What it takes to run an F&B business in Malaysia 

Above the din of his bustling café in Bukit Jalil, Chester Yong shares his tale of dabbling into F&B as a barista, back when he didn’t know he would be the founder of his very own F&B business.  

At 28 years old, Yong is the founder of Scoby Cafe as well as its sister brand Surreal Cafe & Dining. On the surface, his entrepreneurial journey seems to have been a breezy one. He first launched his own kombucha brand during the pandemic, when Malaysians were keen on supporting local food vendors.  

From there he scaled up with his cafe, which also began to do well given his background as a barista in Australia, which lent his name credibility. What we don’t see, though, are the gruelling hours of work and endless challenges that come with the F&B industry.  

Although the number of F&B business closures isn’t reported in Malaysia, in neighbouring country Singapore, it’s reported that a total of 3,047 F&B businesses shut their doors in 2024.  

So, how has Yong stayed open?  

When your customers tell you they want rice, give them rice 

Truth be told, luck does play a big part in business. Timing can make or break a business, and thankfully, for Yong it was the former. Starting Chestea, his kombucha brand, during the pandemic, he tapped into the booming demand for local entrepreneurs. Within five to six months, he hade made a gross of RM50,000 (around RM11,982 at the time of writing) or so.  

But luck and opportunities come to those who are prepared to take hold of it. With the revenue, he decided to open his very own kombucha café, which he claims was a first for the country.  

Bubbling with enthusiasm, Yong brewed all the kombucha himself. He built a robust menu, filled with unique tartines inspired by his time studying and working in Australia.  

But those menu items didn’t quite make it. The neighbourhood didn’t quite get the tartine vision — instead of bread, they wanted pastas and rice bowls for lunch.  

At first, Yong resisted. He wanted to make his vision work. But he soon learnt a key lesson of being an entrepreneur — listening to your customers. When they launched their chicken rice bowl, it outsold everything on their menu in a short period of time. It was a reality check.  

To make it in F&B, you often have to set aside your ego and adapt to what will work for the customers you already have.  

Another example of this was the pet-friendly status of the café. Yong didn’t have the intention of promoting Scoby Café as a pet-friendly spot, but when customers asked if they could bring their furbabies, he readily agreed. Turns out, the dog was somewhat of an influencer, which brought an influx of customers to the café.  

“Business is never about you yourself,” he reminds.  

Running an F&B business oftentimes means listening to the customer. Source: Scoby Cafe

Being authentic on social media 

Serving your regulars and listening to their feedback is important. But how does an F&B business even begin building up that customer base?  

Marketing and branding, of course. These are things you can’t run away from as an entrepreneur, but Yong’s efforts started way before his business did. He leveraged his time in Australia, where he had studied and worked as a barista. Here, he begun posting barista-related content on social media, which helped him develop his own branding.  

According to him, a lot of people visited his café when it first opened without even knowing what products were being sold. They would just come and buy things because they wanted to support him.  

But branding is not just about posting cool stuff online. It’s about actually developing trust with your audience. Yong’s experiences as a full-time barista in Sydney truly lent to his reputation and credibility. Plus, he attended numerous Coffee 101 classes, which further legitimised the quality of his products for people outside of the industry.   

Yong had studied at the University of Wollongong. Source: Chester Yong

Sometimes, to stay open, you have to close your business 

F&B can be a volatile market. Even though Yong’s F&B business was very good for the first year and a half, when a shopping mall by the name of Pavilion Bukit Jalil opened up near the café, business started to dwindle. Competition had grown and people preferred staying in the mall.  

Chester was 25 at that point. He had tried to let Scoby run on autopilot, but he learnt that it wouldn’t work.  

So, they decided to close in early 2024, and then ended up rebranding the business. Thanks to the effort, business started to get better and better. In August that year, the developer of the building approached them, asking if the team wanted to open at their  project in another neighbourhood. 

Yong surveyed the area and saw that business was bustling there, and hence, decided to open up his second business: Surreal Cafe & Dining.  

Maybe get a finance and management degree (or hire someone with one) 

Starting Scoby Café at 23 years old, Yong did it more for the connection rather than the coffee or kombucha.  

Instead of staying behind the scenes of his F&B business, he likes to foster trust by actually being on the floor and communicating to people. 

In a way, it was something he picked up from Australia — the culture of having small talk and chit-chatting with strangers.  

Yong shared a funny story of his experience abroad. Not realising that people in Australia like to ask, “How’s it going?” as a casual way to say hello, he began answering a guy in earnest, delving into how life was going for him. It was only later on that he understood people don’t typically expect a deep answer to that greeting.   

Instead of burning fast and then eventually burning out, he has found a balanced way to approach his work. He handles his hours in a balanced manner, making sure to take off on every Sunday. This is achievable at this stage of his career, as he’s managed to find the right people to keep his business running smoothly when he’s not around. 

To those looking to start their own F&B business, he suggests starting small. Not everything has to be flashy. You don’t need the most premium coffee machine and most luxurious interior design to start. Scale steadily. After all, cash flow is king when it comes to an F&B business.  

“In entrepreneurship, other than having a lot of passion, you need to know your numbers very well,” he advises. “Your passion can be the thing that kickstarts your business, but knowing your numbers will help you sustain it. If your numbers don’t work well, your passion will die down eventually. Your passion will burn out; your numbers won’t.”