Boink Bakery is a local, Malaysia online bakery that sells homemade ciabatta, focaccia, and more at an affordable price. Our team had a casual interview with the founder of Boink Bakery, Mr. Ong Seng Ei, and here’s his story.
Q1: How did you get the idea of starting an online bakery business?
Ong: Baking is my expertise and I used to own a culinary school for kids. During the pandemic, my culinary school business faced a huge turn down as schools were forced to close. It was at the same moment, I spotted a trend where there’s a rise in demand for online food stores.
Initially, I started Boink Bakery to earn some extra income, but we gradually grew from there. Although we are a home-based bakery, we supply our bread to cafés and restaurants other than selling it to the end consumers.
Q2: How do you differentiate your product from other home-based bakeries?
Ong: I would say what sets us apart from other home bakeries is our act of service to customers. We’re always open for consultation through messages. When customers purchase our product, we will provide them with a PDF file of recipe ideas to pair up with our plain bread. We are transparent to customers about our ingredients. They know well whether it is suitable for their health/consumption habits. Our bread can even be consumed by pets.
Besides selling bread, Boink just launched our own homemade jam and butter. I can proudly say that from the bread to the spreads, all of the recipes are from me, and there are no additives, preservatives added in any of them. Even though additives increase the shelf life of a bread and speed up the whole baking process, I still insist on not adding them into my product. Providing healthy homemade products for consumers is always my goal.
Q3: What was the most challenging time and how did you overcome it?
Ong: I would say the most challenging period in my business is during May to July 2021. One of our clients did not want to pay the outstanding amount after we supplied them with our products. What makes things worse was that one of our partners decided to turn back on us by taking away the shop and machines. Another of my partner and I took a month’s break then, settled off our remaining workers, took a few business management courses to increase our value, and started to take things slowly. We found that everything happened for a reason and no matter the outcome is good or bad, the lesson is precious.
Q4: What are the biggest challenges that you have ever faced when delivering your products to customers?
Ong: Limited drivers. We deliver the products ourselves to cut down the cost. Still, when there are too many orders, we might deliver late at night, which is definitely not good for our drivers and customers. We cannot promise time as Grab / Lalamove does. Therefore, some of the customers do not understand and will complain about this matter to us.
Q5: If you have a piece of advice for those who have just started or are planning to start a business, what would it be?
Ong: Plan well before you start. Rushing to begin will not bring you far. If there are partners involved in your business, make sure you list everything down (assets division/percentage/ position) clearly and find a legalised third party as a witness to make everything clear onto a black and white form.
If you were to start a business with close friends or family members, making things clear at the start must be your priority. When things grow big and more value is added into the business, you can’t promise people to remain as they are. Lastly, stay kind and humble, and at the same time, stay a little selfish.