Simplicity and humility are key ingredients to success. Many large PLCs have “lost touch with reality” because they are embroiled with politicians, greed and adulation. Datuk Ramly Mokni and Datin Shala Siah Abdul Manap of Ramly Burger fame exude simplicity and humility in their business.
Ramly Food Processing Sdn Bhd was founded in 1984. This was after five years Ramly started to flip hand-made burger patties from his flat in Lorong Haji Hussein, Kuala Lumpur. In 2019, Ramly’s annual sales hit RM1 bil and the company targeted 20% growth even at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. The Ramly Group will also invest more than RM500 mil to expand their production capacity as they aim to produce 6 million burger patties a day. This is six times more than what the company is currently producing daily and 60 times more than when they first started which was 100,000 burger patties a day.
Source: https://focusmalaysia.my
When he first started, Ramly applied for a loan of RM7,000 from Majlis Amanah Rakyat (MARA) but was rejected. Although feeling dejected, the former butcher at a supermarket refused to give up – he slogged to start his business with just a capital of RM2,000 and produced 200 burger patties on a daily basis. In view of lack of funding, he created these patties manually with the help of his wife by using his hands and knives at home.
Although his product was not well-received initially, Ramly persevered – he later opened his own burger stall near Chow Kit and started selling cooked and uncooked patties. He further tweaked the flavour of his patties to the liking of the local palate. The demand for their patties then grew with the couple started producing 3,000 meats per day or 15 times more of what they originally produced a day. And the rest as they say is history.
The idea of listing Ramly Burger may enable the company to grow significantly, but that risks losing control of the company. What a sordid legacy for generations to come.
The empire of Ramly has already opened up opportunities for almost 30,000 micro-entrepreneurs, but they’re aiming to reach 100,000 of them. “If a business can sell about 100-200 burgers a night, it means they can earn a net profit of RM200 a night. Imagine if they can sell 1,000 of them.” “And if they go up to 3,000 a night? If their net profit is RM1 per burger, it will be RM3,000 per night. They can actually achieve almost RM10,000 a month,” he calculated in an interview with Berita TV9. From the way he put it, it seems like starting a Ramly burger stall sounds pretty lucrative. But then again, it’s important to take into consideration the initial startup cost, which is estimated to be around RM5,000 to RM6,000.
With their current production of 1 million patties a day, 70% goes to the local market whereas 30% is exported. Their products have been exported to Thailand, Singapore, Bangladesh, Vietnam and Indonesia. There are already 16 Ramly Halal Marts and 12 Ramly Halal Kiosks in the country, but Ramly wants to expand to 450 branches in the next few years.
Perhaps Sapura Energy and Serba Dinamik could learn something from Ramly Burger – humility and simplicity?
References:
How humble Ramly Burger founder can put Sapura, Serba to shame, Cheah Chor Sooi,
Focus Malaysia
Encouraging the bloom of small businesses, Faye Lee, Vulcan Post, 19 Nov 2020
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