mr Lee Man

Teh. He started the business when he reached Malaysia and was more and more

popular for the unique and special recipe he get from China. The business continue

to grow and the owner claim that the name "Bak Kut Teh" was original called "Bak

Kut Soup" and is changed into "Bak Kut Teh after his great grandfather Mr Lee

Man Teh. The business is started under the bridge and currently is still located

there this is because the owner wanted to keep the owner wanted to keep the

originality of the business started by his great grandparents. "Pao Xiang Bak Kut

Teh" on the other hand havea amazing background that nobody would ever thought

of. The founder of this successful "Bak Kut Teh" business was once selling

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chicken rice and nasilemak in food stall. The founder Mr Wu Qing Zong switch

from selling chicken to pork after he got inspired by an old man that sells "Bak Kut

Teh" in year 2006. The old man told him the flavour that he miss the flavour of his

mother's cooking the original "Bak Kut Teh" made Mr Wu to made up his mind on

switching business. The old man give him some tips on making "Bak Kut Teh" and

after some improvement and changes the business started to get up and continue

going up even till now it went overseas and turn into a international business.

While the Wang Shi Fu Bak Kut Teh was started by a retired old man. He miss the

flavour of Bak Kut Teh cooked by his mom when he was young. The taste that he

will never forget and he use the same recipe left by his family and make it into a

family business and the business continue to expand successfully until now it is

still running.

Obstacles and challenges

Besides, we had asked the owners about the obstacles and challenges they

had met along the years they do their businesses. Along the conversation with the

Seng Huat Bah KutTehrestaurant’s owner, he said that people who still have the

desire for traditional food are decreasing nowadays as they prefer to consume the

modern foods which are more variety, tasty, attractive and convenience. So their

business was affected as their main food, Bah KutTehis still using the old cooking

method that passed by theirprevious generations in order to keep the original taste

of the food. So they refused the suggestions that gave by their customers to

recreate a new recipe for their Bah KutTeh. Although it still can attract lots of old

customers to their shop frequently, they failed to attract the new generationswho

feel bored and lost interest on the traditional food. Next, the shop owner also found

that the numbers of Bah KutTehrestaurant are increasing around the area past few

years due to the good location that approach to the KTM Station in Klang. Before

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that, there will be lots of passenger passed around the area and came to their

restaurant to order Bah KutTeh for their meal. But now, the competitors around the

area are increasing with their new recipes of foods which made their customers

become lesser. For the third challenge they met, they said that people prefer to

have their meal in restaurant with air-conditional instead of restaurant without air-

conditional due to the hot weather in Malaysia. As mostly of the current restaurant

equip air-conditional for their customers so they can having their meal more

comfortable so customers usually choose the modern restaurant among the choices

to have their meal.

For the Pao Xiang Bah KutTeh restaurant, we had also asked about the

challenges they had met past few years. For the first challenge, they met the same

challenge which is similar with Seng Huat Bah KutTeh Restaurant. For these 10

years, he said that the customers that having Bah KutTeh here are mostly the old

customers and the teenagers become no interest for those traditional foods so they

worried about their business in the future. For the second challenge, they had met

their competitors that opened their restaurant around the area which are served

cheaper due to the food materials and the condition of restaurant. For their

restaurant, they are using the high quality of medicinalingredients and pork in

cooking the Bah KutTeh and their shop decoration is nicer and cleaner compare to

the other shops. For the third challenges, he said that pork is a non-halal food for

those who are Muslim and Indian so it only can serve to the Chinese that not many

as the population of Indian and Muslim.

For the third restaurant, Jing Shi Fu Bah KutTeh, we had also interviewed

them about the obstacles and challenges they had met throughout the years. For the

mainchallenge, he said that the numbers of customer who having the Bah KutTeh

in their restaurant depend on the weather of the area. They mostly got lot of orders

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when the weather is cool as it kept their body warm and calm. But in the hot day,

customers prefer to have their meal which can make them cool and relaxed so it

depends on the weather that brings effects for their business. Then, they also said

that people are more paying attention for their health nowadays as Bah KutTeh

considered as too oily and unhealthy food for them which is the second challenge

they met. As we all know that pork is their main ingredient in cooking Bah KutTeh

which is very high in cholesterol and saturated fat and affects our body’s health, so

customers would like to choose healthy foods for their meal in order to keep their

body healthier. For the female, they will reject to have Bah KutTeh for their meal

as it will causes them to gain lots of weight.

Competitors

Three of the ‘Bak Kut Teh’ restaurant is highly competitive with respect to

price, value and promotions, service, location, and food quality. There are a

substantial number of restaurant operations that compete with us for customer

traffic, some of which have significantly greater resources to aggressively market

to consumers, which could result in our concepts losing market share. Consumers

are highly focused on value and if other restaurants are able to promote and deliver

a higher degree of value, our guest traffic levels may suffer, impacting revenues.

In addition, with improving product offerings at quick-service restaurants and

grocery stores, coupled with the present state of the economy, consumers may

choose to trade down to these alternatives, which could also negatively affect

revenues.

Not only that, there are many factor that affect how well a business does.

Although Pao Xiang Bak Kut Teh restaurant run a monopolistic business by

having no total control over the market price and having consumers compare the

prices, they do have their differences. Pao Xiang Bak Kut Teh has taken a more

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personal approach to the business. Giving your customers a fantastic experience

when they visit your restaurant is a way to get a good reputation. The amount of

people know them are increasing because they want the taste that made by them.

There is a lot of secret recipe for making a delicious Bak Kut Teh. The amount of

competition in the area is extreme and has come up with their own ways to fight

the competition. Even if it’s individual efforts in improving the business, a little

can help a lot. With this, they feel almost threat to the business as they have

already established a well-known name and they have many regular

customers.Getting more and more renown Bak Kut Teh restaurant compete at the

same place, Kuala Klang.

Strategy

Strategy is the key word for success. Strategies are used in everything to bring out

the best of it and to put it on the highest peak of success, the better the strategies

are, the higher the success rate and level are. And in bakkutteh businesses, they

also use strategies to achieve their goal, which is to be successful. The three

bakkutteh Businesses that we have researched have different and unique strategies,

they are as follow. The first one, SengHuatbakkutteh, they had the chance of

choosing their place because they have started far behind our generation. And from

generation to generation, their name had been heard and got more and more

famous as time flies, they have chosen the right place, the “bakkutteh under the

bridge” that is what they are known as. Located right under the Klangbridge, their

strategic location have granted their wishes for generations now. Their location

which is very close to Klang KTM Station has been of a really big help, people

who wants to get on the KTM and those who just got off the KTM will

undoubtedly notice their restaurant, and thus it attract their attention and help the

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restaurant to get more customers. Not only that, this strategic location that have

attracted many customers will also attract more people when they see just how

many customers they have, feeling curious and convinced with the number of

customers this restaurant have, people will surely enter their restaurant to try their

bakkutteh, and once those customers got on the KTM, they will help the

SengHuatbakkutteh to promote their name, they will surely tell their family and

friends about their experience in this restaurant, and because it is easy to find, you

will be able to find it for sure.

Next is Pao Xiang bakkutteh, this one have a few different strategies of their

own. The Pao Xiang bakkutteh serves their food uniquely, they tied strings to their

meat, cooked it, and serve it. The strings have become their symbol and trademark,

this way people will be able to easily remember it and it will create a kind of small

talk in the community, which will help them to be better known. In addition to that,

the strings actually have their own purposes, yes, purposes, which means they have

more than just one purpose for the strings. The strings tied to the meat will actually

help to squeeze the meat out of its fat, decreasing it so much that it is healthy

enough even for those who do not like or trying to avoid fat, moreover it will also

make the meat more solid as fat have been squeezed out and lastly, it will lock

more flavors to the strings’ cut, giving every cut the best flavors and made it into

the best part of it. Pao Xiang bakkutteh also have more than just one outlet, they

have many outlets on other places as well. This will greatly help them, as they will

be able to keep their customers from other restaurants and the more outlets they

have, the more renown their name will be.

Lastly in the “Strategies used” part, is the Jing Shi Fu Bak Kut Teh. This

bakkutteh who stands in the modern age, is still using the bakkutteh original classic

recipe while most bakkutteh would have modified their recipe trying to create their

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own trademark recipe and taste, but who would have thought that by still

preserving the original classic recipe, it eventually became their own trademark.

The taste of the original classic bakkutteh which become harder and harder to find

can be find easily in this restaurant and it tasted really good as if it brings you back

to the past. The other strategy is the space this restaurant provides, unlike most

bakkutteh restaurants, where they have only the space enough for a few customers,

the Jing Shi Fu bakkutteh provides more space, which allow them to afford more

customers. Next, they also providesbakkutteh with different kinds meat, for

example chicken and fish. This helped them to be a unique bakkutteh restaurant

where you can find bakkutteh with not only pork but other meat, and thus helped

them to attract more customers who want to try them. Lastly, they also take order

for bakkutteh with lesser herbs. While there are some people who like to eat herbs,

there are some other people who do not like to eat herbs that much. And this

restaurant will be perfect for them to get a chance to eat bakkutteh with lesser

herbs, as most restaurant did not take such order.

3. Recommendation

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1. Seng Huat Bah Kut Teh

Seng Huat Bah Kut Teh is already considered a successful business with great

fame and loyal customers. What the shop lacks is the size of the restaurants. With

its fame and popularity, the shop could not let some customers be seated for a meal

at peak hours, making a nuisance for the customers to stand and wait. They could

overcome this with a few simple method which is expanding the shop or creating

more outlet shop at other location or expand the shop in terms of size. Both would

have its own advantage like creating outlet will increase the popularity and double

the number of customers while expanding the size of the shop would be easier to

maintain the quality of the foods. In addition, they should also keep the quality

and traditional style of cooking. Nowadays, the recipe of traditional foods are

starting to fade when being passed down generations by generations, so it is

important to keep the original traditional cooking style to maintain the culture and

of course, keep the business well. In the on location, they have already gotten a

strategic location. So, my advice for the business is not to move away even when

you want to find a bigger shop lot. The current shop is located near the KTM and

under a bridge which is how the shop gets its most famous name “ The Bah Kut

The Under The Bridge”, so it is better to let it stay as it is to maintain the

popularity. Other than that, they should also promote or advertise more on their

restaurant.

2. Pao Xiang Bah Kut Teh

For Pao Xiang Bah Kut Teh, they had already achieved a lot in terms advertising,

not to mention all the shop around Malaysia and even in Singapore. The best

advice I could give would be “keep it up”. They should really expand their

business to places outside Malaysia. With their own unique way of reducing fat

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and cooking, they should be able to sell pretty well even overseas. With their own

unique style, they should promote more of it. Letting others know their existence

as well as the benefits of this cooking styles of theirs. One important things that

have been pointed out by many customers is the price of the food. It is considered

very expensive even for their own style of cooking so it is wise to reconsider the

pricing of their food. As for the other aspect, they are doing pretty well. It would

be even better if they could continue to experiment and explore more method in

creating creative ways of cooking Bah Kut Teh.

3. Jing Shi Fu Bak Kut Teh

Jing Shi Fu Bak Kut Teh is located Subang Jaya and is considered the better ones

around that area. What it lacks, first and foremost, is a good and strategic location.

They are located at Subang SS14, directly opposite of Subang SS15. With the

immense people in Subang SS15, they could double the number of customers if

they move to Subang SS15. A lot of people from Subang SS15 do go over to SS14

just to have Bah Kut Teh but it is still a lot more troublesome so they only go there

once in a while. With their location being further away, they should advertise and

promote their shop more especially in Subang SS15 since they are always new

student living there and may be unaware of them. They could also consider

opening more stores within Malaysia to promote and increase their business. In

addition, some of the foods there are over-prized, not all. For example, to add

another bowl of rice, they charge up to RM1.20 just for it so it would wise to cut

some price of the food. One of the advantages of this shop is that they had some

different styles of Bah Kut Teh and also other foods like fish and chickens. This is

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great advantage of them over other Bah Kut Teh shops and since improving is not

just covering up the flaws, they could expand their menu to serve more foods.

4. Bibliography

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Edy

5. Appendices

Meeting Minutes:

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Hao Ren

Shop detail: Some Picture of the shop.

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6. Refferences

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Sean

Font times new roman size 14 1.5 spacing apply to all

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