He quits journalism to sell you tiao

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WRITERS wield great power with the pen which is said to be mightier than the sword but a former newspaperman has happily swapped that power for frying sticks of dough in a wok and is taking the challenges posed in his stride.

MOVING FORWARD: Poh (left) now has more workers to help him run his you tiao business.

Poh Wan Hwa was a reporter for nine years (1997-2006) but quit journalism lock, stock and barrel to set up a hawker stall, selling you cha kuey – also popularly known as you tiao – at the Mile 7 Kota Sentosa bazaar.

Today, his business has expanded to three outlets in Kuching – one each at C121 Coffee Shop, Stutong, Expert food court, Mile 4 ½ and Premier 101, Jalan Tun Jugah. From only one worker, he now has more than 10, and also owns a machine and a van for his operation.

But the 30-something self-driven entrepreneur admits it has not been a bed of roses for him. And by his own admission, it takes a “foolhardy venturesome spirit, wild courage, resourcefulness, perseverance, a bit of luck and good old-fashioned grind” to get him where he is today.

Making his dream come true is all about determination, dedication, passion and a readiness to take risks, he told thesundaypost.

“I took one year to decide whether or not I should start my own business before quitting my reporting job,” he said.

The reason he chose to sell you cha kueh was that there was, at that time, less competition – unlike kolo mee and laksa sold in almost every coffeeshop in the city.

Poh has been operating his you cha kuey stall since October 2006. In 2009, he met his business partner, Iris Wee, whom he describes as full of innovative ideas and very cooperative. They decided to open a company called Bee J Enterprise and their joint-venture is doing well.

“I started out as a hawker in 2006 at Mile 7, Kota Sentosa, with only one worker, selling just one type of you cha kueh, using a single wok.

“It was more or less a one-man show. I could hardly cope alone with things like manpower problems and ingredient preparations. The business also involved long hours. Only after meeting Iris was I able to expand the business and improve the products. I have been working with her for almost two years now,” he said.

These days, Poh uses top quality stainless steel deep fryers to maintain a high standard of cleanliness, hygiene and professionalism.

His menu also offers more choices and among the top sellers are you cha kuey with kaya and butter fillings, otak-otak you tiao, satay chicken, you tiao with mayonese and butter fillings, you tiao with sausage and mayonese and chicken floss you tiao.

Poh does not compromise on quality, using top grade ingredients such as branded cooking oil and flour to produce you tiau that tastes better. Moreover, he has picked up special techniques from a ‘foreign teacher’ to further improve his products.

“It’s an on-going learning process to meet the ever changing expectations and demands from customers,” he explained.

Teamwork is important and with a business partner, he now has more time to innovate and come up with even better offerings.

Poh said they had plans to expand Bee J Enterprise with producing more quality food at affordable prices as the core business.

“We’re looking for a good locality to set up new stalls and launch new products. Along the way, we need good people to team up with us. We only keep minimum wages for ourselves and plough back most part of the profits into expanding the business,” he said, describing diligence, teamwork and doing the right thing at the right time as the pre-requisites for running a successful business venture.

Although he has to sacrifice a lot of his time looking after the business, Poh has no regrets, saying: “This is my interest. I took one year to decide on quitting journalism just to get into this line.”

However, he admitted working as a reporter was the best experience he ever had – with the shorter hours, off days, paid sick leave, annual salary increment, helpful colleagues as well as the opportunity to meet different people everyday.

“Now that I’m self-employed, I no longer have these privileges. Before, whenever I received complaints from readers, I would let the chief reporter handle them. But now, I have to face complaints from customers and solve them myself.”

Poh said his income is not fixed as there are good and bad days plus the long hours.

“I have to wake up at about 3am everyday to start preparing. I have to make a lot of personal sacrifices. But as long as I still am able, I’ll keep going.”

There are many people out there trying to start their own business and be their own boss and inevitably facing many challenges and obstacles. Poh wants to share his experience to help them realise their dream.

Bee J You Tiao can also be found in Facebook and blogspot. Since the company is into wholesale supply, those interested can call Poh at 019-8576910 or Iris at 019-4679393.